Royal Blood played the BBC Radio 1 festival Big Weekend over the weekend and it got pretty cringey, pretty quickly.
It all started when Royal Blood frontman Mike Kerr called the audience out for not clapping, saying "Well, I guess I should 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?" Frankly, I think it's great that Kerr told the audience that Royal Blood plays rock music. They probably had no idea what was going on prior to that.
Upon receiving a little applause, Kerr than said "Nine people, brilliant. This is Ben Thatcher, he plays drums, everybody say hi to Ben, please." He also later added "We're having to clap ourselves because that was so pathetic. Well done, Ben."
And because Kerr seems incapable of just dropping it and moving on, he later addressed the cameraman saying "Will you clap for us? You clap? You're busy. Can you clap? Yes, even he's clapping. What does that say about you?"Then to top it all off, Kerr put down his guitar at the end of the set and walked off with two middle fingers high in the air.
Look, I understand maybe a tour isn't going well or that sometimes an audience just isn't feeling it. I'm sure it's frustrating not to have the energy you're bringing reciprocated by those in attendance. But to call them out and flip them off for not reacting the way you want to act feels a little childish, right? Especially at a major festival where some folks are probably there just to see one or two specific artists.
Though here we are, talking about Royal Blood. So I guess the flip side of that argument is that they inherently win by making headlines. Regardless, have some respect for the audiences you're playing for no matter what their preferences are.
