 | | Reverend and the Makers (pic: Karen McBride) |
It’s also a fair summation of the man’s self-confidence. This is someone who’s known to his friends – and now the rest of the musical world – as the Reverend on account of his pontificating. That said, he might have a point. Having forgone the Arctics-aping route of some his Sheffield kinsmen (Little Man Tate anyone?), he’s made what he says is going to be the best album ever. On tonight’s showing, the reality will fall short but is jam-packed with crowd-pleasing top tunes. He needed them, especially as support for the night came from a pair of ill-conceived dancers whose performance started as laughable and ended as frankly annoying.  | | Reverend and the Makers (pic: Karen McBride) |
But as soon as McClure and his Makers took the stage, they were forgotten, as were any cross-Pennine rivalries, with a half-hearted chant from a couple of punters cut short with a simple “we’ll have none of that football tonight, we’re all here for the music.” There’s little doubt that McClure is possessed of the same withering wit and self deprecation as the best of his fellow steel city friends, as highlighted in a spoken word truncation of his duet with John Cooper Clarke, The Last Resort, but thankfully, the Reverend has the rhythm to match his rhetoric. After all, songs that take in such topics as Guatanemo Bay, Ibiza holidays and broken dreams are one thing; ones that also have crowds jumping up and down frantically are quite another. There were lulls, but they were forgivable ones, as McClure is only just starting to spread his wings beyond South Yorkshire in earnest – and he’d travelled from the previous night’s date in Hull via Jo Wiley’s Live Lounge in London.  | | Reverend and the Makers (pic: Karen McBride) |
Indeed, any salvation that may have been needed was delivered in the closing wonder of his debut single, the mighty Heavyweight Champion Of The World. It’s a song as strong as any you’ll hear all year, more than worthy of the flailing limbs and sing-along it received. Whether the sell-out crowd were here for love or hype at the start didn’t really matter; by the time the last chord rattled to a close, every last one had been converted by the passion of the Reverend. | 
