Reverend and the Makers played their first Australian headline show at the Curtin (John Curtin Hotel) in Melbourne on Wednesday night.
Due to the logistics of playing halfway around the world, band members Jon and Antonia teamed up with local musicians The Delta Riggs for this show. Now, it mustn’t be an easy feat to play a live show with a bunch of guys you just met and how they managed to pull off such a seamless performance after just one rehearsal I’ll never know.
Australia waited 20 years for this and Reverend and the Makers were worth the wait (Although, if you couldn’t leave it 20 years until the next one we’d appreciate it). The dynamic setlist snaked back and forwards throughout their musical evolution all the way from track one album one: The State of Things to brand new track Haircut.
The energy in the crowd was palpable and you could hear the entire audience chanting those choruses and riffs back at the band (in between all the bouncing). Also, massive thanks to the guy who yelled out Sex with the Ex and to Jon for actually playing it. It’s one of my favourite Revs songs and I was secretly disappointed not to spot it on the setlist.
Speaking of audience interaction, it was actually nice to go to a show where the lead singer actually says words beyond a mumbled “we are <band name>” and a “love you Melbourne”. Jon’s hilarious and relatable banter throughout the night is truly endearing (and also a much needed break from all the bouncing because I am not getting any younger). There’s a reason Reverend and the Makers have such a cult following and this is it. Jon is without a doubt one of the most genuine, likeable, unpretentious frontmen you’ll ever watch and he draws you in effortlessly.
If you need further evidence of this, it took me over 10 years to get my partner to even pretend to like another band (that ahem, won’t be named here). One Reverend and the Makers gig and he’s like “I’d definitely see them again”.
If you’ve never been to a Reverend and the Makers gig, we end the night on the street. And honestly, standing just off Lygon Street singing Oasis with Jon McClure is not a core memory I ever thought I’d unlock.
He said if everyone in the audience tells 5 people, they’ll come back, so run, tell your friends. Let’s make another Melbourne Rev’s gig happen in the near future!
Find our more about Reverend and the Makers here.