Royal Blood come out of the black at Reading 2014

In case of emergencies, against all logic, Royal Blood could probably make a stab at headlining Reading Festival right now. Today. This instant. If an Arctic Monkey stubs his toe, if Blink-182 decide actually, we’re alright, they’ve had enough - Royal Blood could step up and not embarrass themselves.

Yes, their debut album isn’t out yet. Really this packed NME / BBC Radio 1 tent should only know a few singles, and yet here they are going absolutely mental for every hundred mile high riff, singing back every word. They say little, which in itself says a lot. ‘Come On Over’, ‘Figure It Out’, ‘Little Monster’ and ‘Out of the Black’ all sound massive. ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’ is even bigger. The circle pits rage so fierce that, by the end of their set, you’d expect to find something approaching the grand canyon sitting front and centre of the stage.

In just over a week, Royal Blood will be a much, much bigger band. On Monday, they release their debut album. Seven days from tomorrow, there’s every chance they’ll be sitting near the top of the charts. These are all things we can measure - dates, sales figures, near statistical certainties. And yet that’s not what it’s all about. This is - tens of thousands of people going absolutely off the chain for a British rock band. And what a band they are.