Royal Blood rips into ‘pathetic’ crowd at R1’s Big Weekend claiming ‘nobody knows them’
BBC Radio One's Big Weekend festival is over for another year, and among acts like Lewis Capaldi, The 1975, Wet Leg, and Niall Horan, there was one performance that stood out from the rest - though not for the right reasons.
Royal Blood took to the stage at Camperdown Park, Dundee, on Sunday (28 May) but stormed off the stage after calling out the 'pathetic' crowd.
Lead singer Mike Kerr mocked the audience during the set, suggesting that no one in the crowd liked rock music or knew who they were.
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Mid-way through the set, Kerr teased: "I guess I should introduce ourselves since no one knows he we are.
"We're called Royal Blood and this is rock music. Who likes rock music? Nine people. Brilliant."
Later on, when he clearly felt the crowd wasn't cheering enough, he jeered: "We're having to clap ourselves because that was so pathetic."
Turning to the camera man on stage, Kerr asked: "Can you clap for us? Can you clap? Yes, even he's clapping."
Turning back to the audience, he said: "What does that say about you?"
Yeesh. Not the best way to win over a crowd.
The performance came to an abrupt end when Kerr dropped his instrument and stormed off the stage, sticking his middle fingers up to the crowd, leaving drummer Ben Thatcher by himself to wave fans goodbye.
The set was, of course, broadcasted by the BBC, and it wasn't long before Kerr's tantrum went viral.
Now, people are ripping into the lead singer on social media, calling him out for throwing a strop.
Some fans did acknowledge that the crowd mightn't have been entirely made up of Royal Blood fans - what with the band being slotted next to Niall Horan and Lewis Capaldi on the line-up - but pointed out that that was hardly the audience's fault.
Slamming the band on Twitter, one horrified viewer wrote: "I’d be so f***ing p***ed if a band called ***ROYAL BLOOD*** hopped up on stage to play rock and roll, patronised me in a Waitrose accent and then had a literal tantrum because I wasn’t making enough noise. I’d actually lose the plot."
Another, who was allegedly at BBC R1's Big Weekend to see the drama unfold in real time, tweeted: "I was there and like Royal Blood but this was v hard to watch.
"Most of the crowd were into it but it was also Radio1 with Niall Horan on next. Of course the front row was going to be teenage girls?
"They could have at least tried to win them over instead of being p***ks."
Another person, who claimed to be a 'huge fan of Royal Blood' pointed out that throwing a tantrum at a crowd of mostly teenagers 'isn't as rock n roll as you think it is'.
LADbible has reached out to representatives for Royal Blood for comment.
Ali Condon