Gig review: Alabama Shakes at Millennium Square, Leeds

You could have been forgiven for assuming Alabama Shakes had been and gone. The soul-blues favourites conquered the world over a decade ago, their blend of boogie-rock records and ferocious live reputation helping to catapult them to Grammy-winning stardom and a slew of hit records. Yet the gap between drinks breaks has been long enough to suggest that their place in the world might have been and gone.

Now, the trio – singer-guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, and bassist Zac Cockrell – have finally worked their way back across the North Atlantic Ocean, with the intriguing promise of a third album pungent in the air. Ten years have unfolded since they last landed upon British shores, a positive age in the context of prime ministerial turnover; it leaves them, perhaps, with something to prove as they kick off their European run beneath the shadow of Leeds City Hall.

Any fears can be swiftly parked outside the Wetherspoons that borders Millennium Square. As one of their generation’s most assured stage acts, Alabama Shakes have long held a surfeit of style and poise on stage. Howard guides them into a one-two-three trifecta from debut Boys & Girls – the sashayed Rise to the Sun, the grooved Hang Loose, a limber I Ain’t the Same - and barely look back for the next ninety minutes or so, built with gravel-husk honey and brimstone.

Underpinned by a rhythm section that switches on a dime from R&B smoothness to hard-rock ballast, it is a frequently joyous affair, with the singer wishing hope and heartfelt thanks on her audience repeatedly, caressing material old – This Feeling, Dune, Gemini – and new – Feel Hope Coming, Time – with full-bodied arrangements. More than that, it serves as a reminder of just what the band brought to bear the first time around.

“Long time no see!” Howard cries at one point. Their fans will hope for a shorter interim next time around.