As the lights dimmed and fans descended into a state of utter hysteria, flames burst into the air and Palaye Royale erupted onto the stage at a packed Wembley Arena to the opening riff of Nightmares. The entire arena was of a mass of screaming dancing bodies as Remmington Leith strutted around the stage like a libertine dandy with his brother the enigmatic Sebastian Danzig looking every inch like a modern-day Andy Warhol. With their brother Emerson Barrett’s hypnotic drums bringing everything together, Palaye Royale where on fire in every sense.
Palaye Royale @ Wembley Arena
As part of their long anticipated and phenomenally successful Death And Glory tour, the band were playing their biggest show to date and their excitement was infectious. When Remmington spoke to the crowd, telling them: “Wembley Arena, I’ve been waiting my whole life for this fucking moment, I’ve dreamed of playing here since I was 16 years old” and the audience erupted into applause, the emotion that he felt was clear! But this moment of elation was bitter sweet as later in their set before singing the breathtakingly magnificent and heartfelt Fever Dream the 30-year-old frontman talked about their beloved Mum and how she said that they would play this show in her memory and how they never believed her, but now she was looking down on them. His vulnerability was beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. The audience entirely silent as a sign as respect to his mama as tears flowed down their faces. A spine-tingling and lovely moment!
But even before the beautiful boys of rock stepped foot onto the stage, the ecstatic audience had already been thoroughly warmed up by indie rockers The Hunna and Manchester’s finest, Hot Milk.
The Hunna looked ecstatic to be gracing the stage at Wembley and frontman Ryan Potter looked like he was having nearly as much fun as the audience, and that was one hell of a lot. His infectious enthusiasm alone was enough to make them worthy of their slot tonight, but their catchy setlist of much loved tracks such as I Don’t Like You..OK and Can’t Break What’s Broken really sealed the deal.
Hot Milk were high-octane and glorious with huge punchy riffs and ballsy lyrics, reminding the packed audience that they were so much more than a support band, although for a band like this, they sure as hell were ready to make an exception. The stage was all drama, smoke and lasers and the music was as rocky as hell!
Whilst their stage show can only be described as absolutely breathtaking, an epic display that will surely put them down in history as one of the best live performances of the year, the way that Palaye Royale somehow made a show on this gigantic scale feel like such an intimate affair was no less than absolutely stunning. But then this shouldn’t be a surprise as this is what they have built their loyal fan base on and to them, their fans are everything, the very heartbeat of what they do. And even though tonight started with fire, smoke canons, huge balloons and a dramatic stage set, they were always going to remain true to who they are.
And the hits came thick and fast as their fans were treated to a constant supply of many of their most loved tracks like No Love In LA, Addicted To The Wicked & Twisted and the amazing crowd pleaser Fucking With My Head. Throughout their incredible and carefully planned set, there were so many stand out moments that without a doubt this phenomenal show will go down in music history as one those shows that if you there you’ve earned yourself ultimate bragging rights. There was the pinch yourself moment where when the band played Showbiz, Remmington surfed across the audience in a rubber dingy blowing the audience away, then there was the explosion of confetti, where all three brothers rocked their way down the runway amid a sea of pink and red, visually stunning and as rock’n’roll as it gets! And for their fans (affectionally known as the ‘Soldiers of The Royal Council’), this was a night they would never forget.
The meteoritic rise of this incredible band has to be seen to be believed and as for what’s next for Palaye Royale, world domination seems only a heartbeat away.
Live review & photography of Palaye Royale at OVO Arena Wembley, London on 9th November 2024 by Louise Phillips.
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