Royal Blood Electrifies Audience at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC

Royal Blood – 9:30 Club – Washington DC – June 6, 2017

UK based rock outfits such as Foals, Biffy Clyro and Wolf Alice are all house hold names across the pond but each has struggled to translate their immense overseas popularity to a similar level of stardom here in the United States. Royal Blood, comprised of Mike Kerr (bass/vocals) and Ben Thatcher (drums), are experiencing this peculiar condition these days themselves.

The band took home the 2014 NME award for Best Live Band as well as the 2015 Brit Award for Best British Group. They’ve also played the main stages at revered UK based rock festivals such Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds.

Here in the States Royal Blood have opened up for the Foo Fighters on a stadium sized tour, appeared on numerous late night talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Seth Meyers and they’ve even made a visit to the Sirius Satellite Radio studios to sit down for an interview with one of their self-proclaimed super fans, the King of All Media himself, Howard Stern.

Despite all of these accomplishments, like their aforementioned UK rock brethren, Royal Blood are only beginning to see their star rise here in North America.

The root cause of this malady could likely be attributed to the fact that the younger generation in this country is heavily invested in R&B, pop and even country music, with rock music remaining more of the domain of those born prior to first Bush presidency.

It’s safe to assume though that Kerr and Thatcher probably could give a rat’s ass about any of it. Whether they are playing to audience comprised of 20,000 of their fellow countrymen or the thousand souls that sold out the 9:30 Club in Washington DC this past Tuesday, Royal Blood are just flat out fucking good and they damn well know it.

Royal Blood, whose sophomore LP, How Did We Get So Dark?, is set to be released on June 16^th via Warner Bros., is only at the beginning of what is sure to be a lengthy and quite successful tour cycle tied to their new album.

The UK rock duo wasted little time introducing new music to the DC area faithful as they begin their performance at the legendary 9:30 Club with two songs from their latest release.

Royal Blood led off the evening with a track that was originally written for the the HBO Series Vinyl, “Where Are You Now?”

Kerr told on-line music outlet Noisey last year that “Where Are You Now?” was inspired by, “the first time you heard a song that made your hairs on the back of your neck stand up or made you wanna dance or kick someone’s arse.”

By the time Royal Blood finished the next song and latest single from the new record, “Lights Out,” the entirety of the 9:30 Club was, at the very least wanting to shake their proverbial asses off.

Royal Blood as a duo deliver more raw power and venue rattling energy than most bands that have three guitars, keys, a horns section and even a band member’s girlfriend playing tambourine.

Kerr and Thatcher also displayed their undeniable chemistry that easily intoxicated the crowd as the pair played to a back drop of a multitudie of vertical floor to ceiling lighting tubes that created a series of brilliantly engineered and choreographed visual effects throughout the performance.

Kerr, who oozed sex appeal with every little movement, lashed away mercilessly at his four string Fender bass while Thatcher, perched atop his ever growing drum kit, wowed time and time again with his unique playing style.

The remainder of the Royal Blood’s performance would lean heavily on the band’s 2014 self-titled LP. Additional highlights would come in the form of a venue wide sing-a-long on “Figure it Out,” the slow burning “Blood Hands,” and “Little Monster,” that saw Thatcher unleash an abbreviated drum solo that likely would have even impressed Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham.

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Not unlike many British rock acts, Royal Blood aren’t exactly known for their stage banter. Outside of Kerr wishing the DC audience a, “good morning” while laughing and Thatcher asking, “Washington, how the fuck are you?,” which elicited a huge roar from the 9:30 crowd, the band let their playing do all of the talking for them.

Let’s face it, any band that could generate the sheer musical force that Royal Blood are capable of as a two-piece would be wise to stick to a similar musical game plan.

Royal Blood ended the night with an extended take on regular set closer “Out of the Black” that saw Kerr mount Thatcher’s drum kit to provide the audience with a final a one-two punch from a British rock band whose level of stardom will likely reach dizzying new heights in 2017 here in the U.S. and beyond.

Royal Blood are likable, talented, engaging and they provide a surreal live rock show that even Voldemort probably would take some time off from hunting that bore Harry Potter down, to take in.

Due yourself a favor and buy a ticket to one Royal Blood’s intimate club venue dates while you still can as it’s basically a fait accompli that the band will be hosting crowds of thousands the next time they play the nation’s capital.