Tour News: Royal Blood return to NZ

British rock duo Royal Blood will perform in Auckland and Wellington in May.

One of the world's fastest-rising rock acts is on its way to New Zealand - but there's a royal wait involved for those who want to see them.

Royal Blood have announced plans to play their first headlining shows in Auckland and Wellington after last performing here as one of the highlights of the 2015 Laneway Festival.

But it's not happening for a while. The Brighton duo of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher aren't scheduled to play until May.

They'll hit Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre on May 1, and Wellington's TSB Bank Arena on May 3. Tickets are on sale from August 2, with a pre-sale beginning on July 26.

They'll be playing in support of their second album How Did We Get So Dark, the follow-up to their self-titled debut that includes he singles Lights Out and Hook Line & Sinker.

It's had rave reviews since its release in June, with Q Magazine declaring "the gut-level punch of Kerr's bass and the thunderstruck gallop of Thatcher's drumming cannot be denied" and AllMusic describing it as "ambitious and satisfying".

TimeOut itself declared that the pair had made "lightning strike twice" in a four-star review. That wait, then, sounds like it might be worth it.