“The reaction to each track was immense.“
In 2014, the music world was gifted a self-titled debut record by Royal Blood, a rock duo from England. Within this album are tracks that have amassed hundreds of millions of streams across a 10 year career. Songs like ‘Figure It Out‘, ‘Little Monster‘ and ‘Out of the Black‘ have become staples in Royal Blood’s discography and setlists. Over ten years, Royal Blood have consistently been successful, with every one of their four albums consistently becoming chart-toppers. As a warm up to their 10th Anniversary celebratory shows, the BRIT-Award winners brought these records to life in Glasgow’s O2 Academy. The reception from the Scottish crowd was, as always, immaculate.
Crawlers
The support set came from Crawlers, a band I managed to catch at last year’s TRNSMT Festival, also in Glasgow. Like Royal Blood, the group played on the Sunday and the warm weather alongside eager Scottish festival goers made their set one to remember. While I wasn’t able to catch their entire set in this show at the O2 Academy, I did absolutely love what I saw. The lively Liverpool group enticed the crowd with their eclectic range of energy shifting tracks. Dressed in tartan, lead vocalist Holly Minto mentioned that their family are from Scotland. This was obviously met with cheers and applaud from the audience. Joining Minto were Liv May, Amy Woodall and Harry Breen.
Crawlers have been rapidly releasing music since they formed in 2018. However their debut studio record was released in February of this year, “The Mess We Seem To Make“. From this album, songs like ‘Messiah‘ and ‘Come Over (Again)‘ were played. The latter of these was originally released as part of their self-titled EP in 2022 and hearing this live again was incredible. They also performed 2022 single ‘Fuck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say)‘. I will definitely be going to see Crawlers again, their energy and passion is on another level entirely.
Royal Blood
After seeing them at TRNSMT in 2023 and in October at the Usher Hall, I was so excited to see a Scottish date announced by Royal Blood. The 2,500 capacity venue filled quickly and it was amazing to see so many in attendance for Crawlers’ set. The energy only heightened after their set and ear-ringing cheers erupted when Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher took to the stage.
Opening their set with ‘Out of the Black‘, there was no better way to begin their headline show in Glasgow. With the crowd singing along with every word, it was an incredibly immersive atmosphere to be part of. The next track ‘Come On Over‘ was met with equal levels enthusiasm and energy. Carrying on with the lively tracks, ‘Boilermaker‘ from 2021 album “Typhoons” was next, followed by ‘Mountains at Midnight‘ from their most recent release “Back To The Water Below“.
It was amazing to hear a mixture of tracks from their four albums, especially from their debut 10 years ago. Various songs from each of their records made the set list, including many that were fan-favourites. At the end of ‘Little Monster‘, Ben Thatcher‘s divine drumming solo stunned everyone to near silence. A signature in their sets, alongside Mike Kerr‘s stellar solos, Thatcher boasted immense talents behind the kit. Particular highlights for me was hearing ‘Supermodel Avalanches‘, ‘Hook, Line & Sinker‘ and ‘Pull Me Through‘ again. However the reaction to each track was immense and like always, the Scottish crowd didn’t fail to make the duo welcome. With the encore consisting of ‘One Trick Pony‘ and ‘Figure It Out‘, the night ended on a high. I don’t think anyone will have left disappointed.
