“He incited a level of restricted anarchy.”
Off the back of their fourth consecutive Number 1 album, Brighton duo Royal Blood bring their discography of hits to life in front their dedicated Scottish fans. The packed out venue sang along with every word and watched in amazement as the pair livened up Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
HotWax
Three-piece group HotWax took to the stage and performed a set that brought together numerous musical styles. The members forming this genre combining group are Alfie Sayers on drums, Lola Sam on bass, and Tallulah Sim-Savage on vocals and guitar.
Not only do they break boundaries by fusing together several genres on each track, they are also one of the only bands of this style fronted by women that I’ve personally seen live. With Sim-Savage providing vocals that portray raw emotion and meaning to each song, she proves that women can be successful in grunge, alternative, and punk music too! The trio have been recognised and supported by big names in music, who are also led by women including Nova Twins and Wolf Alice.
While this concert is off the back of another Number 1 album for Royal Blood, this set also acted as a joint celebration of HotWax’s latest EP released only days before on October 18th. Their second EP is named “Invite me, kindly” and the five tracks include tracks like ‘Drop‘ which has collected nearly 73,000 streams since it’s release. Other tracks forming the impressive setlist included their 2023 single ‘Rip It Out‘. This is the trio’s currently most streamed song with just over 285,000 streams and the catchy choruses enticed the crowd.
HotWax are a band I’d definitely see live again, their stage presence is really good and they’re very intriguing to watch on stage.
Royal Blood
Royal Blood were up next and took to the stage as a headliner to the sound of the cheers of everyone in the room. Drummer Ben Thatcher took it all in as he strolled to his drum kit that sat centre stage. Frontman Mike Kerr came to the front of the stage, also appearing to soak in the appreciation and admiration of the crowd.
In a powerful setlist that kept everyone dancing, moving, and singing all night long, Royal Blood showed exactly why they are are so successful. Their fourth consecutive Number 1 album, “Back To The Water Below” formed the foundation for their setlist, including songs like ‘Mountains At Midnight‘ and ‘Shinier In The Dark‘. While this fourth release was the topic of the tour, the Brighton duo branched out and played earlier tracks that provided the dedicated audience in front of them.
Songs from their self-titled debut album seemed to have some of the biggest reactions. This involved popular tunes such as ‘Little Monster‘, ‘Figure It Out‘, and ‘Out of the Black‘ which are three of Royal Blood’s most streamed songs so far. Also forming a huge portion of the setlist were songs from 2021 album “Typhoons“. These songs were also met with huge cheers and included well known ones like ‘Trouble’s Coming‘, ‘Boilermaker‘, and title track ‘Typhoons‘.
During the bridge of one of their songs, Ben Thatcher made his way into the crowd and opened up the mosh pit that had been going continuously throughout the entire gig. He incited a level of restricted anarchy as the fans jumped and threw themselves around the floor yet again.
No matter which album or song they played, every song on Royal Blood’s hit-filled setlist was sang by the Edinburgh crowd with immense volume and enthusiasm. At times, it was difficult to hear what Mike Kerr was singing because the Scottish fans were so loud. It is honestly one of the best and most atmospheric gigs I’ve ever attended. Everyone was there for one thing only, to see, arguably, one of the best live bands this generation has produced.
