poppedmusic

Royal Blood

Copyright: Sakura

Liverpool 02 Academy, November 3rd 2014

There was a palpable energy as soon as you stepped onto the streets surrounding the o2 Academy Liverpool last night. There was chaos in the roads, cars fighting in dark and dank Liverpool to get around each other and all of a sudden a small kerfuffle ahead of me caught my eye. Oh hello Ben Thatcher what are you doing out here causing trouble? Having a smoke, chatting to a few people, signing a few tickets and giving his now new favourite blog a winning smile and a hug, of course.

The same energy was tenfold once inside the venue. It’s been a very long time since I have been to a show, sold out or otherwise, where the support act had as an attentive crowd such was the anticipation for tonight’s show. People who say that Liverpool shows can be tough to sell are to be put on the naughty step right now, as this clearly demonstrates that is not always the case, while it may indeed be a hard sell if you are a new band without the sudden hype behind you like Royal Blood has had.

Support this tour comes from Turbowolf – a band, yes, an 80s transformer type toy, no. Loud? VERY. Good? Reasonably and while they don’t necessarily have quite as much charm or cross over as their touring buddies they could well be worth a shout for future shows, though if you value your hearing maybe take along some earplugs.

Copyright: Sakura

By the time Ben and Mike come to the stage I felt like you literally couldn’t squeeze one more person into the room as it was highly likely that what little oxygen there seemed to be, would have run out before the 55 minute set ended. The air was thick with smoke, with sweat and heavily laden with anticipation.

Royal Blood were never going to fail to deliver. Their live set is a rip roaring ride that smashes the hell out of their number one selling debut album. There are little additional flourishes on tight riffs and a crashing throbbing feel from the energetic pounding on the drums. They pounded their way through Figure It Out, Little Monster and somehow managed to make Better Strangers even more sexually charged than usual.

Props to the lighting people on this tour also. There’s no need for any fancy background just full on flashing lights cleverly and precisely played out in time. I mention this why? Well it was pretty much ALL I actually witnessed, for the majority of the set. Seems like there is a hell of a lot of tall Royal Blood fans out there and they don’t care if the people behind them can see or not. I guess that happens when you just need to be as close to the action as humanly possible.

Copyright: Sakura

An unexpected and almost tender moment was when Mike announced to the sweaty crazed throng that this evening’s show was special to him as his Nan is from Liverpool. Huge cheers erupted as you might expect. What you might not expect is that Nan was actually there! Lights go up to see Nan was sat up on the balcony a huge grin on her face as she waved down to everyone, a little like the Queen does at the Royal Verity show. And why not eh, after all she has much to smile about and she is part royal too now I guess! And don’t think it went unnoticed that all expletives were missed out of Out Of The Black too. What a gent.

What a show. Neither band nor crowd let up for a single second. It was all over so fast is my only complaint. Those with tickets for the remainder of this tour and next year’s bigger venues are in for a treat. These are showmen who know exactly how to whip their fans into a frenzy and leave them wanting more.

Royal Blood played:

Hole
Come On Over
Cruel
Figure It Out
You Want Me
Better Strangers
Little Monster
Blood Hands
Careless
Ten Tonne Skeleton
Loose Change
Out Of The Black