On Wednesday night I visited London’s O2 where Royal Blood was performing on their UK tour. This was my first gig of 2022 and the anticipation gave me goosebumps.
The Brighton duo consisting of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher performed to a sold-out crowd in celebration of their third album Typhoons which was released last April. The tour was delayed from 2021 until now due to Covid and the pandemic.
It was my third time seeing the duo – previously I have watched them in Brighton and Margate.
Lone Ranger
I attended the gig alone as a friend couldn’t make it. I didn’t mind this as I have been to many gigs alone. After arriving around 4:30 I went and queued up as I had a standing ticket. When I got in, I expected it to be full of people but only found a few groups spread out across the barriers.
It soon filled up though and I could see myself disappearing further to the back as more people piled in. So thankful this was just the waiting area before getting the chance to run for your life to get as close to the stage as humanly possible.
After queuing for an hour and a half, scanning my ticket and getting my wristband and going through security I was finally in. I headed straight to the front and managed to bag second row right in front of where they would be performing later. I was ecstatic as all the previous times I have seen the band I have been in the middle of the crowd or right at the back.
The arena filled quickly with many fans wearing Royal Blood merch. I spotted many t-shirts and hats around the crowd.
Personally, I feel that the crowd was not filled with the same excitement as to when I saw them play their hometown of Brighton at The Brighton Centre last September. The crowd was absolutely wild at that event, fans were bouncing around the arena, screaming the lyrics at the top of their voices and mosh pits everywhere but this time everyone was pretty still with their phones recording and singing along. I do have to say the mosh pits I have witnessed have been a lot bigger and rowdier.
The Amazons
Support came from The Amazons, who I previously saw at Finsbury Park in 2019. They were really good then, but I definitely enjoyed this performance more. I love how they interacted with the audience. “How mad is this, we are at The O2”, lead singer Matt Thomson announced to the crowd.
The four-piece band from Reading have been together since 2014 and are due to release their third album How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me on 2 September. They opened their set with “In My Mind” before performing their brand new song’s “Bloodrush”, “Mother”, “Doubt It” and finishing with “Black Magic”, which was a crowd favourite. I saw people in the front row screaming, jumping and singing as loud as they could.
Half an hour later Royal Blood stormed onto the stage in true style, Ben jumping onto the drums with his gong behind him and Mike next to him ready to belt out some tunes. “Typhoons” warmed the crowd up, people were trying to push themselves to the barrier. “Boilermaker” was next followed by a classic from their 2017 second album “How Did We Get So Dark?”.
Halfway through they stopped to appreciate what was going on in the moment. Mike said “We have been together for 10 years this year so thank you Ben for taking up my offer to be my drummer, I love you mate!”. The two then hugged which warmed the audience – you can see the bromance they share.
New Music
The show carried on with performances of their brand new single “Honeybrains” which was released last month, plus “Hook, Line and Sinker” along with “Blood Hands” from their first album which I don’t think I have heard live before.
Mosh pits had started by this time I was getting shoved in all different directions and ended up moving from the second row to being in the middle of the biggest one I think I have ever found myself in.
I couldn’t get out however hard I tried, so I accepted fate and let myself get shoved around by sweaty men spilling their pints everywhere screaming the lyrics as loud as they could. When I finally found a way out all I could think about was how much I wanted some water whilst trying to compose myself ready for the next song.
When “Little Monster” was played, the crowd were buzzing mosh pits started up again and I was shoved from the third row to the barrier constantly getting thrown back and forth that I could not even film the performance.
I seriously thought I was going to end up with a dislocated shoulder as I had a guy jumping up and down behind me grabbing onto my shoulders, wrapping his arm around my neck shouting Royal Blood trying to get their attention.
Dedicated To Hawkins
Halfway through the performance, a picture of drummer Ben and Late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins appeared on the back screen. Hawkins, who passed away last weekend, was a big inspiration to Ben and to honour his memory he dedicated a drum solo to him. Everyone who was standing was cheering shouting chants of “Taylor Taylor Taylor” and the whole arena applauded when it was over as he banged the gong that he has on stage with him for every show.
Next came classics such as “Loose Change” and “Figure It Out” before they went off stage for a break. I could hear people whispering asking where they had gone thinking that the show had finished, and they hadn’t even said goodbye but a few minutes the arena erupted into a huge roar as Mike made his way back onto the stage alone.
The lights went down as he announced he was doing a piano solo of “All We Have Is Now”, one of my top three favourite songs off the new album. Everyone put their torches on and swayed back and forth along to the song singing the lyrics. This was the first time I had seen the crowd calm and quiet all night.
It didn’t last long though as Ben was welcomed back onto the stage to play the final two songs of the night “Ten Tonne Skeleton” and “Out of the Black”. Pints were thrown around as the crowd was getting pushed and a huge mosh pit opened in the middle of the floor – Ben and Mike could see this and counted down to the chorus before everyone jumped in and went mad.
High End
Ben ended up getting off the drums standing in the middle of the stage and geared the crowd up as he got ready to throw his drumsticks something which he does at the end of every show. One was thrown to someone at the front of the crowd and the other in the middle. He then proceeded to jump into the audience and crowd surf on top of the hundreds of fans arms reaching out to hold him.
What an end to a fantastic performance. I left feeling exhilarated, buzzing from the vibe of the fans talking about how good a show it had been.
All pictures were taken by Ellissa Chiles.
