ROYAL BLOOD – DE LA WARR PAVILION, BEXHILL-ON-SEA 08.08.19
Ahead of their festival appearances at Lowlands (Netherlands), and Pukkelpop (Belgium), as well as dates in Luxembourg, Switzerland and France, Brighton’s very own adopted sons Royal Blood thankfully announced an extra date to their August events and it was to be here in Sussex.
It wasn’t the Brighton Centre this time around like their 29th November 2017 gig, but a short distance away along the coast in the iconic De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea on Thursday 8th August. They had already announced gigs in Southampton, Newport, Dundee, Nottingham and Margate, but I guess you can call the Bexhill one a late booking. Our photographer Sara-Louise Bowrey was in attendance in Bexhill and grabbed a few shots for us all to enjoy.
Royal Blood are Mike Kerr on bass guitar and Ben Thatcher on drums and they have stated that “Playing live is the DNA of what we do as a band and nothing connects us to our music, each other and our fans more!”. Hence the new set of concert dates. There’s no new album to plug, with their previous two being June 2017’s ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ and their August 2014 ‘Royal Blood’ self-titled debut album. The guys just wanna get out there!
Mike and Ben are two best friends who hail from West Sussex – Mike grew up in Worthing and Ben is from nearby Rustington. They have been performing together since they were teenagers and they officially formed the Royal Blood partnership in Brighton at the start of 2013. The guys worked hard and developed their sound at the Brighton Electric Recording Studios in Coombe Terrace, Lewes Road, Brighton. During their time recording here, they were snapped up by Warner/Chappell Music and then they joined the same management company as the Arctic Monkeys.
They released their first single ‘Out Of The Black’ in November 2013 and things took off for them. Their first album, ‘Royal Blood’ made top spot in the Official Album Charts here in the UK and success followed success. As a result of this, Royal Blood were awarded ‘Best New Band of 2015’ by the one and only Jimmy Page.
Both Mike and Ben have said how much they are influenced by Led Zeppelin members Robert Plant and the late John Bonham and their sound is reminiscent of the legendary Zeppelin, but firmly set in the 21st century. It’s worth making a note that they have amassed well over half a million followers on their Facebook page.
The De La Warr faithful were treated to 16 tunes from the guys and thus tonight’s Royal Blood setlist reads:
‘Hook, Line & Sinker’
‘Come on Over’
‘You Can Be So Cruel’
‘Lights Out’
‘Loose Change’
‘I Only Lie When I Love You’
‘Boilermaker’
‘Little Monster’
‘How Did We Get So Dark?’
‘King’
‘Hole in Your Heart’
‘Blood Hands’
‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’
‘Out of the Black’
(encore)
‘Where Are You Now?’
‘Figure It Out’
For those that are interested in comparing the setlist on this Sussex gig date from their 2017 Brighton performance, here’s the Brighton Centre running order: ‘Lights Out’, ‘Where Are You Now?’, ‘Come On Over’, ‘You Can Be So Cruel’, ‘I Only Lie When I Love You’ , ‘She’s Creeping’, ‘Look Like You Know’, ‘Little Monster’, ‘Hook, Line And Sinker’, ‘Blood Hands’, ‘Sleep’, ‘Hole In Your Heart’, ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’, ‘Loose Change’, ‘Figure It Out’, (encore) ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’ and ‘Out Of The Black’.
For more information on Royal Blood click here: www.royalbloodband.com
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