Royal Blood
September 28, 2015
Marquee- Tempe, AZ
Royal Blood, a hard rock English duo, performed at the Marquee in Tempe Arizona on Monday the 28th. Even though the band has only been together since 2013 and has released one full length self-titled album, they have reached tremendous success and popularity here in the States. The duo has been playing a number of music festivals and shows all over the country.
Opening for the band was Bass Drum of Death, a garage rock band from Mississippi. As Bass Drum of Death took the stage, fans began filtering into the venue, loving the hard rock sound and energetic performance this band brought to the stage.
People began pushing toward the stage the second the lights dimmed for the entrance of the headliners. The giant banner behind the stage exhibited the artwork from their album cover. The stage had a strand of lights lining the base, illuminating a bright white light throughout the set. The crowd screamed as Mike Kerr (guitarist/ lead vocalist) and Ben Thatcher (drummer) took the stage. The duo started off the set with one of their biggest hits Figure It Out. Throughout the set Thatcher could be seen standing periodically and banging on the drums with full force while Kerr strutted across the stage, often appearing as a silhouette. Kerr often stood facing Thatcher rocking out to intense guitar riffs and at a few points even ventured behind the drum set to get closer to Thatcher. Other hits played by the band throughout their set included: Come on Over and Little Monster. The energy that Kerr and Thatcher brought to the stage influenced the mass of head banging fans.
On occasion people could be seen crowd surfing, trying to make their way to the stage to get as close to the band as possible. The band ended their set with Out of the Black with an outro featuring Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. Kerr bounced between ends of the stage getting fans cheering as he played the riff. Thatcher left his drums and reached out to touch the crowd. Thatcher’s leaning into the crowd was short lived as he suddenly leapt into the crowd and crowd surfed his way across the venue.
At the end of the set the band left the stage and the lights popped on with no encore. Personally, I thought straying from the norm by not playing an encore was a nice change of pace. Overall, Royal Blood is a relatively new band that offers an energetic and hard rock concert experience. The amount of dedicated fans that this band has already accumulated over their short two years together is astounding. I highly recommend checking out Royal Blood on their next venture through your town.
Review by: Meghan Lee
