Royal Blood’s Ben Thatcher wears Arctic Monkeys shirt at Glastonbury to return 2013 gesture from Matt Helders

23 June, 2023

Ben Thatcher, Matt Helders

Royal Blood drummer Ben Thatcher wore an Arctic Monkeys shirt during his set at Glastonbury Festival today (June 23), returning the favour to Monkeys’ drummer Matt Helders, who sported a Royal Blood shirt during his own Glasto set back in 2013.

READ MORE: Glastonbury 2023 liveblog: all of Friday’s action as it happens

Royal Blood took to the Pyramid Stage at Glasto 2023 this afternoon, in the slot between Foo Fighters – who were revealed to be mystery band The Churnups – and headliners Arctic Monkeys.

Back in 2013, Arctic Monkeys drummer Helders wore a Royal Blood t-shirt during their Glastonbury headline set. To return the gesture, Thatcher took to the stage in an Arctic Monkeys t-shirt 10 years later.

ICONIC

— Wanting FSG OUT #FSGOUT (@Lpool_5843) June 23, 2023

Royal Blood opened with ‘Out Of The Black’, also performing tracks including ‘Come On Over’, ‘Boilermaker’, ‘Lights Out’, ‘Mountains At Midnight’ and more.

The band, however did not address the moment their annoyed reaction to the crowd at Radio One’s Big Weekend that went viral recently.

“I guess I should actually introduce ourselves seeing as no-one actually knows who we are,” frontman Mike Kerr told the crowd last month. “We’re called Royal Blood and this is rock music.”

Kerr’s annoyance with the crowd was met with a variety of responses. While some understood their frustration, others wondered what they could have expected, as they were playing for a crowd there waiting to see Niall Horan.

I don’t know what they were hoping to gain from this?

That stage was headlined by Lewis Capaldi so a pop heavy crowd.

Royal Blood also weren’t announced until after it had sold out so NO ONE bought a ticket for them. Screwed a chance to gain new fans.

Embarrassing man https://t.co/7fvdmLlBYg

— Kyle (@KyleWattPhoto) May 29, 2023