Embrace : Hammersmith Palais, Brixton Carling...
Before we start, we ought to point out that we didn’t actually go to the Keane gig outlined above. Now, this isn’t some sort of new lazy NME ‘make it all up at home’ gig-going policy, nor could we simply not be arsed to go. Nice blokes,...
Embrace : Fireworks (Singles 1997-2002)
Attention practical jokers! Why not take your mates to see Embrace live and watch them become converted into delirious, dribbling Apostles Of Danny by the moon-rattling anthems and the kazoos forged from the toenails of Zeus. Then play...
Embrace : London Brixton Academy
Noone looks more surprised at how popular Embrace are tonight than Danny McNamara himself. Since the band's last album, 'If You've Never Been', received a lukewarm reception, it would be understandable if spirits were a little low all round....
London Brixton Academy
Hey, it's a party. And you know what parties are like. First there's the early arrivals, who witness Morgan's breezy moog pop and react a bit like you do when the hosts put on their favourite music to gauge a response. With indifference, leading...
Nottingham Rock City
It's all about emotions, and what to do with them. You either make them big, or you make them small. Embrace are staunchly in the big camp - Alfie, meanwhile, take a less conspicuous tack. Singer Lee Gorton bites his fingernails and asks the...
Dublin Olympia
Alfie singer Lee Gorton is perhaps the laziest man in pop. He sits on a stool, legs crossed, occasionally strumming an acoustic, making weird Fonzie -like gestures with his hands to the crowd. But he is a star. Not because he has a head...
I wouldnt wanna happen to you
Embrace I Wouldn't Wanna Happen To You (Hut) Good things have stealthily happened to Embrace since their noisy 'new Oasis ' birth and subsequent 'not-as-big-as- Travis ' adolescence. It was all bluster, problem skin and...
Japan Osaka Big Cat
Danny McNamara lopes to the front of the stage, extends his arms in a crucifixion pose and starts flapping. Tonight Embrace have a series of stirring tunes made fit for stadiums and an audience struggling to fill a third of a mid-sized venue...
London W1 Hanover Grand
There's no room for agnostics at fan-club-only events like this, when the subjects inspire such fawning devotion they could probably get away with anything. Danny McNamara could stick that frigging kazoo up his arse and get his brother to blow a...
Drawn From Memory
You aim high, you can miss badly. You try to climb the tallest peaks, all ambition and no preparation, you're going to have a pretty grievous accident. The bigger they come, as Embrace know only too well - in a piece of homespun wisdom they...
