Reef / Broken Witt Rebels - O2 Academy 2, Manchester (UK) - 06 December 2018
To start your set with your first single shows confidence. This is what Reef did with 'Naked', strolling out and delighting us. They have every right to, coming back, finding people want to see them, losing guitarist Kenwyn House to Goldray, replacing him with little known Jesse Wood and producing 'Revelation', an album that is.
Cool the jets though, Broken Witt Rebels were first, who are beautifully simple and simply brilliant. As for the music, anyway; they may be one of the best musically in their Bluesy, Rocky genre and they deliver it so well. But they don't perform. Can't argue with 'Spell On You' or 'Loose Change', but there isn't live charisma on show. For all the great songs and Danny possesses a voice of a generation, but eventually this is just another great set. When will it become unbelievable?
Reef are like returning heroes. Gary Stringer doesn't dress up, his baseball cap covers his eyes, his voice is a road-hardened growl. And yet their set was joyous, a couple danced with abandon and they aren't the only ones. Funky from the off, 'Stone For Your Love' was massive, Andy Wallace added such dance with his electric keys and in the mix even the tambourine could be heard. They brought it down for a gentle 'Consideration', pushed out early, then ramped up the Soul singing for 'How I Got Over', which sadly saw some at the bar, who missed Stringer standing with his head right in the A of the 'Revelation' backdrop.
How did they get over from this? Unpack 'Place Your Hands', that's how, taking the crowd to ecstasy and then attacking with a nasty 'Revelation'. They took it to the crowd. Literally. One by one they came out to us, lost in the throng, not for a live spot of a couple of minutes, for most of 'Summer's In Bloom', brave and breathtaking.
'Yer Old' can't lose and several refreshed people near me lost it, as if they never thought they'd see them again; they're entitled. Reef? If they needed to 'Set The Record Straight', they made a damn good defence tonight.
Steve Swift
Subscribe to this comment's feed
