REEF - Drill Shed, Margate.

Over the years Margate has been a focus for many things, its history is profoundly interesting, being on the map for various hits and blips, and being a huge playground for many children and their white knuckles needs. Recently and over the last few years Margate hasn’t had to rely on ‘Chas and Dave's’ hit song named after the seaside town, nor has it had to be remembered by that one hugely funny episode from ‘Only Fools and Horses’ where Del and Rodney's visit to the coast ended in absolute chaos.

Recently Margate has found life again, with a surge of film/tv fanatics descending inward bound to see the place that has had greatness filmed there such as ‘Killing Eve’ and the notorious cockney gangster series ‘Peaky Blinders’ too. Even the world-famous pop star Madonna has even dropped by and blessed the town with some positive reviews when she visited the ‘Off Season Art Festival’ to support her friend.

Margate’s music scene has over the last few years gone through the roof, not only attracting some big names there including ‘Texas’ and one of my favourites ‘The Darkness.’ The Theme Park has become the place to see some great names play, some of these include the forever harmonising ‘Beach Boys,’ the Mancunian heavy hitters ‘James,’ and probably one of the most influential Nu-metal bands ever ‘Limp Bizkit.’ Tonight, though I was here to see another great band, one that have weathered time and various storms well and aged like a very fine wine, yes tonight I am here to see the Glastonbury rockers ‘REEF’ shake up the ‘Drill Shed.’

With only two of the original line up tagged in, I feel that this line up over the years is the one that clicks together the best, it is the difference between a great looking painting and a flawless masterpiece in the works and believe me it really works so well.

REEF led by original vocalist ‘Gary Stringer,’ then followed closely by the second original member on bass ‘Jack Bessant,’ the other two members that have joined the fantastic forever rolling stone are king with the sticks ‘Luke Bullen’ and a guitarist that who style fits the REEF camp so well is ‘Amy Newton.’

The venue on 10.10.2026 was the ‘Drill Shed,’ with a capacity of 700, the venue is situated on the way through the town and pitched ideally next to the sea, comes with a car park and pool and snooker club next door. For the record the pool tables are cheap, so if you visit this venue for another event, just remember the building next door offers a sneaky game for 60p or two games for £1. REEF were supported tonight by Margate and Canterbury based trio ‘Tez.’ Opening with their psychedelic sound, these guys were the right choice to warm the night up as their style was just the right amount of spark to get the crowd moving. Ploughing through their set list and playing their songs to a warm-hearted hometown, I feel tonight they certainly gained some new fans, me being one of them.

After hitting the middle eight of their last song, ‘Tez’ literally went quiet, held a frozen posture for a few minutes which gave the crowd enough time to pay their homage and appreciation. With the crowd chanting for the band, cheering and raising pint glasses for them, this was a truly special moment for all involved, when the peak was hit, ‘Tez’ came back to life, finished their set to a loud and well worthy buzz from the capacitated venue!

It wasn’t too long when ‘Tez’ left the stage before the switch over of instruments was in place, the sound checking was complete, and the lighting was dipped ready to throw REEF into the spotlight.

The fantastic thing about capturing REEF is you always know that there is plenty to point your lens at, Gary is always light on his feet with some fantastic emotion, Luke is always passionate, Jack and Amy have an incredible on-stage bond and as a team they work it so well together! As I said, it is perfect for the guys with the lenses.

Equipped with a 20-song set list covering their whole career, the ‘Autumn Tour,’ as it was so rightly called was an ideal candidate for a perfect night out.

Kicking off the event with the absolute classic song ‘Feed me,’ that slipped so well in to ‘Naked,’ it was full on form from the very second them lights picked up the band walking onto the stage. Showing their expertise in the way that they played together and they way that they moulded the crowd like a very freshly made batch of clay, Margate and the fans that travelled to see REEF tonight were in line for a great evening. Amy’s rifts were as contagious on the coast as when Covid soared the airwaves and Jacks presence and ability gave extra solidarity to a perfectly laid foundation. Luke is a drummer that just keeps on giving, beat after beat, REEF know they have the right guy here to sail the REEF convoy home and Gary, well he knows how to play a crowd, stitch in a few great little dance numbers into his routine and to deliver a performance that would leave a lot of other artists with open jaws.

The evening as always with these guys, always goes so fast, why? Well because they are so good at their job, 20 songs really at the time left me keep checking the set list to make sure that I wasn’t going home yet. In these 20 songs, there were a couple of covers and a little education to enlighten the eager crowd. The covers we had came leading up to the encore and the encore section itself. First up was the bands way of paying homage to ACDC and giving us a little education and info on the Scottish festival ‘BonFest’ are founding singer ‘Bon Scott.’ The cover that was played is always a crowd pleaser; it was none other than ACDC’s classic ‘TNT.’ And didn’t that blow the roof off the place?!

The second cover was by another great band, and I have seen this played a few times now, ‘Fleetwood Mac’s’ great never aging ‘The Chain!’ Two songs that even had security turning their heads to watch. Other hits played from their outstanding career were, the 1996 smash single ‘Place you hands,’ musically fantastic and raw ‘Summers in bloom,’ and so many others that if you have followed the band for years, you won’t be disappointed, it really is a great setlist. Touting a new album that is currently be written and keeping their music sounding as fresh as it ever has done, these guys show why they are still on top of the game and why they can out swim a lot of competition.

Next up for me, I will be covering REEF in Brighton when they descend on the Concorde 2, and I can only advise you to head along to a venue near you to see these play, you certainly won’t be disappointed, and you certainly get your value for money. My final thoughts, REEF have never left me feeling like I am missing something when I see them play live. I am a merch whore and there is a great range of merch to be looked over, another plus is the tickets are always reasonably priced too. Hang around after and you can basically grab yourself a meet and greet (no extra cost) and they always love to see and share the images on their socials from photographers and fans alike!

Words & images 'Jayson Worsfold/Homebug Photography.'