“I don’t care who you are, where you come from, what your politics are, how old you are,” Jon McClure said as his band, Reverend and the Makers, took the stage at the Manchester Academy to the Rocky theme. melody. “You have to bounce.”
The commander asked and Rev’s army duly complied. It’s impossible not to when they put out banger after banger. The Manchester concert forms part of the Sheffield band’s first live tour in four years. Formed in 2005, Jon McClure and his collective of musicians burst onto the scene with their top-five chart debut album, The State of Things.
Opening at the Academy with the title track, Rocky’s soundtrack seemed fitting. This was just the first round, and the Revs had come out swinging.
READ MORE: Expert shares top tips for getting S Club 7 tickets with Manchester’s AO Arena having one of the ‘best odds’
The five albums since then have seen the band move through various incarnations, sounds and lineups and experience all the ups and downs, and most of the downs, that the music industry has to offer, but it was Covid-19 that brought it down. which made Jon worry more. income, since his wife Laura is also a member of the band.
He said: “I thought ‘how the hell am I going to make money? I’m in a band and I can’t play, and my wife is in a band with me and she can’t play. Luckily I managed to pull some threads together and record a new album.”
Now, a band would normally release an album before going on tour, but the Yorkshireman and his musicians aren’t the conventional type. Not to mention the fact that, in an impressive unbroken streak, every one of his albums has reached the Top 20 on the UK album charts.
The first single from the new album ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ has already received a wave of radio support, making it as familiar to fans as some of their old classics.
The sun-kissed, Barry White-inspired soul bop of the upcoming album of the same name has become his biggest hit in over a decade, followed by the softly sequined psychedelic soul of b-side High, an ode to Isaac Hayes. , Curtis Mayfield and long , misty afternoons.
I Hate It When You Lie was well received by fans as well as Problems, for which Jon invited The Ramona Flowers singer Steve Bird to sing with him. The Sheffield singer joked that the support act was “like Stranger Things making music”, but I’m convinced that if Venca wanted to get me, it’s the Revs that would bring me back from the Upside Down.
Seeing a young fan, no more than 10 years old, in the crowd, Jon, a father of two, told him ‘it’s going to get rowdy in here’, and invited the little boy and his parents to sit on the side of the stage for The rest of the night.
And it got rowdy when they performed Open Your Window, Shine A Light and Heavyweight Champion Of The World in quick succession, proving that the Sheffield quintet are not only here to push their latest songs forward, but also to provide a nostalgic experience of their beloved. back catalogue, and give fans a night they’ll be sure to find hard to forget.
Tracks like Miss Brown and Bandits served as a reminder of the band’s ska sensibilities, the 41-year-old frontman leaping across the stage with his knees higher than anyone else. The band’s female members are also live leads on stage: synth maven Laura McClure and bassist Antonia Pooles inject sass and flair into the set. They are nothing short of electric.
In fact, there’s something about watching Reverend and the Makers live that gives you a rush of newfound vigor. Jon is practically plugged into the mains, but as a whole they are a catalyst of energy that seems to send shock waves through the audience.
Club banger Bassline followed MDMAZING seamlessly, proving once again that Reverend and the Makers aren’t your average indie band, but have watched themselves build, innovate, and grow musically and artistically over the past two decades.
Manchester Lottery winners themselves also received recognition from the band, praising their “working-class music” and citing them as one of their favorite bands. He added: “I used to think I wanted to be a cool motherfucker, and then I thought I wanted to be Paul Heaton, or Madness, or Slade, or lottery winners – the people’s music!”
And music for the people really was on the menu, rounding out the boisterous 90-minute set were some of the band’s most popular, crowd-pleasing works, with The Rev orchestrating a crowd of some 2,000, front to back. . to bounce off as they burst into Out Of The Shadows.
With He Said He Loved Me, fans are practically ready to blow, but it was the trumpet sample from War’s Low Rider, played by Laura, that finally sent fans into overdrive as they closed the show with Silence Is Talking, whose catchy hook. it was found sung through the streets of Manchester as crowds poured out of the building.
The story of The Reverend is one of the great survival stories of the British music scene, as charisma, talent, defiance and willpower see the band enter a new chapter, reinvigorated and raring to go. .
Usually, when bands play live after almost 20 years, it might seem like they’re doing it for ‘the good old days’, but for Reverend and The Makers, the best is yet to come, their latest album armed to the teeth with an arsenal of their biggest, best, most accessible and most ambitious songs to date. It’s an exciting era for Sheffield’s tunemakers, with Jon desperate to return to Manchester soon, but on an even bigger scale. “AO Arena next time, okay?”
The state of things
18-30
Heat wave in the cold north
Mr. Glassalfempty
bandits
High
open your window
light shines
I hate when you lie
World Heavyweight Champion
Miss Brown
Hard time for dreamers
Auld Reekie Blues
MDMAzing
bass line
Trouble (feat. Steve Bird)
what the milkman saw
No soap in a dirty war
out of the shadows
he said he loved me
silence is speaking
READ MORE: