THEIR name might be an anagram of Free, but Reef's live show is mercifully free of the endless guitar noodling which you would usually expect from such purveyors of retro prog-rock.
Unlike The Black Crowes, whom Reef resemble in more than just style, the West Country rockers eschew the easy jamming option, going instead for direct-hit riffola and three-minute immediacy. And it hits the target every time, getting the crowd at the Red Box jumping and whooping for all they're worth.
Reef could have done a 10-minute guitar solo anytime they wanted, and nobody would have minded, but they chose not to, thus saving us all the embarrassment of having actually enjoyed a bout of mass muso self-indulgence.
The capacity crowd at the Red Box was ready to rock right from the moment that singer Gary Stringer and his Reefers hit the stage. When the band kicked into Place Your Hands, the audience placed hands, legs, bums and hows-your-fathers into the air, giving the security guys a fair share to fret about.
With the moshpit still heaving, Stringer introduced Good Feeling, Reef's debut single, which still sounds as up-to-date as all their newer stuff, i.e. somewhere around 1972.
Summer's In Bloom kept things shiny and happy, but I Would Have Left You threw a little bone of contention into the prevailing atmosphere of grinning abandon.
Stringer's broken engine vocals chugged along with the guitar of Kenwyn House and the bass `n' drum turbine of Jack Bessant and Dominic Greensmith, while keyboardist Jason Knight knocked out some honky-tonk chords and swooping synth sounds; the only thing which separated Reef from The Black Crowes was a lack of beards and a welcome abundance of brevity.
Come Back Brighter, the band's most recent hit single, was a mercifully short killer blow to the senses, hitting the spot where other bands would have just pussyfooted and pranced around it.
Eventually, however, even the immediacy got a bit predictable. And, as the band settled into its retro-blues groove, you knew exactly what to expect: high-energy rawk with enough guts to fill a medium-sized abattoir.
Reef are chopping it nice and sharp right now, but let's hope they don't start growing beards and playing blunt, boring 10-minute blues-outs. It could happen soon.
