Royal Blood airborne Reading surprise venue: only the heaviest songs will be played for 45 minutes

45 minutes, all heavy. Royal Blood has been announced that it will hold a surprise secret performance at The Gallery stage of Reading Festival at 2pm this Friday (August 28). The time is too short to leave any room. In an interview with NME, lead singer Mike Kerr said very directly: "This setting is actually very brutal, which is also the theme of these performances. Because it is only 45 minutes, we can squeeze all the heaviest songs we have into it. The theme is to be as ruthless as possible." Drummer Ben Thatcher joked about the weather: "I hope it rains so more people can be packed in the tent."

The timing of this secret show is no coincidence. The rock duo born in Brighton have just announced their fifth album "Dead Company" and released a powerful comeback single "Ten Over Ten". The album will be released on November 13 and will be followed by a UK tour in 2026. After more than two years of hiatus, the band recently returned to the stage. Kerr described the feeling as "regaining the rhythm": "We are just enjoying ourselves now. We haven't performed like this for a long time. The meaning of the entire band's existence is to perform live, which is why we record records." He mentioned that after the Lowlands Festival, the two began to "less worry about playing correctly, but to enjoy more freely."

New songs have started to enter the set list. In addition to "Ten Over Ten", the band has also recently added "Swallow The Bomb" and the self-titled hit "Dead Company" to their performances. Kerr said: "'Ten Over Ten' works really well, you can feel the scene already having a bit of familiarity, and it doesn't feel out of place next to some of the biggest songs. 'Swallow The Bomb' is more interesting, and even if the audience has never heard it, I can already see them connecting to the song, which confirms our suspicions that these songs were originally written for the scene."

From 100-person venue to main stage: ten years of Royal Blood and Reading

The relationship between Royal Blood and Reading & Leeds goes back to 2014. At that time, the band had just become famous on the radio with "Out Of The Black" and "Figure It Out", and they were still touring venues with a capacity of 100 people. Kerr recalled: "We suddenly went from performing in front of 100 people to standing in front of a tent filled with thousands of people. It was a bit scary to be honest, but the energy was really great." The following year, they topped the UK charts with their self-titled debut album. When they returned to Reading, they were already on the main stage, and in 2019 they performed at the finale before the opening of The 1975. Kerr also mentioned his memory of going to Reading for the first time when he was 17 years old: "At that time, I looked at the orchestra on the main stage and thought to myself, 'One day.' Now that I am actually standing on these stages, I can't help but think of how surprised I was at 17 years old."

Talking about this year's lineup, the two specifically mentioned that they performed on the same day as the Irish band Fontaines D.C.: "They are in a very similar situation to us now, and they also have a new album coming out." Kerr also believes that in recent years, Reading & Leeds' music selection is increasingly not limited to rock music: "It used to be more purely guitar bands and rock, but I like the mixed look now. It's more like the way everyone listens to music now, not by genre, but by what is exciting at the moment." This year's lineup also includes RAYE, Dave, Florence + The Machine, Chase & Status, Charli XCX and Geese, etc. Reading & Leeds will run from this Friday to Sunday.