Royal Blood | Live Review

Despite the live show lacking antics, they delivered a solid set of blues-infused rock belters.

Royal Blood: A band that, following an extremely successful 2014, need little introduction. Saviors of rock or overhyped bandwagon bait; whatever your stance on the Brighton-based duo and their rapid rise to fame, you’ll have no doubt heard them and the praise that’s gone alongside their relentless riffery. With tickets to their headline show at the Bierkeller selling out in thirty seconds, I felt myself and the other 399 golden ticket holders could be about to witness something special — seeing the almighty Royal Blood in such an intimate venue for possibly the last time.

Up first were Bristol’s very own Turbowolf, who never fail to deliver. Frontman Chris Georgiadis was as engaging and charismatic as ever, combining his signature blend of Freddie Mercury-esque audience participation with stage dives aplenty — suitably warming up the crowd; the perfect aperitif for what was to come.

The unassuming headliners took to the stage and immediately kicked things off with album track ‘Careless’; an unexpected opener perhaps, but with the self-titled debut ten-track shifting 66,000 copies in a week it’s safe to assume that a large portion of the crowd were already well acquainted with each lick-laden offering that they had in store. Each succeeding track was executed with the same slickness and effortless cool; the sort of muscle-memory musicianship that only comes from relentless gigging, all the while making enough noise between the two of them to rival the likes of Muse and other serial stadium-fillers.

It’s clear this band approach their live show in a very ‘let the music do the talking’ manner, with minimal between-song banter and little to no stage theatrics. They continued to power through the set, each song better received than the last by an increasingly captive crowd of Royal Blood-believers. Despite the live show lacking antics, they delivered a solid set of blues-infused rock belters including the sleazy, groove-driven ‘Loose Change’ and personal favourite ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’. Closing the set with crowd-pleaser ‘Out of the Black’ it became clear they didn’t intend on going through the encore rigmarole; not least because they were out of songs. As they exited the stage to rapturous applause it’s easy to forget that you’ve been watching a band that only have a ten song repertoire and, although they have a long way to go to prove that the pedestal they currently perch upon is justified, I’m left intrigued to see what the future holds for Royal Blood. Flash in the pan one trick pony or rock n roll royalty — time (and album two) will tell.

Check out ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’ right here: