Royal Republic review: Rock and roll still alive but needs to be moved forward

Royal Republic performing at The Waterfront, Norwich. Picture: Marc Betts (Image: Archant)

The Swedish band, although you could easily mistake them for Californians due to lead vocalist Adam Grahn's accent, from Malmo visited the fine city as part of their world tour following the release of the latest album Club Majesty in May.

The rock and roll band is known throughout central Europe and will have come to the forefront for many UK music fans after their appearance at heavy metal festival Download this year.

It was clear to see the inspiration for a lot of the band's music has come from the late 1990s and early 2000s punk rock scene with a lot of their hits following the same style as The Subways and Blink 182.

These bands have also praised and supported Royal Republic and helped them gain international recognition.

Royal Republic performing at The Waterfront, Norwich. Picture: Marc Betts (Image: Archant)

It was good to see punk/rock and roll still alive and well in an era dominated by dance music, but it would have been nice to see more diversity in the band's hits, as each song followed the same progression and became predictable.

This left me wanting more from them as they hit it visually, but there needed to be more personality and evolution in their music.

Despite this, The Waterfront was packed with fans of all ages enjoying the rock tones and singing along to their hits Getting Along and Baby.

It was a good show but I left wanting more from the band and for them to take their inspiration from the early 2000s and take it a step further, putting their on mark on rock and roll, moving the genre on.

Royal Republic continue their tour with dates in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham.

Worth seeing if you can, but I do not expect any of these shows to sell-out.