Royal Blood: Live at The Limelight

Brighton-based, Arctic Monkeys-endorsed blues rock duo Royal Blood are playing their first ever Belfast gig, and the excitement throughout the Limelight 2 is palpable.

Opening with ‘Hole’, the two-piece make a ferociously heavy live sound from the get go. Full of distorted bass and and groove-laden drums, Royal Blood bring the thunder like the mighty Thor himself, as pints shake and ear-drums quake to their barrage of neck-bothering songs. Musically, the dynamic duo aren’t a million miles away from other two-piece acts, including Drenge, Winnebago Deal and the Black Keys. Loud yet melodic, tracks like ‘Figure It Out’ and ‘Blood Hands’ go down a storm with both indie kids and metallers alike and in frontman Mike Kerr they have one of the most talented and inventive bassists I’ve heard in a long time.

Recent single ‘Little Monster’ invites a rapturous reaction from the audience and provokes an outbreak of people dancing while slowly head-banging (it looks a little odd, but I applaud their attempts at innovation). Set-closer ‘Out Of The Black’ really marks the boys out as ones to watch: the machine-gun rhythms, powerful grooves and howled vocals are a joy to hear and certainly go a long way towards justifying Royal Blood’s recent hype.