"WE'RE back and we've got some unfinished business" snarled frontman Danny McNamara triumphantly at the crowd.

And Brighouse band Embrace really are back and riding high after a comeback, chart-topping album.

In 1997 the music press declared them the next big thing but although album The Good Will Out was a brilliant debut they have disappointed ever since - until now.

There is a buzz around the band at the moment, proved by the roaring trade the touts were doing outside Manchester Academy on Friday night. By the time the band swaggered on stage that buzz was deafening.

They opened with the next single Ashes, a stomping tour-de-force which immediately had the crowd singing along like it is already an old favourite.

Then came All You Good Good People which cranked the atmosphere to top gear, a speed the band sustained right up until they finally waved goodbye almost two hours later.

"It is almost three years to the day that we were dropped from Hut Records," Danny told the crowd with a wry smile on his face.

"During the three years we were away we never thought we would be back playing somewhere like this - we won't let you down again."

There is a feeling of re-birth and return for Embrace.

They were written off as nearly men but on this form it is clearly not too late.

But the band want more and it is the double encore that will stick in the memory.

Older, wiser and more determined, Danny, Richard, Steve, Mike and Mickey have only just begun.

* The Manchester Academy gig will be broadcast tonight (Monday) on Lamacq Live on Radio One at 9pm.