Royal Blood Brisbane Review @ The Riverstage

There’s really only one thing to say about Royal Blood’s (Brisbane) show (7 May): it will fulfil your needs - IDC what they are.

Perth rockers Psychedelic Porn Crumpets blaze out the gates with ‘Gurzle’, doubling and crushing any vibe the background playlist was aiming for… a familiar enough taste, teasing us with a glimpse of the flavours we’ll get from the headliners.

When I first saw these guys play in Hobart last year, persevering through some tech issues, I was both impressed and strangely in agreement that their name pretty much sounds like what you’re gonna get.



Polish Club ‘gave us what for’ but were having a bit of an off night; maybe we wouldn’t have noticed much if they didn’t keep on about it. They turned up and got through it though, touting our own Brisbane virtues by playing their cracker version of Powderfinger’s ‘(Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind’.

I confess I felt like I was watching an animated muppet Animal play with the Cookie Monster, albeit in the best possible way. Frontman David Novak made an orchestral-strings kind of sound come out of his guitar, that was quite delightful.

Click here for more photos from the show.

Ok, now to the real reason we were there. ‘Do A Little Dance’ by KC & The Sunshine Band comes on. What? The cheers are hectic when Mike and Ben appear on The Riverstage podium.

I’m going to be brief, to give you as much time as possible to organise yourself to catch their remaining Australian shows.


They settle us in for the ride with ‘Where Are You Now?’ and ‘Lights Out’, from last year’s ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ release, followed by the enthralling invitation ‘Come On Over’ and the backup singers emerge for ‘I Only Lie When I Love You’.

It’s raining. No one cares. It’s awesome.

‘Little Monster’ seizes us ‘Hook, Line & Sinker’ with ‘Blood Hands’… no we don’t wanna ‘Sleep’ either, with that ‘Hole In Your Heart’: ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’. With a bit of ‘Loose Change’ we could ‘Figure It Out’, right?


For the encore they bury us with their ’Ten Tonne Skeleton’ straight ‘Out Of The Black’. In that order. For 90 exhilarating minutes.

The sound for their set was unbelievable (kudos to those guys).

Ben doesn’t say much, but he tells complete stories with his kit (and the gong!) and we were so grateful for his extended solo in ‘Little Monster’. Two snares, two cowbells and four visceral limbs. He stands humbly and unassumingly sips a beer after the song.

Everything was captivating: everything was heavy, blistering bliss. Their symbiosis scintillating.

Please sir, can I have some more?

You’ve got three chances left: Melbourne (9 May), Groovin The Moo Bunbury (12 May) and Perth (13 May) before they support QOTSA in Canada.