July 11, 2015 – English rockers Royal Blood are currently on tour opening for The Foo Fighters and were in town on July 8th and 9th for shows at the Molson Amphitheatre. After Thursday’s show, they played a second show for a very lucky relative few at Tattoo on Queen West. Outside the venue disappointed fans without tickets begged to buy tickets. Inside the Tattoo, long sold out, it was crammed to capacity with rabid Royal Blood fans who sang along and chanted “Royal Blood” throughout, including during the opening set by the Beverleys. It was anything but a usual reserved Toronto crowd.
The band was in T.O. last October and played Lee’s Palace but since then Royal Blood has become one of the hottest bands on the planet lately winning best British Group at the 2015 Brit Awards ahead of nominees Alt-J and Coldplay, an award that was presented by Jimmy Page. Catching them at Tattoo was a treat. Stub Hub had tickets being offered from $100 to $250.
Despite their huge sound, Royal Blood is a duo, but not a typical guitar/drums duo. Frontman Mike Kerr plays a bass but thanks to a multi-amp set up and effects pedals that split and raise the tone by an octave or two, Kerr can selectively play both guitar and bass parts simultaneously or either individually. But their heavy percussive sound is driven equally as much by master drummer, and crowd surfer, Ben Thatcher. The two are locked in like no other band.
Here’s an easy question? What do Rival Sons, The Temperance Movement and Royal Blood have in common? They all have the Jimmy Page seal of approval. When the legendary guitarist endorses a band it’s a sure sign of a kick ass rock band. In fact, it’s worth noting what Page said, “I went to hear them in New York. They were fantastic. Absolutely riveting, they’re such fine musicians. Their album has taken the genre up a serious few notches. It’s so refreshing to hear, because they play with the spirit of the things that have preceded them, but you can hear they’re going to take rock into a new realm – if they’re not already doing that. It’s music of tremendous quality.” Clearly he recognizes that they’re breaking new ground in rock music.
Will the success of Royal Blood lead to more bass/drums combos? Probably to some extent, but we hope they, and bands like Uncle Acid and the deadbeats, lead a revival of heavy riff based rock. We’ve had enough of the prevasive vacous blandness of what “rock” is becoming today.
Verdict: 5 out of 5 – The bar show of the year (easily)!
Set List
Come On Over
You Can Be So Cruel
Figure It Out
Better Strangers
Little Monster
Blood Hands
One Trick Pony
Ten Tonne Skeleton
Loose Change
Out of the Black
(Iron Man extro)
Review and photos by Steve Mallinson
