LIVE REVIEW: Embrace, Walt’s Frozen Head, Engine Rooms, Southampton, 25/11/2024
Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
Embrace‘s long-awaited, sold-out Southampton show saw the crowd treated to a nostalgic, wholesome night with one of the UK’s most understated names performing their seminal album in full — preceded by the unique, genre-bending experience of Walt’s Frozen Head, whose set added just a dash of surreal spectacle that left everyone present questioning the very definition of musical coherence.
The stage show opened with an unexpected touch of Disney — When You Wish Upon a Star played over the speakers, and a shining iconic castle backdrop bathed the room in a nostalgic glow. But that’s where the traditional ends. Enter a lab-coated, reptilian figure stalking the halls, setting the stage for a flaming, satanic star to erupt — and then it was time. A glowing, disembodied head (the inaugural Walt, as per the long-standing myth) made its eerie appearance soon after, accompanied by a ‘miming keyboardist’—who, it turned out, was a skeletal mannequin, standing eerily still in the corner — along with the rest of the Leeds-based three piece.
A slice of eccentric electronic rock that could give The Mighty Boosh a run for its money, Walt’s Frozen Head delivered a blend of absurdity and hypnotic chaos. Their set felt like a fever dream, a swirling mix of genres that somehow grew both stranger and more engrossing as it went on. Think tracks like the convention-defying, eponymous track Walt’s Frozen Head, the cocaine-and-orgy-fuelled Shake and Vac, or Bloody Converse, Alfie Enzo’s near-whispered vocals echoing over the prog-infused track which also saw a collage of clips from iconic horror films flash behind them, as if aghast at the anxiety-inducing blend of genres happening in front of their Hollywood-blinkered eyes — and yet, as the strangely hypnotic set went on, you couldn’t help but find yourself entranced. 7/10
Then, while the crowd were still reeling from trying to make sense of what the hell they had just been a part of, it was time for the men of the hour. A golden glare of spotlights signalled the arrival of Embrace, who flew straight into All You Good Good People. Frontman Danny McNamara immediately took centre stage, basking in the crowd’s energy and inadvertently flashing his belly as he leapt into the air and gave it everything he had, a beaming smile plastered on his face. Clearly relishing every moment up on that stage, as passionate now as he was back in 1997, McNamara felt like showboating leader who is as much a fan of his band as the audience is.
Their sound was polished, yet still raw in the best way possible. As the band glided through tracks like Looking As You Are, backlit silhouettes blending with the music, the crowd hanging on every note, or the harmonica-featuring Wish ‘Em All Away, they showed just what’s made them so beloved — it’s their flawless ability to build a connection with the crowd. Someday soon followed, bringing yet more of the emotive magic that defines Embrace’s charm, before personal standout, and apparently the band’s biggest ever hit, Nature’s Law, had the crowd singing along in unison. A Glorious Day saw the room glowing with the soft, collective light of hundreds of raised phone torches — allegedly a visual tour debut — while the powerful Refugees saw brother Richard take lead vocals for the bass-heavy, hard-hitting, and hope-filled anthem.
Perhaps the most striking moment of the night, though, came during Out of Nothing. The song’s gentle, crooning ballad quickly opened into an explosion of searing guitars and pounding drums, building to a room-shaking crescendo, a strobe-lit climax that left the crowd breathless; though, although perhaps not strictly a fan favourite at the level of Ashes, Embrace still seemed to have missed a trick by not having it as the final song before the encore.
Never saw Nicole Hope Smith, the other half of Richard’s side-band EEVAH, join the band on stage to add her beautiful vocals to the mix — and then it was time for both the kind-of-Embrace, kind-of-Coldplay, definitely-beautiful Gravity, some of the crowd in tears as they screamed along, and the undisputed crowd-pleaser of Ashes, the other half of the emotive one-two seeing the crowd happily bouncing up-and-down, consideration for their mostly 50+ knees be damned.
A chilled-out encore that included the likes of Protection and Come Back To What You Know then, inevitably, led the band to their final airing of the night: and what else could it be but The Good Will Out?
With the track’s feel-good refrain echoing through Southampton’s streets as the crowd vacated the venue, the lucky attendees still abuzz with reliving the album (and friends) that had obviously meant so much to so many, Embrace were free to take a well-earned rest — now here’s to waiting for the Out Of Ashes 25th Anniversary tour in a few years! 9/10
