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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Laura Harding & Kaitlin Easton

Royal Blood singer 'meant no offence' calling Dundee Big Weekend crowd 'pathetic'

The singer of a rock duo who called a Dundee crowd "pathetic" during Radio 1's Big Weekend has said he "meant no offence".

Royal Blood singer Mike Kerr showed the crowd his middle fingers and called them "pathetic" after performing on the main stage at the festival last Sunday.

The British rock duo - who slotted in between pop stars Niall Horan and Lewis Capaldi - have now spoken out after being slammed for their behaviour.

Kerr said he was "trying to make light of the situation".

The performance was from the BBC's online coverage but a video shared by The Rock Revival went viral on Twitter with more than 18 million views and a number of comments.

Royal Blood called out the crowd for not knowing them (BBC)

Speaking to Greg James on his Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Kerr said: "I'm amazed at how that escalated to that kind of size.

"Walking off from that show I felt I was being entertaining, in a way of trying to make light of the situation, perhaps I was doing a performance where I felt a little bit out of place.

"I expected to be a little bit bemused and maybe confuse a few people, but not to that kind of scale. [It was] pretty wild."

Drummer Ben Thatcher said: "It was a moment of madness that has gone out of control I think. We actually loved the gig.

"We love playing music, and we love doing what we do. So it has been a bit of a mad week to come out of this."

Kerr continued: "It was somewhat of a blip on my part, because it would have taken me three minutes to think 'Maybe these people don't know who you are'.

"But I wasn't going through that thought process. I was very pumped backstage and I actually really enjoyed playing, I had a great time.

"The ending to me, I felt like a sort of pro wrestler. I was walking off like a sort of pantomime villain, I didn't feel like I'd done anything morally wrong.

"I felt like a bit of a wind-up. Honestly, that's kind of how I felt."

When James said Kerr was dry in his humour, Kerr agreed, saying he was "dry as MDF".

He said he had watched the performance back, adding: "When I'm in that zone there's a part of my personality which only exists on stage. I can't find any other context in which I'm that energised.

"I feel like I look different when I'm on stage. Offstage, I'm very quiet and sort of awkward.

"That's why I love it, because there's an energy to it. I guess it's very easy to get sort of swept up in that energy and honestly, it's quite fun and I don't mean any offence.

"My intention is never to alienate anyone or anyone away."

Asked if he wanted share a message with the crowd from Dundee, he said: "My message is that I meant no offence. We look forward to coming back. And applause is optional."

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