Band whips crowd into a frenzy
Byron House at Trent University, Nottingham, is the perfect venue for intimate shows with a very good sound system. I would guess there must have been 250 to 300 supporters in the audience for the Reverend And The Makers gig on March 9, which gave a real feeling of being with the band.
The support band was 1913 from Manchester and they were extraordinary.
The current five-piece band have been playing together for only eight months. In an interview with City Life, vocalist and lyricist Ian Lawton described their music as “pretty dark and depressing” but they have grown into something more exciting since that comment was made.
With Ian’s dark and rich voice with incredible ranges and the excellent guitar renditions with complex notes, they are musically very good. Adding the keyboard and drums, their music was very catchy and commercially they should go far.
Reverend And The Makers took to the stage with a longer introduction of Silence Is Talking, which created an anticipated appearance for Jon McClure, aka the Reverend, in front of a group of students jumping up and down.
Their excitement was fuelled by Jon knowing exactly how to work the crowd. The audience formed a wall around the energetic students but it certainly contributed to the great atmosphere enjoyed by all. We even had a crowd surfer who was thrown over the stage barrier.
With tracks off the latest album like Hidden Persuaders, No Soap (In a Dirty War) and Manifesto/People Shapers Jon shared his very talented vocals as well as some of his political views with us.
They played some of the older favourites like He Said He Loved Me, Open Your Window and, of course, their top ten hit Heavyweight Champion Of The World.
Before the gig finished Jon gave us a rendition of one of his poems. His charisma came through in a show without any gimmicks and special effects and the crowd obviously loved him.
With a 10.30pm curfew the crowd dispersed wanting more but unfortunately we missed out on Jon’s trademark acoustic session in a local carpark after the gig.
I look forward to seeing what Reverend And The Makers have in store for us in the future — WP.
