Live

Reverend and the Makers, The Ting Tings

Paul Cook 03/10/2007

For all the wrong reasons, the support band, aptly named The Ting Tings as this was all you could hear, were mesmerising. For a “band”, a term which one must use loosely when referring to The Ting Tings' two members, you would not think that putting the guitar aside for many tracks was a smart idea. Listening to a vocalist over albeit quite impressive drums was nobody's idea of a good night. Bland and wholly under-prepared to warm up a sell-out crowd waiting for one of Sheffield's newest bands, The Ting Tings were unfortunately a great disappointment.

So it was left to the exciting Sheffield 7-piece Reverend and the Makers to up the tempo and bash out an enigmatic performance - it wasn't long before the audience were in full swing dancing to album favourites “18-30” and “What the Milkman Saw”. The band is a fantastic sight, the number of members heightening the spectacle with instrumentals combining to produce distinguished electro-rock-pop. Jon McClure on vocals employs a mix of Liam Gallagher-esque arrogant stage presence and precise vocals, which at times comes across as being far too over-confident for some frankly mediocre songs. Aside from this, the performance was spot-on, truly some of the clearest and smoothest vocals to hear live.

It's when “Heavyweight Champion” and “He Said He Loved Me” come around in the set-list that things get really good. Pinpoint vocals from McClure and Ed Cosen's addictively catchy bass are simply fantastic live. Laura Manuel on vocals was also brilliantly exciting to see perform with a great voice and bags of energy. For the most part, Reverend and the Makers gave a fantastic performance, spurring the crowd on one moment and silencing them with raw, thundering instrumentals the next. With the right support band/s and a second album of quality like “Heavyweight Champion”, Reverend and the Makers could well become a force to be reckoned with on the live circuit in the not-so-distant future.