BRIT AWARDS SHOW, KOKO CAMDEN
17TH FEBRUARY 2015
Royal Blood are fucking loud. The sort of fucking loud that leaves your middle ear so out of sorts you are mildly off balance which causes you to sleep through your alarm the next morning. But as anyone who attended the deafening duo’s BRIT Awards warm up show at Koko will tell you, both of those afflictions are more than worth suffering.
The perma-riffing pair were on incredible form, as well they might be having been on the road for what seems like the best part of a year, and their flawless set of bombastic, big rock anthems was lapped up heartily by the sweaty sold out crowd.
Any concerns about how the twosome might fill the space were immediately dashed when Mike Kerr’s crunching, rope-thick bass riffs tore through the room and Ben Thatcher, bedecked in his classic snapback cap and perched high on a drum riser, began beating fifty shades of shit out of his kit.
Photos by Jennie Hancock
All 10 tracks from their debut album get a run out tonight and sound every bit as slick and powerful as they do on record. The band also dropped new song ‘You Want Me’ into the set. While the track sounded more like an offcut from the first record rather something more progressive, it goes some way to answering the question of ‘what will they do for album number two?’ The answer being: more of the same, which is no bad thing.
Royal Blood’s tour schedule for the next few months:
February 22 2015 – GLASGOW Barrowland
February 23 2015 – GLASGOW Barrowland
February 27 2015 – PLYMOUTH Plymouth Pavilions
February 28 2015 – BRIDLINGTON Bridlington Spa
March 02 2015 – PORTSMOUTH Portsmouth Guildhall
March 03 2015 – NEWPORT, WALES Newport Centre
March 05 2015 – NORWICH Norwich Nick Rayns LCR UEA
March 06 2015 – BLACKPOOL Empress Ballroom
March 08 2015 – BELFAST Ulster Hall Belfast
March 09 2015 – DUBLIN Olympia
March 10 2015 – DUBLIN Olympia
March 11 2015 – WOLVERHAMPTON Wolverhampton Civic Hall
March 13 2015 – LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
March 14 2015 – NOTTINGHAM Rock City