Music Review: Royal Blood tears up Reading + Leeds

English rock duo Royal Blood cruise through their best tracks off 2014’s self-titled debut album Royal Blood and their 2017 follow-up How Did We Get So Dark?  

The track list consisted of songs from the previously mentioned albums, with Hook, Line & Sinker, Come on Over, You Can Be So Cruel, Loose Change, Lights Out, I Only Lie When I Love You, Boilermaker, Little Monster, How Did We Get So Dark?, Ten Tonne Skeleton, Figure it Out, and Out of the Black.  

Royal Blood formed in March 2011 with vocalist and guitarist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher. The concert was part of a bigger lineup at the Reading and Leeds Festival in England on Aug. 23, 2019. 

In looking at the overall performance, both the crowd and the performers are in top form. Kerr has an impressive use of one-handed guitar on Figure it Out and Thatcher’s excellent drumming at Hook, Line and Sinker comes in as both a controlled display of skill and a wild jam session.  

Kerr’s vocal range is truly something to hear as he switches from a raging boom on Lights Out to an almost confessional whisper in Boilermaker. 

Being in their native England, the crowd was very excited. People did some of Kerr’s work singing choruses to Little Monster and thrashing about on Come on Over. Both men show lots of support in return. 

Despite the strength of the performance overall, that does not mean there are not some issues too. The minimalist nature of the performance is one of the biggest strengths of this concert but also a glaring weakness.  

For example, backup singers are not brought out until How Did We Get So Dark? and are usually overpowered by other sounds. Thatcher begins to use a large gong, but only for two songs. These are missed opportunities to add something new to the performance. 

Despite this, Kerr and Thatcher are still able to create an amazing concert. Some might argue that rock and roll is dead. Royal Blood’s performance at Reading and Leeds proves that wrong.  

Rating: 4/5