Reef @ The Hub, Plymouth - 25/02/2016
Firstly, two admissions of guilt.
Number one; I've never been to the Hub in Plymouth before and it's a cracking
venue. Nothing fancy going on here but a good raised stage, a large room and a
long bar with reasonably priced drinks all add to the excellent sound system
and relaxed vibe. Number two; for a variety of reasons I only managed to arrive
in time to catch the last song of support band Andy Quick's Flying Orchestra.
Nevertheless, what I saw/heard was
exciting, engaging, catchy and, with a spider-like drummer, visually
entertaining so they're now on the list of bands to catch.
While the crowd mill around and
get drinks the background music is a who's who of Britpop past
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| Reef @ The Hub - Photo by Sharon Buckingham |
The set just roared on from this
point with pitch perfect renditions of 'Higher Vibration', 'Come Back Brighter'
and 'I Would Have Left You' as the quartet moved through the gears, pulling
heavily from the hugely successful 'Glow' album. Pausing for a breather in the
set, Gary Stringer introduced us to new song 'First Mistake' which had a
tender, soulful feel before their most popular ballad 'Consideration' completed
the set slow down. Unsurprisingly, the performances of 'Place Your Hands' and
'Naked' were the high points of the night for the general masses with crowd
surfing and general singing along going up by around 50%. For me, though, it
was the trio of 'New Bird', 'Summer's In Bloom' and 'Stone For Your Love' that
got me bouncing. More new songs were aired which showed the contribution that
Wood is making to the band as Kenwyn House's replacement - he's not just a pretty
face if 'Just Feel Love', 'True To Yourself' and forthcoming single 'How I Got
Over' are anything to go by, the kid has serious chops.
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| Jack Bessant - Photo by Sharon Buckingham |
The acoustic came out for 'I've
Got Something To Say' (a personal favourite) and the bitter, angry tones of
'Don't You Like It When I'm High?' fizzed and crackled around the venue. The
obligatory encore featured mostly new material but finished where the night
started with a track from the band's debut album, 'Replenish'. 'Choose To Live'
always showed Reef at their experimental best and this sprawling, loose limbed
version was a delight to behold. In a year that has already robbed us of so
many musical greats, I think at least Lemmy can rest easy that the spirit of
English rock'n'roll is alive and well, it's just been slumbering in the Somerset
hills like a groggy giant.
If tonight was a scene in a film then it would
surely have been the training montage before the prize fighter makes his title
winning return to the sporting arena. Reef will be around most of the festivals
this summer and you would be hard pushed a better live rock band from this
island with a better back catalogue and new songs to boot. As for me, I feel 16
again and have fallen in love with Reef all over again which is hard to admit
as these guys like are, like, seriously hairy and that's not really my type.
More information: www.reefband.com
Live Dates:
26th February - Mr Kyps, Poole
3rd March - Electric Ballroom,
London
4th March - The Factory Petroc,
Barnstaple
5th March - O2 Academy, Oxford
10th March - O2 Academy, Bristol
11th March - O2 Institute,
Birmingham
12th March - The LCR, Norwich