The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Duo slammed as walk-off is big online hit
Music fans haYe hit out at 5o\al %lood after a Yideo of the Eand storPing off the 5adio ’s %ig :eeNend stage went Yiral.
7he %rit $ward winning rocN duo who were the last act announced for the &aPperdown 3arN eYent in 'undee perforPed on the Pain stage Eefore 1iall +oran on 6unda\.
1ot iPpressed with the crowd’s reaction the Eand q consisting of 0iNe .err and %en 7hatcher q Pade their feelings Nnown throughout their set.
6inger .err said “, guess we should introduce ourselYes seeing as no one Nnows who we are.
“:e’re called 5o\al %lood and this is rocN Pusic. :ho liNes rocN Pusic" 1ine people Erilliant.”
$fter perforPing their hit /ittle 0onster .err said “:e’re haYing to clap ourselYes Eecause that was so pathetic well done %en.”
)ocusing on the caPera he continued “:ill \ou clap for us" 2r are \ou Eus\" (Yen he’s clapping
“If
you can’t win over a crowd it’s not the crowd’s fault
what does that sa\ aEout \ou"”
$fter finishing the set the Eass pla\er sulNed off stage holding his Piddle fingers aloft as he departed.
7he perforPance has now Eeen rePoYed froP the %%&’s i3la\er serYice.
)ootage of .err’s strop has gone Yiral with 7he 5ocN 5eYiYal’s Yideo reaching Pillion Yiews on 7witter.
0usic fans haYe also reacted in their thousands.
2ne writer posted “,f \ou can’t win a crowd it’s not the crowd’s fault.”
$nother wrote “+uge fan of 5o\al %lood and their Pusic Eut throwing a tantruP liNe this at a crowd filled with teenagers isn’t as rocN ’n’ roll as \ou thinN it is.”
7he &ourier coluPnist $listair +eather Eranded the group “fillers of a stage while we wait for proper talent to turn up”.
%ut soPe Pusic fans s\Ppathised with the group ElaPing the scheduling.
2ne user wrote “)estiYal organisers put theP on Eefore 1iall +oran and /ewis &apaldi whose idea was that"”
$nother said “, was there and enMo\ed 5o\al %lood.
“+oweYer the 6unda\ audience had a large proportion of Nids and a crowd predoPinantl\ there to see /ewis &apaldi.
“1ot e[actl\ going to go down a storP in that enYironPent.”
6unda\ was 5o\al %lood’s second appearance in the cit\ after perforPing at the &aird +all in .
Royal Blood are a terrible wannabe rock band, whose set fell absolutely flat up at Camperdown. In among all the joyful tunes, sunshine and success of Radio 1’s Big Weekend, these guys were a sole black cloud.
The singer exited the stage with his two middle fingers raised at the crowd, after slagging them off repeatedly throughout the lame set.
Their petted-lip petulance has subsequently gone viral online.
And they have been roundly – and correctly – slagged for it.
But first, some quick context for the great many of you who won’t have heard of them...
Royal Blood are a two-piece band from the little English seaside town of Worthing, West Sussex.
The pair are in their early middle age, and have enjoyed reasonable chart success over the last handful of years. They play a sort of rocked-up, radio-friendly edgy pop. Fine, nae harm tae them.
But then they turned up at the Big Weekend, at a sunny Camperdown, where families and fans of all ages had turned out in their thousands to enjoy themselves.
I bet no more than a handful of them had turned up to see Royal Blood.
Yet these guys came out onstage, in their predictable black outfits and sunglasses, and expected the audience to swoon, sway and scream for them before they had even so much as plugged in an amp.
“We’re having to clap ourselves because that was so pathetic,” said the singer, Mike Kerr, of the audience reception at one point.
At the conclusion of the show, as he walked off giving the middle finger to aabdy in Camperdown, the drummer Ben Thatcher stood on the edge of the stage pointing at people in the crowd and demanding they cheer up, before storming off.
The hissy fit would be funny if these two prima donnas wernae actively trying to ruin a fun day out for the thousands in attendance. The pair have subsequently become a laughing stock among huge swathes of the music community online, which is heartwarming.
It’s been hard to find posts about the moment that don’t include swearing. But Manchester band The Lottery Winners put it nicely, posting: “No matter what level you get to, you’re never better than the audience.”
Even Royal Blood fans (the puir craiters) wernae impressed, reminding them of the golden rule: “Respect your audience, always.”
See, it doesn’t have to be like that. I went along to see an actual rock band in Dundee a wee while back: Machine Head.
The time-served heavy metal legends were about to embark on a stadium tour of Europe. So they decided to do five Scottish gigs in small venues to get themselves amped up for the bigger gigs by drawing on the famous energy of Scotland’s crowds.
It was a cold Monday night at Fat Sam’s, and the crowd were sober and initially downbeat. But Machine Head constantly worked the room, kept engaging, even sent their bassist out into the mosh pit to get the energy up.
By the halfway point the place was bouncing. And all of the initial sparks came from the stage.
The football fans among us will know the feeling too.
A packed Dens or Tannadice can be as quiet as a library when the home side gives us nothing to cheer. But give us a performance, give us energy and dedication. Snap into a 50/50 or rattle in a goal and the place will roar and crackle.
Royal Blood have hopefully been taught their lesson in Dundee.
But the incident, and the success of the Big Weekend did remind me that in 2018, the folk who own Mecca Bingo proposed turning it into a 6,000 seater venue.
That didnae happen. But they went back to the drawing board and are now proposing a £70 million venue that will have a maximum capacity of 10,000. What a brilliant thing that would be. In the old days, The Beatles, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones all played Caird Hall but that venue doesnae cut it any more.
And when the big acts want to play around here, they end up stuck, like poor old Elton John, at St Johnstone’s football ground, in an industrial estate out the back
In the old days, The Beatles played Caird Hall but it doesnae cut it any more
of Perth. That’s nae use. The Big Weekend showed the city can host these big acts, and that there’s an audience there for them.
Hopefully that gives the developers at the Mecca Bingo confidence to push ahead with their massive venue plans.
When the great acts are booking their tours, Dundee should be on every list.
But Royal Blood might do well to stay away, for a wee while at least.