While I will admit that you had to be at the Royal Republic show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London to completely get that title, you must admit that it is no ordinary title. Just as this was no ordinary show.
Royal Republic – The Intersphere
O2 Forum Kentish Town – 13 February 2026
Words: Bogdan Bele
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
We established that ordinary it was not. But was it a Metal show? In places. Was it a rock show? In places. Was it absolutely bonkers? That it was, throughout. Would I recommend that you go see Royal Republic next time they are in your neck of the woods? Hell yeah! Not many things are that crazy and that much fun in equal measure.
Royal Republic: Do You Swear to Rock the House, and Nothing but the House?
But first, some history. I discovered Royal Republic not too long before I wrote my end of 2024 article here on MetalTalk. About that time, I somehow came across their Love Cop record, and the damned thing floored me.
It had lots of different influences, the “blink and you miss it” kind, used very intelligently. With that said, the playing on it was exceptional, the vocals were great, and it had tons of imagination throughout.
I then saw them easily convince a massive festival crowd at Hellfest, and later release the Blastbeaters covers EP. You really want to check out that EP, because, again, you can not fault the imagination.
With all that said, their London show could not be missed and, surely, it did not disappoint. The clearest proof of this is that, in my experience, a show that you come out of going “what the bloody hell am I writing about this?” can only be a very good show.
Well, at the end of this one, I had no idea. But here I am. And I will try my best.
As I enter the O2 Forum Kentish Town, I run into people wearing ‘taches similar to the ones the band have on the cover of Love Cop. It is obvious that the artwork and image have made an impression.
And, surely, the band comes on stage wearing those, right after the My House intro, jumping straight into said track. One of the highlights of their latest LP is that it showcases how catchy they can be. And that DJ Bobo-like rap part (if you don’t know who that is, look it up; you probably will not thank me, and it will probably remain the only ever reference to said DJ ever to be made on this website) is just so fitting and so weird, in equal measure. Not to mention the LED guitar.
LED Guitar and Drums
Ah, that LED guitar. Well, frontman and guitar player Adam Grahn has an LED-filled transparent Flying V-style guitar that would put Kiss to shame. That thing certainly attracts all the looks. He can also play the hell out of the thing, with his bandmates equally capable musicians. Case in point, the solo on Love Cop and pretty much the whole show.
This is a group of guys who have done this for a long time, 16 years, to be precise, and it shows. The singer does, at one point, explain that they’ve spent these years confusing everyone, including themselves, with their music. The sum of styles and ideas that somehow work together is spectacular. The way they do it without taking themselves seriously at all is even more so.
The Love Cop album moment continues with the title track, asking the question in the previous subtitle (see what I did there?). It’s so contagiously fun that everyone in the room is jumping and shaking all their respective parts in no time. After all, it’s normal for Royal Republic to get you smiling from one side of your face to the other.
Supported by a very well-put-together light show, and dressed in all-black leather and white high top trainers, they go through banger after banger, and they do so with fabulous aplomb and sense of humour.
By the time we get to Stop Movin’, you have to admit that you were very wrong to think that only the guitar can be filled to the brim with LEDs. You can do that with the drums as well, to great effect. Per Andreasson’s kit can change colours to the beat.
Now, did I say that it was a Metal show in places? I did. And you hear snippets of Metallica or even Slayer riffs at times. As they go through their whole career, they even play a large chunk of Metallica’s Battery during the encore. Or their song Back From The Dead, the closer they ever got to Metal, they say. After all, the band was started with the intention of playing Metal, but that intention obviously got derailed.
What makes Royal Republic a great band is their frankly ridiculous versatility. Their songs can be funky, showcasing a very good rhythm section, or rock like you would not believe.
And when they do something like those covers of Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive”, or “Venus, (a song probably best known in the Bananarama version), you never imagined that those pieces of music could ever make sense when done like that.
And they can jump from that to an acoustic country version (with all band members singing) for their song Boomerang. You know they have a whole record like that, right? This is preceded by Adam making sure all present are aware of the extreme power an acoustic guitar can have, as one of the “most dangerous sexual weapons on Earth”.
Luckily, as they are trained professionals, we can rest assured that no pregnancy will occur on this occasion.
Their albums are a great listen, but where they truly shine as a band is on stage, in the connection they share with their fans. At one point, the singer even goes into the crowd to sing Ain’t Got Time with everyone present, featuring a lady in the audience on cowbell.
She was told to hit that thing like it owes her money. Which, in all fairness, she does.
It would be impossible to describe the great positive energy in the room, up to an encore that includes, besides the aforementioned Metallica moment, Lazerlove, with its Def Leppard vibes, as well as RATA-TATA, for one last blast of energy.
A recording of Bob Dylan’s The Man In Me is played at the end, with the band saying goodbye and joining in over it.
One of the best nights out you can have.
The Intersphere
Germans The Intersphere are an interesting choice of opener in the sense that their music is quite different from the headliners. We are talking about a progressive rock band, with interesting, at times meditative numbers, full of intricate passages and varied time signatures.
Their music flows beautifully, and they also seem to come into their own in terms of stage presence after the first couple of songs.
My highlight was their released-on-that-exact-day new single Time To Deliver, with a new album soon to arrive. It has a heavy riff that will inevitably live in your head after you listen to it, as well as a great groove.
They go down well with a crowd that most certainly can appreciate creativity.
