On This Day 25/09/2007 Incubus

On this day, 25 September 2007, American rock band Incubus played Cardiff International Arena on their 2007 World Tour.

Las Vegas Weekly said that Incubus was a "funky, jazzy, experimental rock band, incorporating elements of hip-hop into its music before it was fashionable to do so." According to AllMusic, the band became "one of the most popular alt-metal bands of the new millennium" by combining heavy metal, funk, jazz, hip hop, techno, post-grunge, rap metal and alternative rock into a "versatile blend". The Age wrote that Incubus "emerged bearing influences of pop, alternative metal and hip-hop, unusual for mainstream rock bands". Indianapolis Monthly said that the band was "part metal, part funk, part jazz and part hip-hop".The McClatchy-Tribune News called Incubus a "spacey, experimental alternative-rock band". Rolling Stone said that the band were latecomers to "the great funk metal scare of the '90s". The Los Angeles Times similarly wrote in 2004 that "Incubus always stood out from the rest of the mid-'90s alt-metal crowd, its positive lyrical approach and musical versatility far richer than the overworked wallowing in misery of such acts as Korn and later arrival Staind."

Prior to finding mainstream success in the early 2000s, Incubus was often grouped in with nu metal, alongside other Californian bands such as Korn and Deftones. NME described Incubus as a "fusion-generated funk/nu-metal band". Maui Time Weekly wrote, "Incubus was one of the few nu metal bands to survive the purge of the millennium, and they did it through consistent hard work–the band is constantly either in the studio or on tour–and musical development.

Setlist

Quicksand

A Kiss to Send Us Off

Wish You Were Here

Anna Molly

Pistola

Blood on the Ground

Southern Girl

Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)

Megalomaniac

Drive

Sick Sad Little World

Oil and Water

Nice to Know You

Encore:

Favorite Things

Clean

Aqueous Transmission

(Mike Einziger on Pipa)

On This Day 24/09/2005 The Dead 60s

On this day, 24 September 2005, Liverpool Ska punk band The Dead 60s played Cardiff International Arena in support of the Stereophonics.

The band's sound is a mixture of punk rock, ska, dub and reggae. They have taken influences from artists such as King Tubby, Jackie Mittoo, Gang of Four and A Certain Ratio.

The Dead 60s released their debut album in the US on 31 May 2005 and in the UK on 26 September 2005. It was recorded at the Ranch Studios and Parr St Studios. The album was produced by Central Nervous System and remixed by Mike Hedges.

The band toured throughout Europe, Japan and the US in support of the record. In the US, they toured as part of the Vans Warped Tour as well as in support of artists such as Garbage, The Bravery and Social Distortion. They also played on the bill of both the Lollapalooza Festival and the KROQ Weenie Roast. The band experienced success in the US, where their song "Riot Radio" became the third most added song at Alternative Radio behind White Stripes and Coldplay.

The band were scheduled to open The Other Stage at Glastonbury on 24 June 2005, but before their set could begin the stage was hit by lightning and their performance was cancelled. The band continued to tour throughout 2005 and 2006, playing various festivals in the US, UK, Europe and Japan.

On This Day 25/07/1996 Melissa Etheridge

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day. 25 July 1996, American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge played Cardiff’s International Arena as support to Bryan Adams on her Your Little Secret World Tour.

Your Little Secret is the fifth album by singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released in 1995. It was her most successful album on the Billboard 200, where it peaked at number six.

The album also contained three singles, "Your Little Secret", "I Want to Come Over", and "Nowhere to Go". "I Want to Come Over" went on to reach No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Nowhere to Go" peaked at No. 40.

As of 2010, the album has sold 1,348,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Etheridge is known for music with a mixture of "confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals." She has been a gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993.

She has received fifteen Grammy Award nominations throughout her career, winning two, in 1993 and 1995. In 2007, she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up" from the film An Inconvenient Truth.

In September 2011, Etheridge received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tour Setlist

I Really Like You

If I Wanted To

I Want to Come Over

An Unusual Kiss

Come to My Window

Nowhere to Go

Silent Legacy

I Could Have Been You

Must Be Crazy for Me

I'm the Only One

Your Little Secret

Bring Me Some Water

Like the Way I Do

On This Day 22/07/2008 Michael Buble

On this day, 22 July 2008, Canadian singer Michael Buble played Cardiff International Arena on his Call Me Irresponsible Tour.

Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songbook. Bublé has sold over 75 million records worldwide, and won numerous awards, including five Grammy Awards and fifteen Juno Awards.

Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records and credits his grandfather in encouraging his love for jazz music. "My grandfather was really my best friend growing up. He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation.

“Although I like rock and roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened. The lyrics were so romantic, so real, the way a song should be for me. It was like seeing my future flash before me. I wanted to be a singer and I knew that this was the music that I wanted to sing.”

In 2003, Bublé's first album reached the top ten in Canada and the United Kingdom. He found a worldwide audience with his 2005 album It's Time and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible – which reached number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, the UK Albums Chart, the US Billboard 200, the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and several European charts.

On This Day 18/07/2004 Rammstein

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 18 July 2005, German heavy rockers Rammstein played Cardiff’s International Arena on their Reise Reise Tour. Support was provided by Devil Sold His Soul.,

It was on this tour that the band was faced with several lawsuits resulting from severe fire breathing accidents involving audience members.

Reise, Reise is the band’s fourth studio album reaching no 37 in the UK album charts.

Formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph Schneider, and keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz—has remained unchanged throughout their history, along with their approach to songwriting, which consists of Lindemann writing and singing the lyrics over instrumental pieces the rest of the band have completed beforehand.

Prior to their formation, some members were associated with the punk rock acts Feeling B and First Arsch.

Setlist

Reise, Reise

Links 2-3-4

Keine Lust

Feuer frei!

Asche zu Asche

Morgenstern

Mein Teil

Stein um Stein

Los

Du riechst so gut

Benzin

Du hast

Sehnsucht

Amerika

Encore:

Rammstein

Sonne

Ich will

Encore 2:

Ohne dich

Stripped

(Depeche Mode cover)

On This Day 27/05/1999 Kenny Rogers

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 27 May 1999, American country music legend Kenny Rogers, played Cardiff International Arena.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences, but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres - jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.

Review - South Wales Echo

Review - Cynon Valley Leader

In 1999, Rogers scored with the single "The Greatest", a song about life from a child's point of view (looked at through a baseball game). The song reached the top 40 of Billboard's Country Singles chart and was a Country Music Television number-one video. It was on Rogers's album She Rides Wild Horses the following year (itself a top-10 success). Also in 1999, Rogers produced a song, "We've Got It All", specifically for the series finale of the ABC show Home Improvement.

On This Day 23/05/2010 John Mayer

On this day, 23 May 2010, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Mayer played Cardiff International Arena on his Battle Studies World Tour. Support was provided by Ellie Goulding.

Battle Studies is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mayer, released on November 17, 2009, by Columbia Records. Production took place from February to August 2009 at Battle Studies recording studio in Calabasas, California, Capitol Studios in Hollywood, and The Village in West Los Angeles, California, and was handled by Mayer and Steve Jordan.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling over 286,000 copies in its first week of sales. It achieved successful sales in several other countries and produced two singles that attained chart success. Battle Studies received positive reviews from critics, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold over 880,000 copies in the United States.

Setlist

Assassin

No Such Thing

Vultures

(John Mayer Trio song)

Waiting on the World to Change

Perfectly Lonely

Stop This Train

Neon

All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye

Belief

Who Says

Heartbreak Warfare

Half of My Heart

Encore:

Message in a Bottle

(The Police cover)

Why Georgia

On This Day 01/04/2005 Tears For Fears

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 1 May 2005, rock band Tears For Fears played Cardiff International Arena on their Everybody Loves A Happy Ending Tour.

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending is the sixth studio album by English pop rock band Tears for Fears, released on 14 September 2004 in the United States and on 7 March 2005 in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The album marked Tears for Fears' comeback following a hiatus in the late 1990s, as well as the return of founding member Curt Smith. However, it performed modestly on the UK and US music charts compared to the band's previous records. The band focused primarily on touring in the years following Everybody Loves a Happy Ending's release, with a follow-up album not being completed until nearly eighteen years later.

Setlist

Intro - Famous Last Words

Secret World

Call Me Mellow

Who You Are

Sowing the Seeds of Love

Who Killed Tangerine?

Pale Shelter

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

The Devil

Mad World

Quiet Ones

Size of Sorrow

Snow Hill

(Curt Smith song)

Closest Thing to Heaven

Break It Down Again

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Head Over Heels

Woman in Chains

Shout