ROYAL BLOOD // THE SSE HYDRO, GLASGOW

ROYAL BLOOD BRING THEIR HOW DID WE GET SO DARK? TOUR TO GLASGOW'S SSE HYDRO

ROYAL BLOOD PERFORMING AT GLASGOW'S SSE HYDRO - 24/11/2017 PICTURE BY: PAUL STORR PHOTOGRAPHY

ROYAL BLOOD PERFORMING AT GLASGOW'S SSE HYDRO - 24/11/2017
PICTURE BY: PAUL STORR PHOTOGRAPHY

★★★★★

Tonight's openers Black Honey get things off to a great start, with their indie rock sound perfectly carrying over their catchy tunes. Frontwoman Izzy B Phillips looks out into the massive arena and it doesn't seem to phase her at all, with her oozing confidence and the superb musicianship with the rest of the band, they are a perfect way to get the evening going. 

Upping the pace even more, El Paso's At The Drive In take things to another level. Frontman Cedric Bixler moves around the stage like a man possessed. Constantly throwing his mic stand and spinning his mic wire around his neck he doesn't seem to be on the one spot for more than a few seconds. 

During "Pattern Against User" an idiot from the crowd throws a pint at Cedric's face, but this doesn't phase him at all. "Thank you very much, I hope you die" he bellows, before proceeding with the rest of the track. "Don't worry we have 100 more songs then we're gonna come to your house and play 50 more songs. Then when you wake up and think 'I f*cking hate that band'...we'll still be there!" he screams before finishing their set with the tremendous "One Armed Scissor"

Tonight's headliners Royal Blood appear and kick into "Lights Out" from this years "How Did We Get So Dark?". Made up of just two musicians, Mike Kerr (vocals/bass/guitar/keyboards/piano) and Ben Thatcher (drums/percussion/piano), the noise which comes from them is huge. 

The groove is insatiable and can be felt reverberating around the whole arena, with it not letting up the whole evening.

"This is my best friend in the world, his name's Ben Thatcher and he plays the drums" proclaims Mike, before the duo launch into "Little Monster" from 2014's self titled debut album. Including a drum solo, it allows Ben to show off his talent to all present. 

Highlights of the set come in the form of "How Did We Get So Dark?" and main set closer "Figure It Out", which both sound massive live. 

It's not long before the band are back on stage, and powering through an amazing encore of "Ten Tonne Skeleton" and "Out Of The Black" to finish off the night.  

Thinking back to 4 years ago when Royal Blood were playing venues such as Glasgow's tiny Nice N Sleazy, we could always tell they would be destined for bigger things. If they aren't headlining festivals soon, then something is very wrong in the music world!  

PHOTOS AND REVIEW BY: PAUL STORR PHOTOGRAPHY

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