Reviews

With the crowd of 6,000 in great spirits after England's 1-0 World Cup victory over Paraguay a friendly banter erupted between Embrace's singer Danny McNamara and the crowd.

The Yorkshire band kicked off the evening with ‘No Use Crying’. This is the first track from their new album ‘This New Day’ and from the moment the first chord rang out the crowd sang along religiously to every song.

Despite the hot weather the crowd still obliged when asked to jump around, unless of course you had bad legs, then you had to wiggle your hips! This went on and on till Embrace made sure everyone was moving to their songs.

Embrace

They performed a fantastic set with songs from various albums, combining their ballads and pop-rock songs - and of course that England song. Despite the band admitting 'World At Your Feet' isn't sing-along enough, the crowd and in particular the football-shirted clan at the front, went mad for it.

It really couldn't have been timed better. Towards the end of the set Danny McNamara burst into his own version of ‘I'm In The Mood’ getting huge applause.

He seemed very genuine when thanking the audience and saying how pleased he was that so many people had come and that people were singing to his music. This of course got another huge cheer from the crowd applauding themselves!

Despite the pushing, jumping and beer-throwing, everyone left the concert in great spirits. Embrace were far better than I think most people had anticipated and they truly engaged with the audience and created a fun and laid-back evening.

Visit the Forestry Commission's web site using the link on the right for details of the Pet Shop Boys and Jamie Cullum concerts in Thetford in July 2006>>