It’s always a good sign when you park up in Huddersfield and are immediately greeted with two rats running across the car park. Tonight had a nice breeze to it, which meant I didn’t have to worry too much about a sweaty gig…think I’ve had my fill of those for the next two years, weird how COVID made us all forget how insufferable gigs are in the peak of summer.
Witch Fever are a 4-piece Manchester born Quartet. They’re a band whose name I have seen tossed around for about a year after having great reviews from Festivals. Their popularity is growing and has only been further helped by ing bands like Cancer Bats and Poppy. The band are signed to Sony Music Ent and have one album currently under their belt, which was released in 2022. This tour is ed by only one other band-
Sugarstone opened up tonight, a 4-piece band who originated from Manchester. The band have so far enjoyed a steady incline of recognition. They have been compared to elements from Cabaret Voltaire, Depeche Mode & Nine Inch Nails but, when listening to them I couldn’t help but think of a heavier Boy Bleach. A tour with these two would bring in such an interesting crowd but I feel like it would be a vibe.
Sugarstone were playing to a packed room and had the crowd enjoying their songs, including recent release ‘Tender Hook’. The two guitar players had great vocals and their voices complimented each other. The band had some great sounding guitar riffs and the bass volume was turned up so high you could clearly hear the low ringing of it around the room, which created a great atmosphere to the songs. I think this was actually the first time I could hear a bass so clearly in all my years of going to gigs.
By the end of their set, the crowd were really feeling the band. Loving the spoken elements of some songs and the screams of others. The bass player had some great energy and was constantly moving between his spot and the drummer and making direct eye with the crowd. It would’ve been great to see some more crowd interaction during the songs by the vocalists, but the band did make sure to thank the crowd at the end of the set.
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It was a 30 minute turn over for Witch Fever, which gave me enough time to see what kind of crowd they bring in. As mentioned, the room was pretty much packed and people lined the barrier hoping to get as close as possible to the band. There was a lot of younger fans within the crowd, mostly young girls, but I could see some older fans, who were mostly older men. One of the men actually told me he found out about Witch Fever from reading one of their many great reviews and deciding to check them out. See, people do still read reviews. I could see shirts for Sleep Token and Fever 333 within the crowd – to be fair, I don’t think I’ve been to a single gig yet since Spring where at least one person wasn’t wearing a Sleep Token shirt (and when one person wasn’t wearing it for me to observe- it was me, I was the one wearing a Sleep Token shirt).
Witch Fever came onto the stage with the lights low and blaring ambient noise. First, only the three instrumental came on, then on ran the vocalist. The vocalist brought a great energy to the stage, constantly on the go and moving between the sides of the stage. During the break between songs, she informed the crowd she actually had a cold so she may not sound her best. Still, she gave high energy into the performance. The vocalist at one point knelt down with the fans at the barrier and I could see the fan having a moment after she left. This is the type of interaction I think is so important for bands to have.
The band played one of their most popular tracks, ‘Blessed be Thy’ which had the crowd cheering. There wasn’t much movement in the crowd, but that could just be because it’s a Wednesday night. There were a few people in the crowd who were jumping and with the fact that the room was pretty full, it was probably appreciated by the older fans that they weren’t being knocked around. Just before starting their second to last song, the vocalist stopped the set to quickly announce the merch at the back of the room and give a shout out to Sugarstone. The cold making her forgetful. She has a great casual vibe to her and doesn’t take herself too seriously, it really helps to breakdown that gap between the fans and band.
I loved the outfits of the Bass player and the Vocalist. They had an 80s grunge kind of style. It would’ve been great if the rest of the band had a similar fit – mainly because in all the promotional photos I’ve seen of Witch Fever, they do have a matching themed wardrobe going on. It just adds to the stage when there is some form of costume design tying all the together and adding to the stage design, especially for a headline set.
Just before the set wrapped, the Vocalist managed to squeeze under the barrier and walk around the crowd. She interacted with the fans and sang to them as they sung back. I tried to get a picture but in all honestly she’s so tiny she just got buried within the crowd from my angle…But I’m sure there will be plenty of videos from the fan’s POV to show the moment.
Witch Fever left the crowd with a buzz and many fans were lingering around afterwards. The band definitely have a bright future ahead of them. The vocalist announced they were working on their second album, and between that release and now – the band will definitely see a rise in their popularity and no cold will stop that.
Witch Fever have now wrapped this tour, but they will be appearing at the Misery Loves Company 2023 and touring again in November ing Hot Milk across the UK.
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Photos by Jayne Slater
