Royal Blood have been introduced for a shock secret set at this weekend’s Studying Pageant. Try particulars beneath together with our unique interview with the band.
Recent from asserting their fifth album ‘Useless Firm’ with the pummelling comeback single ‘Ten Over Ten‘, the Brighton rock duo have been introduced to be a part of Fontaines D.C., Charli XCX, Geese and plenty of extra on the iconic pageant this Friday (August 28) – the place they’ve been introduced for a shock early set on The Gallery stage at 2pm.
“The set deliberate for Studying is fairly brutal,” frontman Mike Kerr instructed NME. “That’s been the theme for these reveals. It’s solely 45 minutes lengthy so that permits us to play all of the heavier songs that we’ve got. The theme of the present is to make it as relentless as potential.”
Waiting for the questionable climate, drummer Ben Thatcher joked: “Hopefully it rains so we are able to get extra individuals within the tent.”
This comes after the rock veterans not too long ago returned to the stage for the primary time in over two years, with the break from touring leaving them reinvigorated.
“We’re now simply having the most effective time,” mentioned Kerr. “We missed enjoying and it’s been a very long time for us. The entire level of the band is to play dwell. That’s why we make data.”
He continued: “Nothing prepares you for that rush of adrenaline of enjoying dwell once more. After three or 4 tracks we had been settled in. By the point we performed Lowlands Pageant, we worrying much less about enjoying issues proper and simply having enjoyable and being extra free-spirited.”
Current setlists have seen Kerr and Thatcher giving followers a taster of their new document by slipping in ‘Ten Over Ten’ alongside fellow hard-hitting newbies ‘Swallow The Bomb’ and the title observe of ‘Useless Firm’.
“‘Ten Over Ten’ has been nice,” the singer shared. “You’ll be able to already really feel that little little bit of familiarity within the room. It sits alongside among the greatest songs within the set already. ‘Swallow The Bomb’ has been actually good as a result of I can already see individuals within the crowd connecting with it despite the fact that they’ve by no means heard it earlier than. It’s confirmed our suspicions that these songs are supposed to be performed dwell.”
Royal Blood have a storied historical past with Studying & Leeds, with the duo making their first look as a buzzy new band again in 2014.
“The primary time we performed Studying was fairly psychological,” Kerr recalled. “If my reminiscence is appropriate it was after we had ‘Out Of The Black’ and ‘Determine It Out’ on the radio. We had been doing a UK tour of about 100-capacity rooms, a few of them had been promoting out and a few of them weren’t. We had been in that very early stage of touring and attempting to get followers. We rocked as much as Studying and we went from enjoying to 100 individuals to enjoying to a tent that was rammed with 1000’s.
“I keep in mind it being fairly intimidating. It was an enormous shock as a result of we didn’t suppose we may try this. It was scary however the vitality was nice.”
Upon their return the subsequent 12 months after their huge-selling self-titled Quantity One debut album, they discovered themselves on the principle stage. Rising up the line-up, they’d carry out as pre-headliners on the legendary stage in 2019 forward of The 1975.
“Studying was one of many first main festivals I went to after I was about 17,” Kerr instructed NME. “It was absolute carnage and virtually medieval. Everybody was coated in mud and in a primal approach of being. It was a lot enjoyable.
“I’d be mendacity if I mentioned that wasn’t a part of me watching bands enjoying on the principle stage with the thousand-yard-stare considering: ‘In the future’. To play these levels is fairly surreal, and I at all times suppose again to that 17-year-old me and the way impressed he’d be.”
Requested what units Studying & Leeds other than different pageant, the frontman replied: “It’s an anything-goes pageant and feels much less family-oriented for all the precise causes. It’s free and rowdier.”
Thatcher agreed: “We at all times affiliate it with the GCSE outcomes day. You occasion along with your mates, do issues for the primary time with out your dad and mom watching. It’s a ceremony of passage.”
Highlighting the remainder of the line-up – which additionally options headliners RAYE, Dave, Florence + The Machine and Chase & Standing – the band celebrated how far the pageant has come by way of diversifying its invoice.
“It’s nice, and I like the day we’re enjoying on,” mentioned Thatcher. “We’re enjoying on the identical day as Fontaines who’re in the same place to us with a brand new album popping out.”
Kerr went on: “I like how Studying & Leeds is now rather more of a combined bag. Again within the day it was extra straight up guitar bands and rock, however I truly like the place it’s landed. It appears extra reflective of how individuals hearken to music now. It’s not genre-based, however extra on what’s thrilling for the time being.”
Royal Blood’s Studying 2026 secret set will probably be at 2pm on The Gallery Stage on Friday August 28. Try the remainder of the stage instances right here.
The band will launch new album ‘Useless Firm’ on November 13, with a 2026 UK headline tour to observe.
Studying & Leeds runs from Friday via to Sunday. Examine again at NME for the most recent information, evaluations, images, interviews and rather more.
