Witches cast a spell

6:00am Friday 2nd February 2007

Waking the Witch at Leeds City Varieties After three years of touring and releasing records, hopes are high in the Waking the Witch camp that 2007 could well be the year the Yorkshire four-piece finally receive the recognition their harmony-drenched folk-pop richly deserves.

The signs are certainly promising if this gig and their new album Boys from the Abattoir are anything to go by.

Performing two sets - which were being filmed for future release on DVD - Patsy Matheson, Rachel Goodwin, Becky Mills and Jools Parker won loud cheers of approval from a partisan audience at their home town' gig in Leeds.

Where the first half of the evening was mostly given over to slower-paced, reflective material such as Through and Through and Spring Song, the second had a welcome spring in its step, thanks to rockier numbers like My Conscience Keep, Waking Hour and Yorkshire Boy.

Rounding off with a magnificent version of I Can't Breathe, from their second album Hands and Bridges, this was certainly an auspicious start to an important 12 months.

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