On This Day 31/12/1999 Manic Street Preachers

On this day, 31 Dec 1999, the Manic Street Preachers played the biggest gig of their career when they heralded in a new century at the Millennium Stadium in front of a sellout crowd.

Bassist Nicky Wire said of the importance of the gig: “Ten years ago we did a gig in Cardiff to two people. Today we’re playing in front of 60,000 people. I think that shows how far we’ve come, how far we have grown and how much Wales has grown.”

The supporting bill featured poet Patrick Jones, Liverpool’s Shack, Newport rockers Feeder, and everyone's favourite pop surrealists Super Furry Animals

Setlist

Part One - 1999

You Stole the Sun From My Heart

Faster

Everything Must Go

Tsunami

The Masses Against the Classes

The Everlasting

Kevin Carter

La tristesse durera (Scream to a Sigh)

Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry cover)

Ready for Drowning

Of Walking Abortion

No Surface All Feeling

Motown Junk (w/ Baby Love Intro)

Motorcycle Emptines

Part Two - 2000

Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Frankie Valli cover) (Acoustic)

Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky (Acoustic)

Australia

Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

You Love Us

Stay Beautiful

(On screen message from former miners' leader Arthur Scargill) If You Tolerate This (Your Children Will be Next)

A Design for Life

Christmas Day 25/12/1966 Tom Jones

Day one of our Twelve Days of KCL Christmas. A special On This Day

Welsh singing legend Tom Jones had many hits in the Swinging Sixties but most notable was his Christmas 1966 No 1, “The Green, Green Grass of Home”

Written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr. and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell in 1965.

It was later recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis for his album Country Songs for City Folks (later re-issued as All Country). Tom Jones learned the song from Lewis' version, and in 1966, he had a worldwide No. 1 hit with it.

Welsh singer Tom Jones, who was appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, visited Colony Records while staying in New York City. On asking if they had any new works by Jerry Lee Lewis, he was given the new country album.

Impressed with the song, Jones recorded and released the song in the UK in 1966 and it reached No. 1 on 1 December, staying there for a total of seven weeks.

The song has sold over 1.25 million copies in the UK as of September 2017.

Jones' version also reached No 11 pop, No 12 easy listening on the Billboard US charts.

In September 2006, Jones performed the song as a duet with Jerry Lee Lewis during the taping of the latter's Last Man Standing TV special in New York City, and credited Lewis with providing the inspiration behind his own recording.

In February 2009, Jones performed the song live on a special Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, along with "If He Should Ever Leave You" and "We Got Love", live in front of a camera in a hotel room in New York.

Jones sang the song on the 2009/10 edition of Jool's Annual Hootenanny on 1 January 2010.

On This Day 23/12/1943 Harry Shearer

On this day 23 Dec 1943, Harry Shearer (aka Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap) was born in Los Angeles, California. Shearer is also known for voicing a number of characters on The Simpsons, including Principal Skinner and Ned Flanders.
Shearer was a cast member on Saturday Night Live between 1979 and 1980, and 1984 and 1985. Shearer co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in the film This Is Spinal Tap (1984), a satirical rockumentary, which became a massive hit. In 1989
Shearer does have a strong Welsh connection due to his marriage to singer Judith Owen, who he married in 1993. In 2005, The couple launched their own record label called Courgette Records and performed together regularly.
Owen has recorded and toured with Richard Thompson in recent years, notably on the 1000 Years of Popular Music recording and tour. She has also appeared on his albums The Old Kit Bag and Sweet Warrior.
Owen appeared as herself on The Simpsons in the thirteenth-season episode "The Blunder Years" and sang the song "600" for the show's 600th episode, Treehouse of Horror XXVII.

On This Day 21/12/1968 Tom Jones

On this day, 21 Dec 1968, this advert appeared in the Melody Maker from Tom Jones as he wished his fans a Merry Xmas.

Tom was on a tour of Europe at the time and had to cancel a few dates due to a bout of influenza and laryngitis, most notably in Germany where he was touring for the first time, though managed to pick up the tour in Vienna.

Jones had not long released “A Minute Of Your Time” and was hoping to repeat the success of “Delilah” and “Help Yourself” though it was considered by critics to be his poorest recording yet.

Jones disagreed in an interview saying he’d “Sooner cut a song that I know wouldn’t make the top five but is good, than an instant hit that was rubbish”

He was also looking forward to next year when he would be recording his £3m American TV series which, fortunately for his British fans was being made at Elstree Studios rather than in America.

“A Minute Of Your Time” peaked at No 14 in the U.K. charts.

ON THIS DAY 17/12/1972 THE SWEET

On this day, 17 Dec 1972, Glam Rock/Pop group The Sweet, played the Top Rank, Cardiff on their Funny How Sweet Coco Can Be tour.
Formerly known as the Sweetshop, the band had just released The Sweet's Biggest Hits a greatest hits album of their earlier pop hits.
During 1971 and 1972, their musical style followed a marked progression from the Archies-like bubblegum style of "Funny Funny" to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.

ON THIS DAY 15/12/1979 YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS

On this day, Cardiff band Young Marble Giants played the GrassRoots Coffee Bar, Cardiff.
Young Marble Giants were a post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was a sharp contrast with the more aggressive punk rock that dominated the underground at the time. Young Marble Giants released just one full-length studio album, Colossal Youth, in 1980.
The Grassroots centre is iconic with a rich history stretching back to the punk culture of 1979. This community project developed into a haven for any young person in crisis or need, where self-expression was encouraged and creativity celebrated.

ON THIS DAY 14/12/1983 ROBERT PLANT

On this day, 14 Dec 1983, Robert Plant, formerly lead singer with Led Zeppelin played Cardiff’s Top Rank.
It was to promote The Principle of Moments, Plant’s second solo studio and his second Top 10 album in the US and UK. It also gave him his first solo Top 40 hit with "Big Log".
It was recorded at the famous Rockfield Studios in Monmouth.
Genesis' drummer Phil Collins played drums for six of the album's eight songs.
One of the more memorable occasions on the tour happened two days before the Cardiff gig. During the encore of a concert by Plant at the Hammersmith Odeon in London,
Plant was joined by Zep bandmate guitarist Jimmy Page and they reached back into their pre-Led Zeppelin past – but only for a single song.
"I've got an old friend here who's unused, as he is, to public speaking – Jimmy Page," Plant said to an ovation that interrupted him in mid-sentence. They then launched into an R&B hit that inspired them in their formative years, "Treat Her Right" by Roy Head.

Setlist

In the Mood
Pledge Pin
Messin' With the Mekon
Worse Than Detroit
Thru' With the Two Step
Other Arms
Horizontal Departure / Lively Up Yourself
Moonlight in Samosa
Wreckless Love
Slow Dancer
Like I've Never Been Gone
Burning Down One Side
Big Log

ON THIS DAY 10/12/2004 KASABIAN

On this day, 10 Dec 2004, Leicester four-piece, Kasabian played Cardiff University.
Their eponymous debut album was released in the UK on 13 September 2004, receiving good sales and generally positive reviews. During the recording, the band lived in a farmhouse near Rutland Water to avoid being disturbed. Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the "Other Stage".
Despite having two prior single releases with debut single "Processed Beats" and lead single "Reason Is Treason", it was their third single release "Club Foot" that gave Kasabian success in the UK Singles Chart. The song, which was written in the early years of Kasabian, went on to enjoy both critical and commercial success, and being performed at nearly every Kasabian live performance since its release.

Setlist

I.D.
Cutt Off
Reason Is Treason
Running Battle
Processed Beats
55
Test Transmission
Butcher Blues
The Nightworker's
Pan Am Slit Scam
L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)

Encore:
Ovary Stripe
Club Foot