Palaye Royale at O2 Academy Birmingham (9.11.2025) with The Hunna + The Molotovs supporting.
A very rainy night in Birmingham and I’m stood outside in the big queue to get in to the O2 Academy, with wife Sally, after a trip to Villa Park to watch the footy, in particular AFC Bournemouth.
I happened to have seen a journalist’s current top ten bands summary a few weeks back and Palaye Royale were in it. I hadn’t heard of them but liked the sound of their style, so when looking to see if there were any gigs on while we were up here, I grabbed the chance of tickets when seeing that Palaye Royale were on. Then a week ago I looked up to see the support and blow me it was The Hunna and The Molotovs… I would happily have bought the tickets just to see either of them.
The O2 Priority queue ‘isn’t working tonight’. I didn’t realise the perk was optional. However, the shorter of the two queues was for the unreserved seated balcony that we had tickets for. Fortunate, as I can hear The Molotovs playing inside and the other queue looks like half an hour in the pouring rain.
We must have missed half the set but I have been trying to see this young trio for ages. Punchy, energetic and reminiscent of early Jam. This lot, including 19-year-old brother and sister, have been making waves and with a debut LP in January, Wasted on Youth, there are more exciting times coming.
Shortly after we get in, they play a rousing cover of Suffragette City. A good reception to that and the rest of the set. The 3,000 capacity venue is full – standing downstairs and seating on the balcony.
Next up, in front of the swaying crowd down below us are The Hunna. We’ve seen them a fair bit – got their albums on CD – and this is a bonus tonight. Frontman, Ryan Potter, opts for a set of the more wild rock than indie rock end of their spectrum, which it turns out fits the headliner’s style best. You have to be going it a bit to get your top off as a support band… but Ryan gets there. He plays his part in bigging up the main attraction and winding up the crowd anticipation for them.
A short sharp shock of a set. Do we need another band we wonder…it’s been a long day and Bournemouth got hammered 4-0 by The Villa earlier….. but Palaye Royale (PR) make it easy for us. What a performance and the set was not that long – hour and a half maybe.
PR have released four albums since their first in 2016. Tonight it’s the last one they are celebrating on the final gig of their Death or Glory tour, named after the 2024 LP.
The group is five on stage but the core of the band is three members that have been together since forming a band in Las Vegas in 2008. They subsequently moved west, to Los Angeles. Two guitarists but I see no bass. The keyboards seem to do that job to add to any guitar sound.
No messing when they start. Appearing through a door in the back of the stage set, they kick off with the track Death or Glory. I’ve been listening to this album as my focused gig revision, so some familiarity is there. Then the fireworks start…already, and literally.
My instant thought is My Chemical Romance as a soundalike, and the figure of Remington Leith up front. What a huge amount of stage presence he has. There’s an Alice Cooper in there and as the set evolves I can hear T Rex and retro rock sounds. They do get glam rock, art rock, and fashion rock labels. The show and the visuals are an important ingredient. This band is so much more than its recorded works.
Addicted to the Wicked and Twisted starts quietly and then builds, straining Remington’s vocals to the limit. So much effort to control it from exploding. Another notable Death or Glory track in the mid-set is Showbiz. A slower start with guitar riffs to savour.
Large, nicely weighted, balloons are pushed out from the stage for a song or two of floating about before the final burst. All very Muse show of the noughties.
It didn’t take Remington Leith that many songs to get stripped down to his waist. That seemed a more natural image than his suit and tie start…yes, a tie. Not even for work these days eh.
Leith’s activity is staggering. He leaps down from the drum and keyboard plinth, stands up on top of the crowd, jumps down in the crowd, parting it to start the mosh. Later he disappears down a side and appears up dancing on the left balcony – the stewards must be having kittens, having been shining torches on anyone standing near the balcony edge. Not sure if something has happened here – there is an extra rail that looks to have been a later attachment.
But the real show stopper: an inflatable raft appears out of the front pit and onto the crowd heads at the front – then Leith leaps aboard before riding the sea of fans.
The whole band are giving it their all but no one is at that frontman Leith’s level. Unstoppable. It is the last night of the tour and it has that celebratory, leave it all out there feel.
The two-song encore finishes with For You, again from Death or Glory. It’s anthemic with a tuneful chorus – a fine finale.
Glad I managed to catch this epic showman and his band. The women next to us pointed out that Palaye Royale played Wembley, and I think they have the presence to play anywhere. Even better then to get to see them somewhere more up close.
Gigs with Ivan 