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Royal Blood played at the Radio One’s Big Weekend Festival at Camperdown Park in Dundee, where the rock band was met with a pop-oriented festival crowd that did not clap for them. This led to the band getting annoyed and venting their frustration in a live recording, which sparked backlash towards the band on the internet.
After the start of the duo's performance, singer Mike Kerr responded to the lack of cheers with annoyance, stating:
“I guess I should actually introduce ourselves, seeing as no-one actually knows who we are. We’re called Royal Blood, and this is rock music. Who likes rock music?”
Royal Blood's annoyance met with backlash
After the opening sequence comments, Mike Kerr introduced his drummer Ben Thatcher. Later during the performance, the band was faced with more lack of cheering from the crowd. The singer made the following comments to the crowd, expressing his annoyance:
“We’re having to clap ourselves because that was so pathetic. (Turning and asking the camera man) 'Will you clap for us? Will you clap? You’re busy. Can you clap?' Yes, even he’s clapping. What does that say about you?”
After the performance, Mike Kerr was spotted throwing his guitar to the floor and walking away while pointing both his middle fingers at the crowd as he did so. The reaction of the band was met with backlash, with many calling the band wannabes.
Others called out the band for its sense of entitlement for being rock musicians, while many netizens took to trolling the band, its social media presence and performance.
Tracing Royal Blood and their music career
Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher, who met when they were teenagers, formed Royal Blood in 2011. The duo first played as part of a four-piece band called Flavour Country, before forming Royal Blood.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph in UK, the band detailed their struggles, which continued after the formation of the band:
"We didn’t feel like we’d hit upon something and could suddenly think, we’re rich. ‘It was a struggle. We couldn’t get a gig in Worthing for months. There’s such a poor community for new bands.
The band continued, deploring the state of British band music:
"We ended up just playing a lot of open-mic nights with acoustic singer-songwriters. It’s a really bad thing for British music. I know bands can go online and promote their music, but until you see it live you really can’t figure a band out."
The band released their debut EP, Out of the Black, on 11 March 2014, after signing up with Black Mammoth, a subsidiary of Warner Bros Music. The EP failed to chart, but was received well in the underground scene.
Royal Blood released their debut studio album, Royal Blood, on 22 August 2014. The album peaked as a chart topper on the UK, Irish and Scottish album charts. The album also peaked at numbers 3 and 6 on the Australian and Swedish album charts respectively.
Following the success of their debut album, the band released their second studio album, How Did We Get So Dark?, on 16 June 2017. The album peaked as a chart topper on the UK and Scottish album charts.
The band gained critical acclaim with their third studio album, Typhoons, which was released on 30 April 2021. The album was a chart topper on the UK, Irish and Scottish album charts.
