HBF Stadium, Perth
Sunday May 13, 2018 :
First up on stage were the four-piece local legends, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. If you didn’t catch on from the name, they’re a psychedelic rock band with original head-bang worthy tunes like ‘Marmalade March’ and ‘Little Moon’. Their screaming guitars truly showing off their true talents and presence on stage. It was obvious they were well known in our remote city as most people in the room were singing along to their rockin’ tunes throughout their set.
The second supporting act were Polish Club, hailing from Sydney and they charmed the audience with their personalities (the lead singer reminded me of a ‘grunge Elvis’) and incredible music. They threw muesli bar’s with a song hand written on each one into the audience after every track they played, a rather original way to keep track of what song you’re up to on the setlist. Their performances had the whole crowd bouncing and by the end of their set, the energy in the room was electric and everyone was anxiously awaiting Royal Blood to take to the stage.
With the mosh pit full to the brim and the stands filled out, it was time for the main act to play. British rock act, Royal Blood hit the stage with an absolute bang, playing hit after hit from their highly successful self titled 2014 debut and 2017 album How Did We Get So Dark – the crowd went wild. The mosh jumping together in unison as the sea of head bangers moved to the beat of Ben Thatcher’s skilful drumming and Mike Kerr’s unmistakable guitar riffs. The duo had certainly made an impact from the beginning of the show as every person in the venue was singing and dancing their hearts out.
Humble as ever, Mike spoke of how he and Ben found it so surreal that people on the literal, other side of the world were singing their songs back to them and that it was “great to be the excuse for a bunch of music-loving strangers to have a good time and get drunk together”. Ben got off his drum riser and took the mic for a brief moment to say how he loved that music brought all these people together in a complete judgement free zone, where everyone is there for the sole purpose of having a good time.
Taking shots of tequila each, Royal Blood continued their show with ‘You Can Be So Cruel’ and Ben performed a drum solo so good, you couldn’t possibly take your eyes off it in between! Transitioning to the song ‘I Only Lie When I Love You’, Mike seamlessly played and his vocals matched every track as if it were the recorded version, however it was easy to spy that it was live as the duo had tweaked each song to make it more visually interesting and different from the recordings.
Royal Blood’s full stage set up was very simple but extremely effective, the band was surrounded in a open triangular display of single pole LED’s which changed scene with each part of whichever song was playing. The effect emphasised the rock’n’roll look of the band with bright pure white lights as the opening display, almost blinding the audience as the band appeared on stage in front of the haze that was created by the lights. The band stunned the audience throughout the night with their talents and created a party environment where everyone had a good time and went home thinking that the show simply could not have been better.
Royal Blood have already become the rock stars they dreamed of becoming as kids, but this band is going to go far, far further and become absolute rock legends. There is so much raw talent and energy to share between the two musicians that it just seems too good to be true. Royal Blood is a band that will continue to grow, put out great music and truly put on an incredible show each and every time they perform.
Reviewer : Nicola Arnold
Photographer : Skyler Bjelanovic
ROYAL BLOOD
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POLISH CLUB
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PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS
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