When I were a lad there were no bands from Leeds. None. Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow and London - that's where British bands came from. As a massively late arrival to the interesting popular music party I hadn't head of Gang of Four and The Wedding Present, let alone The Pale Saints or Hood &c., so when Embrace started appearing in the pages of the NME, and were described as a 'Leeds band' I was AGOG. The fact that they were actually from Huddersfield didn't really register - they were a Leeds band in a world where there were no Leeds bands. Post-Oasis, there seemed to be a huge musical gap to fill, and the music magazines were throwing every band they could find at the wall to see what stuck. Embrace stuck (wags amongst you might say suggest that you don't spell 'suck' with a 't'). They weren't the coolest band that I got into during my year out, but they were pretty much the first group I'd followed right from the very start. I'd bought the limited edition debut single, and the hard-to-get-hold-of follow up EPs. I'd read the interviews (where they came off like the Gallagher's slightly more fragile cousins) and tuned in for first plays of new tracks on the Evening Session. It seems strange now, but in the pre-internet days of the mid-nineties (it did exist but was super basic), there was no way to find out about bands other than reading music magazines, listening to the radio and checking 'Planet Sound' on Channel 4 teletext.
One of my friends sorted tickets out to see Embrace at Doncaster Dome a few months after the debut album came out. I was quite surprised that everyone was so keen to go, given the ambivalence towards live music my mates had shown in the past few years, but whatevz, I was just glad we were going, especially as I'd missed them at V97. I was even more happy when I found out that Delakota were supporting. Alongside more mainstream acts like Embrace, I'd been picking up on some of the slightly left-field stuff played by Mark & Lard and Steve Lamacq like Delakota, Asian Dub Foundation, Jurassic 5 and the new Primal Scream album, 'Vanishing Point'. Hardly avant-garde stuff, but 'out there' enough to be dismissed by all but one of my friends as crap.
Unsurprisingly my mates were more bothered about getting drunk than getting to the gig on time so we had a few beers in Leeds before getting the train to Doncaster. By the time we arrived, Delakota had already started, although luckily we'd only missed a few songs. If they'd had a few more tracks like "C'mon Cincinnati" and "The Rock" they would have been huge. At least I thought so at the time. Delakota became the first of a long line of bands that I was sure would be MASSIVE!!! MAN!!! Who then split after their first album. Anyways they were amazicles live, and had much more of a 'band' feel than I thought they would. The songs were less processed but felt no less interesting for it.
Doncaster Dome isn't the most atmospheric of venues, so Embrace had some flashy lights to try and give us something more appealing to look at than four working class lads in combat trousers and one working class lad in combat trousers with lovely hair. When they came on-stage singer Danny (the hair), said something about the fact that they weren't used to playing "Jean-Michel Jarre" places like the Dome. We did a tiny LOL. I later read a review of another show on the same tour where he wheeled out the same, apparently off-the-cuff, remark. He probably still says it now.
Seeing a band when they're touring their first album is generally A Good Thing. Some bands might be a bit shonky if they've not played many gigs before, but you're almost guaranteed to hear the songs you want, played with enthusiasm rather than 'I can't believe we have to play this old stuff' surliness. Embrace obliged, playing almost all of 'The Good Will Out', plus ace b-side "Blind". Even so, they had too many mid-tempo songs and, "Blind", "Last Gas" and "One Big Family" aside, their rockier numbers were very average; like they'd been cobbled together simply because the band wanted some more up-beat songs in the set. It was still an enjoyable night though as far as I remember. Danny's much maligned voice held up well and we (just about) made our train home. Boom!
This was the last show I went to with my friends from school, and marked the end of a fun, but frustrating, part of my life that had begun with Bon Jovi at Don Valley a few years before. After years of semi-emo "why can't we go to more gigs" teenage moaning, things would finally start to change for the better when I went up to Leeds University a few weeks later.
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