Royal
Blood
Empress Ballroom Blackpool, 6th March 2015
Support: Mini Mansions
From Deap Vally to Drenge, it is clear that rock duos are having their moment, but none have taken the music scene by storm nearly as much as Brighton’s Royal Blood. Just a mere year ago, few had heard their thunderous riffs and thrashing drums, but now, following the release of their self-titled No.1 record last summer, it seems you can’t escape them as they become the key staple to festival line-ups galore and seemingly pick up every award going.
Floral-suited up and ready to bring the style of the States to the northern streets, LA trio Mini Mansions take to the stage. Donning the keyboard, bass and standing drums, the band troll through a satisfying set of songs mostly picked from up-coming second album The Great Pretenders. Creeps works as a slower nostalgia-inducing number, with new track Vertigo (occasionally featuring Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner at the Mansions’ shows) being a valuable addition to the set. The delicate Any Emotions keeps the lengthy performance light and allow for the group to leave with a seal of approval from the 3000 capacity crowd ahead of the main act.
Quite contrasting in style are Royal Blood, to say the least. Their drastic skyrocket to the rock spotlight has been above and beyond any other new guitar band of recent years, and tonight shows why in an incomparable way.
Bassist/singer Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher swagger on stage to monstrous roars defeated only in volume by their monstrous tracks. B-side Hole opens and introduces the band’s heavy sound which continues across all thirteen songs, with stand-out performances deriving from the fast-paced Figure It Out, Ten Tonne Skeleton, and, of course, hit single Little Monster, the latter sending the rowdy fans majorly clad in Royal Blood tees wild, something which perhaps could have fared better a little later on in the set. It would be a good guess to say that never have there been so many crowd-surfers in just over an hour.
On stage lighting boards illuminate in the form of symbols and words, flashing in time to Kerr’s shouts of “loose change!” during, well, Loose Change. Out of the Black is chosen as the closer to the energetic show, with pauses as the frontman addresses the crowd confidently whilst the drummer enters it.
On paper, it’s surprising that a band formed just a couple of years ago consisting of just two instruments could already have been responsible for two sell-out UK headline tours, the fastest selling rock debut in three years and a Mercury Prize nomination, but Royal Blood's outstanding shows prove that it’s not actually surprising at all.
Empress Ballroom Blackpool, 6th March 2015
Support: Mini Mansions
From Deap Vally to Drenge, it is clear that rock duos are having their moment, but none have taken the music scene by storm nearly as much as Brighton’s Royal Blood. Just a mere year ago, few had heard their thunderous riffs and thrashing drums, but now, following the release of their self-titled No.1 record last summer, it seems you can’t escape them as they become the key staple to festival line-ups galore and seemingly pick up every award going.
Floral-suited up and ready to bring the style of the States to the northern streets, LA trio Mini Mansions take to the stage. Donning the keyboard, bass and standing drums, the band troll through a satisfying set of songs mostly picked from up-coming second album The Great Pretenders. Creeps works as a slower nostalgia-inducing number, with new track Vertigo (occasionally featuring Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner at the Mansions’ shows) being a valuable addition to the set. The delicate Any Emotions keeps the lengthy performance light and allow for the group to leave with a seal of approval from the 3000 capacity crowd ahead of the main act.
Quite contrasting in style are Royal Blood, to say the least. Their drastic skyrocket to the rock spotlight has been above and beyond any other new guitar band of recent years, and tonight shows why in an incomparable way.
Bassist/singer Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher swagger on stage to monstrous roars defeated only in volume by their monstrous tracks. B-side Hole opens and introduces the band’s heavy sound which continues across all thirteen songs, with stand-out performances deriving from the fast-paced Figure It Out, Ten Tonne Skeleton, and, of course, hit single Little Monster, the latter sending the rowdy fans majorly clad in Royal Blood tees wild, something which perhaps could have fared better a little later on in the set. It would be a good guess to say that never have there been so many crowd-surfers in just over an hour.
On stage lighting boards illuminate in the form of symbols and words, flashing in time to Kerr’s shouts of “loose change!” during, well, Loose Change. Out of the Black is chosen as the closer to the energetic show, with pauses as the frontman addresses the crowd confidently whilst the drummer enters it.
On paper, it’s surprising that a band formed just a couple of years ago consisting of just two instruments could already have been responsible for two sell-out UK headline tours, the fastest selling rock debut in three years and a Mercury Prize nomination, but Royal Blood's outstanding shows prove that it’s not actually surprising at all.
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