David Jackson

David Jackson reviews Royal Blood, At The Drive-In and Black Honey at Arena Birmingham

By the end of Royal Blood's headline gig on Saturday, drums were lying scattered across the stage while a bass guitar, hanging on a mic stand, was ringing distorted and effect laden feedback out across the arena.

Royal Blood. Picture: David Jackson

If there was any doubt whether a rock duo could command an arena and captivate 15,000 fans, over the course of 17 songs, singer and bassist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher proved conclusively the answers was ‘yes’.

Royal Blood are currently playing across the country as part of their tour supporting their new album How Did We Get So Dark and at the weekend headlined Arena Birmingham.

Along for the ride was El Paso rock icons At The Drive-In and Brighton's indie rock outfit Black Honey - and we'll address this straight away.

None of these bands seemed natural 'bedfellows' and the line up had more akin with a mid-afternoon at the Reading Festival than an indoor area gig the middle of the Midlands.

Black Honey. Picture: David Jackson

However, it worked perfectly - despite leaving the odd casual observer a little perplexed at times.

Openers Black Honey have been picking up a fans on the back of a string of indie rock with huge pop choruses.

Led by Izzy Phillips, the four piece - whose debut album is out next year - confidently raced through a short seven song set.

Shortly after maracas introduced opening track Arcarsenal, At The Drive-In exploded into life.

Black Honey. Picture: David Jackson

Now sporting a greying beard, Bixler remained a blur throughout their set, leaping off the bass drum at regular intervals and hurling his microphone stand high into the air.

ATDI split their set between tracks from the aforementioned LP and latest record in*ter-a*li*a.

No Wolf Like The Present and Governed By Contagions proved the post-hardcore act are still a force to be reckoned with and still thrilling to witness live - even if some of those entering the arena having been introduced to the headliners via daytime radio were left looking somewhat stumped by their noisy punky discord.

If you're wondering, ‘how did Royal Blood dominate a stage suitable for dozens’, the answer is with lasers, LEDs and video projections which all went some considerable way to creating an electrifying atmosphere.

With bassist Kerr set stage right, drummer Thatcher was set on a small drum rise opposite.

Royal Blood’s set stuck to the tried and tested formula which has won them so many fans.

Royal Blood. Picture: David Jackson

They opened with Lights Out from their latest LP before launching straight into Where Are You Now with the 15,000 strong crowed erupting into life.

Throughout the set, Kerr provided a masterclass in somehow managing to prowl around the stage and walkway as frontman while also playing lead and rhythm riffs simultaneously on his bass.

Come On Over saw the duo surrounded by dozens of red lasers while Little Monster, complete with a mid-song drum solo, was among the early highlights.

Mid way through their set, Kerr paused to talk to the Birmingham crowd.

"This is so surreal, I can't believe this is happening,” he explained.

"This is the biggest gig we've ever done in case you wonder why we look terrified.

"What's weirder for us is you play these songs and you're remember where you were when you wrote them. We never thought we'd be playing them in an arena."

The truth is, neither Kerr nor Thatcher looked in the slightest bit out of their comfort zone, rather relishing in every minute of their set.

Loose Change and Figure It Out brought their set to a close before Royal Blood returned for an encore featuring the pounding Ten Tonne Skeleton and Out of the Black.

By the end of the encore, Kerr was swinging his bass around the stage, creating deafening noises while Thatcher had jumped off the walkway into the crowd, eventually re-emerging for the pair to leave the stage together.

While Birmingham was the pair's biggest headline gig to date, if Royal Blood continue on this form, they'll be playing to thousands more for years to come.