Royal Blood, are, on pretty much every level, astonishing. The encore starts with Kerr on piano for the poignant “All We Have Is Now”, but is soon back with all the hedonism of “Ten Tonne Skeleton” and when they do “Out Of The Black”, Thatcher leaves his kit to meet his people, before returning for an ending every bit as raucous as “Paradise City” would be. Darren James’ keyboards add a little texture to “Million To One”, “Limbo” and “Loose Change” pass by in a riot of sound and fury, and “Figure It Out” (arguably still their stand out moment) serves as your reminder that the only way to get to this level is to write songs that connect with people on a massive scale. There’s even the well paced sprint to the end that all arena gigs need. They absolutely thunder their way through “Hook Line And Sinker”, and the drum solo that Ben Thatcher plays after “Little Monster” shows him to be amongst the elite (it is accompanied with a picture of Thatcher and Taylor Hawkins on the big screen too). If you closed your eyes and just listened to the music, and immersed yourself in the structure of the show, then actually, Royal Blood are not a lot different to any other arena rock band. And “Come On Over” is the first of most of it. Indeed, they are confident enough with the new material to do “Boilermaker” afterwards, but they understand the appeal of their brilliant debut record. One of six from the “new” album that has been out getting on for a year, it like all the others, has fitted in superbly despite its darker tones. So, then, it still feels a bit like they are the outsiders even with thousands in here, as “Typhoons” starts up. The type of band that seemed to belong supporting Turbowolf in a tiny room a couple of years before they hit the big time, but had way bigger ambitions. Ones that have no guitarist are, to be honest, even odder. There is, however, something kind of gratifying about it being Royal Blood that did this. Mike Kerr, the bass playing front man who plays bass guitar like no one on earth, surveys the crowd after “Lights Out” and there’s an air of incredulity about him as he says: “and people tell you rock n roll is dead, eh?” Maybe they weren’t sure whether it would last at that point, maybe we weren’t – after all, they are, on the face of it a rather odd arena rock band.īut here’s the thing: Royal Blood are firmly in the Premier League. Four and a half years apart? That makes you a serious big deal.Ģ017 it was, since we all gathered in here for Royal Blood’s first arena tour. For all the emotion, though the overriding feel is of positivity and as “Black Magic” fades away, there’s only one conclusion: The Amazons are going to be huge. There probably isn’t anyone in the audience that wasn’t shocked by the death of Taylor Hawkins earlier on Saturday, and the cover of “My Hero” brings the house down. They’ve got confidence in their new material too, and “Ready For Anything” – a brand new tune that no-one has heard yet, belongs already. New song “Bloodrush” is full of rock bombast too, and “Mother” from their last album “Future Doubt” is as ready to shake the foundations as it ever was. As “In My Mind” starts things off then they look born to be on this arena stage. Singer Matthew Thomson knows it too, although he points out that their first gig in the second city was “at the Sunflower Lounge, so this is amazing” (the Sunflower Lounge is a little wine bar where they put trendy little gigs downstairs), he knows – surely – that they are on the cusp of greatness. What you are looking at here is the next stars of guitar based rock n roll. It is inescapable.” Fast forward two and a half years and there’s no change to that view. There’s no point in waiting for the conclusion. MV was there that night and wrote this at the start of our review: “Let’s get this said from the off. Back in November 2019 The Amazons played The Academy – a couple of thousand sized club venue a couple of miles across Birmingham from here.
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