In recent times Royal Blood have ascended to the level of arena rock status. However, on Wednesday evening, North East gig-goers were treated to an intimate audience with the dynamic duo.
Royal Blood have recently been on a stadium tour with Muse, as well as undertaking a run of high-profile festival dates that will take the pair to Glastonbury on Friday night. The band will play on the legendary Pyramid Stage underneath headliners, the Arctic Monkeys. However, for Tyneside fans of the twosome, they got to witness Royal Blood in the closer confines of the O2 City Hall Newcastle.
As one would expect, demand for the show was high. And on a warm summer’s eve in Newcastle city centre, the show promised to be a hot ticket in more ways than one. A capacity crowd was in attendance to witness Royal Blood’s first show in the region since 2021 at the O2 Academy.
The band’s last date in Newcastle was just as live music started to return following the pandemic. Thankfully, this time around, the music industry appears to be returning to business as usual, or so it seems.
Taking to the stage to the ferocious roar of the North East audience, Royal Blood got the show underway with the thunderous sounds of Hole. The latter took the old-school fans back to the early days of the band. The heavy groove and hard-hitting rhythms immediately struck a chord with the Tyneside fans.
The anthems came in thick and fast early in the evening with Come On Over featuring second in the set. Of course, Royal Blood has been pushing the boundaries of contemporary rock music with their distinctive two-piece format. Mike Kerr's fuzzy bass riffs when coupled with Ben Thatcher's pummelling drumbeat create a sound that is instantly recognisable. Come On Over is a testament to that tried and tested formula.
Back in 2021, the band released their third album, Typhoons. By the third song of the set, the inclusion of the infectious Boilermaker highlighted the quality of the band's last full-length studio release. It's no surprise that the record became Royal Blood's third consecutive UK No.1 album.
Throughout the show, Royal Blood wheeled out an arsenal of high-octane numbers including the likes of How Did We Get So Dark, Typhoons and a crowd-pleasing airing of Ten Tonne Skeleton. Of course, the underlying sound of Royal Blood comes from the combination of drums and bass, but in the absence of guitar, the effects and tone created by Mike Kerr are really something else.
It was recently announced that Royal Blood would be releasing their fourth album, Back To The Water Below, on September 8th. Whilst the band's newest material was largely kept under wraps during the show, there was room for a ferocious airing of recent single, Mountains at Midnight. Thus, whetting the audience’s appetite for what is to come from the group in September.
Whilst the duo's new album is on the horizon, there was still plenty of room in the set for old favourites, with a healthy dose of material from Royal Blood's eponymous debut album featured. Classics from the release, including Figure It Out and Out of the Black, brought a memorable evening at the O2 City Hall to a close.
What can we say other than Royal Blood’s Tyneside return was nothing short of majestic.
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