While the club is still operating under the Utah mask mandate, an unusually large crowd showed up and the energy was definitely high. As we’ve covered recently, there’s a lot of pent-up demand for live music, and both bands were up to the challenge.
Late Night Savior opened the show and played an awesome set—closing with a couple my recent favorites: Angel and a cover of Sam Smith’s How Do You Sleep. The band recently recorded the cover with Bliss members Neil Middleton and Taylor Richards. Middleton and Taylor ended up joining LNS on stage for the song, which provided a perfect segue for the Bliss to take the stage.
Late Night Savior are joined on stage by Neil Middleton and Taylor Richards for the last song in their set: the Sam Smith song “How Do You Sleep.”
As the band got into their set, Middleton noted that it was a strange feeling being home for so many months at a time. Typically, the band is on the road for long stretches of time and, jokingly, he mentioned how great it is to actually be a normal dad.
What makes these rare pandemic-era Royal Bliss shows special are seeing the band perform the many great songs from their 2019 self-titled album, Royal Bliss. The album was released late in 2019, prior to the 2020 tour season. With the dreaded lockdowns coming early in 2020, the band has not had many opportunities to perform their new material live. Likewise, their fans have not had much opportunity to see the band perform them.
With the dreaded lockdowns coming early in 2020, the band has not had many opportunities to perform their new material live.
Seeing Bliss perform songs like Pain, Paranoid and SWIMU—was a huge treat for the audience. (By the way, Paranoid just passed 1 million streams on Spotify! Check out our July 2020 Song Picks post where we featured the song.)
Fans outside of Utah will have to wait a bit longer. In September, the band will be joining Fozzy on the Save The World tour, which will take the band to roughly 12 states and 16 cities. I’m guessing that number is going to grow. Middleton also told me to expect a “few small runs, starting at the end of May.”
Touring typically pushes new material into the spotlight. While the band is enjoying some success on the streaming side of the business, I can’t help but wonder how popular the new album would be right now had the pandemic not reared its ugly head.
I remember telling Preston Creed a few months ago that, were it not for the pandemic, I do believe Royal Bliss—and other outfits like Creed’s band, Jägertown—would have vaulted in 2020 to that stratospheric level few bands are able to.
I feel it’s just a matter of time before this leap happens, regardless, and it seems like Royal Bliss has used the pandemic downtime to rest up and prepare for the next big leap.
And rested they seemed to be. I’ve seen Royal Bliss twice before, and this show certainly seemed to me like they were playing at their peak. The guys seemed relaxed and in control of every aspect of the show. Their performance as flawless. Middleton was on fire and I loved watching Taylor Richards roam the stage while seemingly ripping great lead riffs at will.
Taylor Richards reminded me how much I love bands with guitarists unafraid to play lead guitar.
In addition to the great performance and electric vibe in the audience, the night was made more special given the band’s celebration of drummer Jake Smith’s birthday. There were also some good natured jabs at long-time Bliss sound man Nick “Too Tall” whose birthday was coming up the following week.
Keep an eye open for upcoming Royal Bliss shows in Utah before they head out fo their 2021 tour. When they do head out, I have a feeling they might be gone for a long time.
Salt Lake Bard is Utah’s dedicated local music media outlet. See more local music reviews like this.
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