Live Review: Reverend And The Makers / The Ramona Flowers / Danny Goffey – 02 Academy, Sheffield 17.02.2023

A trip to the 02 Academy for a sold out two nighter and what promised to be a great show.

Reverend and The Makers hail from my hometown of Sheffield and formed in 2005. The band’s frontman Jon McClure is also known by the pseudonym “The Reverend.” Members of the band include John’s wife Laura McClure on keyboards, Ed on guitar, Antonia on bass, and Ryan on drums. 

With a pretty much sold out UK tour the band are having a real resurgence. A younger fan base has emerged judging by the audience tonight, proving perhaps that quality songs and great live performances always endure the test of time.

Taking to the stage with ‘The State of Things’ the Sheffield crowd instantly responded and the party got started. John has amazing stage presence, a larger than life character with a proud allegiance to his home town. It was pretty obvious that selling out the Sheffield O2 was a big deal and John’s connection with the crowd tonight was electric.

The Rev’s band are outstanding musicians and the overall sound was huge, Laura has her own unique stage presence, new bass player Antonia shined through with great energy and a solid low-end groove. 

A brilliant 21 song set across the Rev’s back catalogue, including new material, ‘Heatwave’ being a personal favourite of mine. John engaged the crowd in between songs with stories and amusing anecdotes and to add to the occasion the Rev’s proud family were watching side of stage. 

An inevitable (now legendary) encore played acoustically on a bus outside of the venue, which has to be seen to be believed! 

Supporting tonight were Danny Goffey (ex Supergrass) and The Ramona Flowers both superb bands in their own right and testament to the quality of tonight’s gig.

To sum up if you have never seen Reverend And The Makers live you are missing out, one of the few bands out there who really understand how to entertain a crowd. Check out latest single ‘Problems’ on all major streaming platforms. New album ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ will be released on 28th April 2023.

Written by Backseat Mafia