30 minutes before opening act Crawlers took to the stage, I was a little concerned about the size of the crowd. It was not....packed. Not at all empty. But a little sparse. Pockets of fans here, a gaggle of Royal Blood t-shirts there. Most punters will have had to negotiate the quite bonkers riddle of closed roads, closed car parks and an inordinate number of Office Summer Parties in getting to the venue in the first place.
Then, at the venue itself, yet another private party pushed the ticket desk further into the atrium than normal. Oddly, this meant the merch desk was to be found BEFORE the tix and security check.
But WHEN Holly, Amy, Harry and Liv take to the stage to the backing of a low end bass rumble, things pick up and perk up considerably. The band waste little time in making their mark in a short, sharp set punctuated by moments of pure class. Going from strength to strength back in Blighty, the Mersey band showcase exactly why the press are eating them up.
In vocalist Holly Minto (part Cruella, part Jarvis) they possess an genuinely enigmatic and energetic focal point. Full of charisma and armed with a voice that would just as soon serve you a glorious vocal sundae as then melt it directly off your spoon, Holly prowls the stage, demanding hand claps, dropping to the floor and leaping atop the monitors.
With just the two EPs, to their name, the foursome rely on the sizzling crackers that have served them so well over the festvial season, such as the anthemic Too Soon, a blistering Messiah, the glorious I Can’t Drive and a powerful That Time Of Year Always. But it is with TikTok phenomenon Come Over (Again) that many of the audience begin nodding in recognition.
As Crawlers draw their set to a close, flower stems have been gripped in teeth and flung into the audience, bass player Liv has settled into a dynamo groove, all rolling shoulders and tight licks. Amy on guitar glowers and glares chiming notes hanging in the warm summer evening air and Harry on drums rips and rattles when called for and holds back when the songs need him to. The band are bang on point, as during a rousing I Don’t Want It, the crowd are encouraged to drop down and jump on beat - a risky move for a band with such a low profile here in the GD. I needn’t have worried, as, bar a few grumpy souls, for a moment the Abbaye goes off its nuts, crazy. Those that had not heard of Crawlers ahead of this how, now have a set of new heroes to follow.
As dusk closes in, so to do the audience, bringing a far tighter feel to the evening, dispelling any concerns that Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher of Royal Blood could be a little disgruntled. Decked out in signature black, the pair pound, pummel and propel an urgent set list that is low on bantz and high on decibels.
Royal Blood have had to navigate fairly choppy waters over the last four weeks and it would be very easy to rely on THAT show as a comparative measure. Kerr and Thatcher have never been sages of the stage, and that recent backlash may explain their reticence in going off cuff. Fortunately, Royal Blood are a band that can let their tunes do the talking. Kicking off with Hole, Come On Over, Boilermaker and Lights Out, there’s little time to catch your breath. The atmosphere is groovy over moshy, but there are a dedicated group front of stage determined to have a good time.
New track Mountains At Midnight fits in seamlessly and then we are into a run of hits that would make many acts blush, as the duo (sometimes joined by a keyboard player) tear through fan favourites Trouble’s Coming, Typhoons and Loose change.
As an errant beer cup finds its way onstage, Kerr does his best T-1000 finger wag and reminds that this ‘isn’t a fucking Harry Styles gig’, between that, a lost and found fan and calls to find out how ‘Luxembourg is doing’. Thatcher says not one word... nor does he spit tequila. Thank the lords.
Little Monster, Limbo, Ten Tonne Skeleton and Figure It Out are dispatched with a ruthless intent that sees 3/4s of Crawlers tear into the frothing and flailing pit.
Royal Blood, are...a couple of meme-able decisions aside, a very strong live proposition. Here they ploughed through a rip-roaring set list, taking in their strongest (though Oblivion was conspicuous by its absence).. but, and there is one, sorrynotsorry, it can feel a little one-note. As impressive as the riffing may be and the deeper the guitar notes go, there is a pattern that has befallen Royal Blood. Having seen them perform four times, there is v. little to separate the shows.
Luxembourg IS a small country, and that in some way goes to explain the world’s smallest circle pit as the Blood pair crank out the last passages from set closer Out Of The Black.
Perhaps new album Back To The Water Below will address that balance. As they exit the stage and the licks reverberate off the Grund’s walls Mike says they will be back.
I hope we can see them back at den A, and have them strip the paint from the walls once more.
