Sterling British indie: The Royston Club whip fans into a frenzy at Edinburgh’s La Belle Angele
The Wrexham band’s first visit to Scotland’s capital made for a tireless Sunday night.
Photo: Isla Kerr
A little less than a year on from the release of their debut album Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars, The Royston Club are still tirelessly roaming the UK’s live circuit, bringing fan favourite tracks to venues up and down the country with their ever-growing confidence. This meant that although most Sundays are for blues, Scotland’s capital got that Friday feeling this past weekend as The Royston Club roused Edinburgh’s La Belle Angele into an upbeat indie frenzy on Sunday night.
Supported by Alex Spencer and Edinburgh’s own swim school, the crowd was bustling beneath the stage’s multicoloured lights from early on, more than ready to translate their already rapturous applauses for these high-energy artists into the unparalleled chaos that was about to ensue.
As soon as The Royston Club stepped out on stage whoops and cheers threatened to shatter eardrums as the band picked up their instruments and played the opening notes to Blisters. Instantly joined by the less than choir-like crowd, the audience sang every note and every word, absolutely fizzing with energy and prepared to leave it all on the drink-soaked floor beneath them.
With such high-flying tracks, the band quickly moved into the nostalgia baked Shallow Tragedy and Cold Sweats. The former featuring a new ‘bit’ from the band, who froze in synchronization following the track’s bridge, allowing the noise from the room to be heard in all its glory as each ecstatic individual passionately continued belting the lyrics that were yet to come.
By this point it was abundantly clear there would be no song that didn’t go down well, and so the Wrexham quartet played three unreleased tracks in between the classics that were still to be played. The unreleased Through the Cracks and Glued to Bed featured some gorgeous harmonies amongst the well-preserved DNA of a TRC tune. But it was the third single, Patch Where Nothing Grows, that really won the battle of the new tracks. Consisting of a slightly heavier sound than we’re used to from the often-jangly quartet, the song still held onto that Royston twang that we’ve come to know and love, making for an exciting new tune that is sure to be hotly anticipated in the coming months.
Yet, it was when fan favourite Mrs Narcissistic was played that the hedonistic youthfulness of a TRC song really took over. The crowd opening up into what can only be described as a mega mosh pit for such a small venue, careening into each other as vocalist Tom Faithfull proved to be an inspiring frontman who could conduct the crowd into chaos with just his hands.
“I know it’s sweaty but give us everything you’ve got”, he told the audience before the last two songs: the band admirably avoiding the predictability of an encore by going straight into crowd-pleasers Mariana and I’m a Liar.
So, not only did the mosh continue and expand, but tops were off as the room seemed to literally bounce, leaving the gig on an all-time high and making it hard for fans to come down to reality when Tom ultimately said, “We’ve been The Royston Club, you’ve been superb.”
And, although the crowd was undeniably superb, so were the band. They played with such precision and unbridled energy that joy and momentum continuously jolted from the stage, earning screams of ‘I love you’ from already dedicated fans. And, while the set could have been slightly longer — having lasted about an hour — you get the feeling that’s more than they’ll ever need to win over the room.
Photos by Isla Kerr.