Photo Credit: Tom Sunderland
Making their return to Doncaster for the first time in over 10 years, REVEREND & THE MAKERS brought their ‘Old Social Clubs’ tour to a sold out Askern Miners Welfare Club for a night filled with classic Reverend tracks in support of his upcoming album ‘Is This How Happiness Feels?’.
The club was already brimming with dedicated Rev fans, packing out the venue just in time for the bands grand entrance. As the Rocky Balboa theme song blared through the speakers, the room soon turned to pitch black and cheers were released from the capacity crowd. One by one, each member of the Makers took their positions, each getting their own cheer, but this was enhance (as expected) by the appearance of The Reverend himself, Jon McClure.
Greeting the sold out club ahead of the first song, it was time to get the ball rolling. In typical fashion, ‘Bassline’ kicked off the show, with Jon encouraging the crowd go get up off of their feet to match the bands energy from the get go. Fan favourite ‘Open Your Window’ quickly followed, with the intro sung across the room and voices soon returned for the chorus. After teasing the audience with the possible appearance of fellow (but unrelated) McClure, Vicky, ‘Haircut’ came next. The chorus was flushed out by the joint efforts from the crowd, clearly showing this is a firm favourite alongside their latest single ‘UFO’.
Arguably their biggest hit of them all, ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World’ made an early appearance in the set, and of course had the whole room singing and dancing once again. Jon then claimed the next track to be “the best song on FIFA”, which was none other than ‘Shine A Light’, while summer anthem ‘Heatwave in the Cold North’ soon came around. Laura McClure made a brief exit as the background of “Sex with the Ex” was detailed by Jon, and the message behind charity single ‘Late Night Phone Call’ served a perfect addition, especially considering that Christmas is only two weeks away.
Rounding off with a trio of strong heavy hitters, ‘Out of the Shadows’, ‘He Said He Loved Me’ and finally ‘Silence is Talking’ concluded REVEREND & THE MAKERS performance (inside) Askern Miners Welfare Club, as the five piece came together and bowed out in style to a huge collective applause and welcomed return to Doncaster.
It has become a regular theme for Jon to continue the show out on the streets, where he made his way through the crowd and into the venue’s car park for a series of stripped back songs, starting with his own ‘A Letter to My 21 Year Old Self’, following up with three covers to get the crowd singing along (elegantly). ‘Crazy’ (Gnarls Barkley), ‘Shoot You Down’ (The Stone Roses) and finally ‘Rudy A Message to You’ (Dandy Livingstone) concluded the show once and for all and a brilliant warm up for their final show of the tour in their hometown of Sheffield the following night.
Taped Magazine 