On this day 25/08/2007 Dizzee Rascal

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On this day, 25 August 2007, English MC, rapper, songwriter and record producer Dizzee Rascal played Cardiff Calling Festival, which took place in the city’s Bute Park. Also featured on the bill were, The Streets, Super Furry Animals, The Automatic and Kate Nash.

Dizzee Rascal released his debut album Boy in da Corner in 2003. It earned him the 2003 Mercury Prize, and has since been considered a grime classic. Follow-up albums Showtime, Maths + English, and Tongue n' Cheek were critically praised and certified platinum, with Tongue n' Cheek going platinum for sales exceeding 300,000 units in the United Kingdom. He has achieved the number-one singles "Dance wiv Me", "Bonkers", "Holiday", "Dirtee Disco" and "Shout".

Dizzee's third album, Maths + English, was released on 4 June 2007. He stated in an interview before the album's release that "Maths" refers to producing, in terms of beats, deals and money and "English" to writing lyrics. The first single off this album, "Sirens", was released on 21 May.

The album was one of the 12 nominees for the 2007 Mercury Prize, which ultimately went to Klaxons' album Myths of the Near Future. During the year, Dizzee worked with cross-genre artist Beck on a remix of the song "Hell Yes", and provided guest vocals on an Arctic Monkeys track, the B-Side to their single "Brianstorm" named "Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend". Dizzee's version of the same song was featured as "Temptation" on his third album.

On this day 23/08/2008 Madonna

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On this day, 23 August 2008, Pop icon Madonna played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the opening night of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, with support provided by trance DJ Paul Oakenfold.

In all, the tour started in Cardiff on August 23, 2008, and ended in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2009. The 2008 legs also marked Madonna's thirteen-year return to Mexico and the continent of South America, and the 2009 legs marked her first shows in Sweden in sixteen years and Israel in fourteen years.

The tour was described as a "rock driven dancetastic journey". It was divided into four acts: Pimp, where S&M was the main theme; Retro, where Madonna's classic songs were performed while displaying work of deceased artist Keith Haring; Gypsy, a fusion of Romani folk music and dance with the performances ranging from melancholic to joyous; and Rave, where high-energy uptempo songs were performed. The last section of the show included a special 'request song', to which the audience was invited to sing-along. Some changes were made to the set list during the second European leg of the tour in 2009, including a dance tribute to deceased singer Michael Jackson.

Setlist

Act 1: Pimp

"The Sweet Machine" (Video Introduction) (contains elements of "Manipulated Living", "4 Minutes", "Human Nature" and "Give It 2 Me")

"Candy Shop" (contains elements of "4 Minutes" and "Beat Goes On")

"Beat Goes On" (contains elements of "And the Beat Goes On")

"Human Nature" (contains elements of "Gimme More" and "What You Need")

"Vogue" (contains elements of "4 Minutes" and "Give It To Me")

Act 2: Old-School

"Die Another Day" (Remix Interlude) (contains elements of "Do You Wanna Get Funky", "Planet Rock", "Looking for the Perfect Beat" and "Mortal Kombat")

"Into the Groove" (contains elements of "Back in the Day", "Toop Toop", "Body Work", "Jump", "Apache", "It's like That" and "Double Dutch Bus")

"Heartbeat"

"Borderline"

"She's Not Me"

"Music" (contains elements of "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit", along with excerpts from "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life")

Act 3: Gypsy

"Rain" (Remix Interlude) (contains elements of "Here Comes the Rain Again" and "4 Minutes")

"Devil Wouldn't Recognize You"

"Spanish Lesson"

"Miles Away"

"La Isla Bonita" (contains elements of "Lela Pala Tute", "Doli Doli", and "Me Darava")

"You Must Love Me"

Act 4: Rave

"Get Stupid" (Video Interlude) (contains elements of "Beat Goes On", "Give It 2 Me", "4 Minutes" and "Voices")

"4 Minutes"

"Like a Prayer" (contains elements of "Feels Like Home" and "Don't You Want Me")

"Ray of Light"

"Hung Up" (contains elements of "A New Level" and "4 Minutes")

"Give It 2 Me" (Jody Den Broeder Remix) (contains elements of "Fired Up!" (Club 69 Mix))

On this day 22/08/2009 U2

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On this day, 22 August 2009, Irish rock band U2 played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on their 360° Tour with support provided by Glasvegas and The Hours.

Staged in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. The concerts featured the band playing "in the round" on a circular stage, allowing the audience to surround them on all sides. To accommodate the stage configuration, a large four-legged structure nicknamed "The Claw" was built above the stage, with the sound system and a cylindrical, expanding video screen on top of it.

At 164 feet (50 m) tall, it was the largest stage ever constructed. U2 claimed that the tour would be "the first time a band has toured in stadiums with such a unique and original structure."

Review - Wales Online

U2 at the Millennium Stadium: 'The best gig Cardiff's ever had'

IT was one of the most eagerly anticipated gigs of the year.

And for 70,000 fans, it delivered on every count.

When U2 rolled into Cardiff last night for the last leg of their European 360 Degree Tour, they blew the audience away.

Taking centre stage and most of the audience’s breath away in the Millennium Stadium was the £20m set dubbed The Claw – which towered over the main circular stage.

As the iconic front man Bono emerged last night, clad in black and wearing his trademark sunglasses, the crowd erupted with delight.

The almost capacity 70,000 audience made it a record-breaking attendance for any gig at the stadium, outselling Take That’s 64,000 audience earlier this year.

After opening with Breathe, from the new album No Line on the Horizon, the band treated fans to a mix of their many hits from the last three decades and new songs from their latest CD.

Highlights included Beautiful Day, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo, Pride and One, as well as newer stand out songs, Get On Your Boots, Crazy Tonight and Magnificent.

Homage was also paid to The Edge’s Welsh roots, with Bono confessing to having once had singing lessons from the guitarist’s father, Garvin Evans.

“He told me to look after the consonants and the vowels will look after themselves,” Bono told the crowd, who lapped up his every word.

The Edge, whose family were in the Cardiff crowd, received a rapturous applause simply by saying “Cymru Am Byth”, before the band launched into I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For while the adoring masses sang along.

Of course, no U2 gig would be complete without a political message of democracy and freedom, and this was no exception.

The band dedicated their tracks Walk On and MLK to imprisoned Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu gave an uplifting video message before the song One.

Fans hailed the gig as possibly the greatest spectacle seen in the stadium’s 10 year history.

Martin Howarth, 25, from Swansea, said: “I’ve seen the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the stadium and the Rolling Stones but U2 were much better.

“They get such a mixed crowd because they have been going for so long. Some people knew all the words of the old stuff and others only knew the recent albums.

“You have to give them credit and say they are one of the best live bands in the world.

“I would definitely go back and see them again if they came to Cardiff.”

Lloyd James, 24, from Swansea, said: “It was unbelievable. I have never seen a gig like it before.

“The sound was fantastic and the stage looked immense.

“I’ve been to some pretty special rugby games in the Millennium Stadium before but the atmosphere was something totally different to those.

“It’s the best gig Cardiff’s ever had.”

Setlist

Space Oddity (David Bowie song) (intro tape)

Breathe

No Line on the Horizon

Get on Your Boots

Magnificent

Beautiful Day

(with "Land of Our Fathers" and "Blackbird" snippets)

Mysterious Ways

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

(with "Stand By Me" snippet)

Stay (Faraway, So Close!)

Unknown Caller

The Unforgettable Fire

City of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

(remix; with "Two Tribes" snippet)

Sunday Bloody Sunday

(with "Oliver's Army" snippet)

Pride (In the Name of Love)

MLK

Walk On

(with "You'll Never Walk Alone" snippet)

Where the Streets Have No Name

(Desmond Tutu Speech)

One

Bad

(with "40" snippet)

Encore:

Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

With or Without You

Moment of Surrender

U2 in numbers

1 One was the third single from the band’s 1991 album, Achtung Baby, and was released in 1992. Tensions almost prompted U2 to break up until the group rallied round writing the single.

2 U2 formed in Dublin, Ireland, on September 25, 1976. The band consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr (drums and percussion).

3 Bono’s nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

4 Days it took to install the stage, screen, production equipment, lighting rig and speakers for last night’s concert.

8 Number of hours to set up the massive video screen for last night’s Millennium Stadium show.

11 U2’s first single, 11 O’Clock Tick-Tock, was released in May 1980.

12 The cost of the official tour programme is £12.

12 Studio albums: Boy (1980); October (1981); War (1983); The Unforgettable Fire (1984); The Joshua Tree (1987); Rattle and Hum (1988); Achtung Baby (1991); Zooropa (1993); Pop (1997); All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000); How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004); and No Line on the Horizon (2009)

15 European cities the band is visiting with the 360° Tour: Barcelona, Milan, Gothenburg, Zagreb, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Dublin, Chorzow, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, London, Sheffield, Glasgow and Cardiff.

22 Grammy Awards won by the band. Their first was for The Joshua Tree and they are tied with Stevie Wonder as contemporary artists with the most Grammys.

22 The band’s standing in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

22 Number of songs on the set list at last week’s Wembley gig.

40 Also known as 40 (How Long) is the 10th and final track from War. The song is noted for its live performances, often involving the audience singing along for minutes after the band have left the stage. The lyrics are based on the Bible’s Psalm 40.

52 The highest chart position debut album Boy reached in 1980.

60 Approximate weight, in tons, of the stadium video screen.

90 Minutes taken for the first ticket batch for last night’s concert to sell out after going on sale on March 20

164The height in feet of last night’s set, which was twice as high as the one used by the Rolling Stones when they visited Cardiff in 2006.

180 Number of trucks needed to bring the set into the capital.

360 The 360° Tour features an innovative, wrap-around screens and 360° stage, which should give the audience an unobstructed view from all angles.

360 Estimated number of tour crew members, factoring in drivers and vendors in addition to ground crew.

400 The weight in tons of the set.

1500 Starting price in euros to spend the night in the penthouse suite at the Clarence Hotel in Dublin, owned by Bono and The Edge.

70000 Last night’s estimated attendance was the biggest ever for a gig at the Millennium Stadium, beating the 64,000 who watched Take That earlier this summer.

88000 The crowd U2 played to at Wembley on August 14.

95000 The capacity of the Stade de France in Paris, the largest crowd expected on the European tour.

500000 Number of pixels on the expanding video screen at last night’s Cardiff concert.

20,000,000 The value in pounds of the set on which the mega band performed.

67,000,000 Results when “U2” is typed into Google.

145,000,000 Worldwide album sales.

423,000,000 Band’s combined wealth in pounds sterling, as estimated by the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List.

On this day 20/08/1971 From Cowshed to Turntable

Sound Engineer Ralph Dean of Machen at the eight-track recording console at Rockfield Studio in Monmouthshire - August 1971

On this day, 20 August 1971, the South Wales Echo printed a report on the progress being made at Rockfield Studios, the legendary Welsh recording studios near Monmouth.

“The sound engineer is milking the cows,” said the voice on the other end of the telephone. The voice was speaking from a farm at Rockfield, Monmouthshire, where Kingsley Ward has put £20,000 worth of recording equipment into a disused granary.

The studio was first built in 1965 but the present one, with its eight-track recording equipment was finished last year and the first single recorded there, Dave Edmunds’ I Hear You Knocking, a massive hit, created a lot of publicity for the studio.

They are now booked up a month ahead. “We charge half the London studio prices £10.50 an hour – yet groups come down here and say the sound is better,” said Kingsley.

“It’s not because we are cheap that they like us – after all they may have a budget of £4,000 to make an album, but we are in the country. If they can’t get it together, they can go for a walk or horse-riding.

“London studios spend a lot on decor and work strictly by the clock. Our studio is a bit scruffy and there’s no clock in it. For a group who are in the studio for the first time, it’s like home from home.”

On this day 18/08/1993 U2

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On this day, 18 August 1993, Irish rock giants U2 played Cardiff’s Arms Park as part of their Zoo TV Tour. Support for the day was provided by Utah Saints and Stereo MCs.

Staged in support of their 1991 album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 to 1993. It was intended to mirror the group's new musical direction on Achtung Baby.

In contrast to U2's austere stage setups from previous tours, the Zoo TV Tour was an elaborately staged multimedia spectacle, satirising television and media oversaturation by attempting to instill "sensory overload" in its audience.

To escape their reputation for being earnest and overly serious, U2 embraced a more lighthearted and self-deprecating image on tour. Zoo TV and Achtung Baby were central to the group's 1990s reinvention.

The tour's concept was inspired by disparate television programming, coverage of the Gulf War, the desensitising effect of mass media, and "morning zoo" radio shows.

The stages featured dozens of large video screens that showed visual effects, video clips, and flashing text phrases, along with a lighting system partially made of Trabant automobiles.

The shows incorporated channel surfing, prank calls, video confessionals, a belly dancer, and live satellite transmissions with war-torn Sarajevo.

On stage, Bono portrayed several characters he conceived, including the leather-clad egomaniac "The Fly", the greedy televangelist "Mirror Ball Man", and the devilish "MacPhisto".

In contrast to other U2 tours, each of the Zoo TV shows opened with six to eight consecutive new songs before older material was played.

Setlist:

Zoo Station

The Fly

Even Better Than The Real Thing

Mysterious Ways

One / Hear Us Coming (snippet) / Unchained Melody (snippet)

Until the End of the World

New Year's Day

Numb

Babyface

Angel of Harlem

Dancing Queen

Stay (Faraway, So Close!)

Satellite Of Love

Bad / Irish Heartbeat (snippet) / The First Time (snippet)

Bullet the Blue Sky

Running To Stand Still

Where the Streets Have No Name

Pride (In the Name of Love)

Encore(s):

Desire / You Make Me Feel So Young (snippet) / Green Green Grass Of Home (snippet)

I Just Called To Say I Love You (snippet) / Ultraviolet (Light My Way) / My Way (snippet)

With or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)

Love Is Blindness

Can't Help Falling In Love

ARCHIVE REVIEW
by Steve Duffy, South Wales Echo

The band too have moved on, as they must. CNN and NBC were the perfect backing for the PVC of Bono as band started with a huge chunk from their previous album Achtung Baby - techno-rock gloss of Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly (and with exotic dancer) Mysterious Ways, three tracks which stand with Us2 best.

Normal service was quickly resumed with New Year’s Day, who struck the crowd dumb with his new solo, effort, Numb.

On Babyface, Bono invites a girl up - these days she gets a camcorder rather than a kiss, and promptly zooms in on his crotch.

the band at last leave the technology behind to take to a small stage for semi-acoustic segment - a memorable Angel Of Harlem, an improbably good version of Abba’s Dancing Queen, the excellent Stay (Faraway So Close) from Zooropa and Satellite of Love (with fuzzy image of Lou Reed bearing down).

The crowd are predictably welcoming for the U2 - the anthems’ segment.

The old stadium rock atmosphere is recreated for Bad, although Bullet The Blue Sky is, with out irony, turned into a horrid Nuremberg style rally, to a backdrop of burning crosses turning into swastikas, Bono ending with clenched salute declaring, "We must not let this happen again." Please don’t.

They finish with Where The Streets Have No Name and Pride, and we’re left with a relaxation video of tropical fish.

Bono returns for the encore as MacPhisto - dressed in gold glitter suit, platform shoes, red devil horns and lip gloss for Desire.

Then it’s on the mobile phone to Lady Thatcher.

the band may have matured musically, but not politically - a naive call to the Commons in the summer recess to sing I Just Called To Say I Love You to The Lady (wrong number too), to be told by a telephonist to write in.

We should all write "Capitalism Suck" 100 times on our £10 tour programmes and send them to the band.

It ends wonderfully quietly - Love Is Blindness and a quick impression of Elvis before a simple sign off with I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.

"Elvis Is Still In The Stadium," were his last words.

Somehow Bono himself never really was.

On this day 17/08/2002 The Darkness

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On this day, 17 August 2002, British rock band The Darkness played Cardiff’s Barfly.

The band had just released their debut recording the EP “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” but had not yet issued their debut album '“Permission To Land” released the following year.

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was originally issued as a 3-track EP in August 2002; however, as only a small number of copies were printed, it was ineligible to chart. The EP also included early versions of "Love on the Rocks With No Ice" and "Love Is Only a Feeling". When released as a single in September 2003, it was beaten to number one by The Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is the Love?".

The Darkness came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Permission to Land, in 2003. Backed by the singles "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", and "Love Is Only a Feeling", the album was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom, with sales of over 1.3 million.

In 2004 the band won three Brit Awards: Best British Group, Best British Rock Act, and Best British Album.

The success of this album led to heavy touring for the band, including European portions of Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003.

They then went on to headline the Carling Festival in 2004. The band won three BRIT Awards in 2004 in response to the album, Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album.

They also won two Kerrang! awards in 2004 for Best Live Act and Best British Band. The third single from the album, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", was a substantial hit in the UK as was their tilt at the Christmas 2003 number 1, "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", which only just fell short, both singles reaching number 2 in 2003.

On this day August 16th 1977 The Kursaal Flyers

On this day, British pop band The Kursaal Flyers played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

Formed in Southend-on-Sea in 1973. They are most famous for their 1976 single "Little Does She Know" (which was a Top 20 hit) and were the subject of a BBC documentary following them on tour in 1975.

The group formed when Shuttleworth, Douglas, Birch, Collins, Bull and Hatfield, who had all performed locally in various combinations around Southend, got together in October 1973 to form a new band. They made their first appearance together as the Kursaal Flyers – named after the imitation train which was used to advertise Southend's famous amusement hall, the Kursaal, which had recently closed[2] – at the Blue Boar pub in Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, in February 1974, mainly playing covers of country rock songs but over time increasingly writing their own material.

Through contacts in the band with Dr. Feelgood, they played some support slots in London, where they were seen by influential agents and songwriters. All bar Hatfield turned professional at the start of 1975, signed for Jonathan King's UK Records, and released their first album Chocs Away. Although the singles "Speedway" and "Hit Records" received some airplay, the band failed to garner any commercial success. Their second album, The Great Artiste, also sold poorly.

Nevertheless the band developed a solid live reputation on the London pub rock scene, with an eclectic mixture of original material and cover versions, fronted by Paul Shuttleworth's "wide boy" persona.

The group toured widely and in 1977 released Five Live Kursaals, but failed to gain any further commercial success and, after numerous personnel changes, the band disintegrated in late 1977.

On this day 15/08/2008 Spiritualised

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On this day, 15 August 2008, English space rock band Spiritualised played the Green Man Festival, Crickhowell.

Formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierce (vocals, guitar), John Coxon (guitars, keyboards), Doggen Foster (guitar), Kevin Bales (drums and percussion) and Tom Edwards (percussion and keyboards) with revolving bassists.

Spiritualized have released eight studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these is 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, which NME magazine named as their Album of the Year, beating other critically acclaimed albums such as Radiohead's OK Computer and The Verve's Urban Hymns.

The album, Songs in A&E was released on 26 May 2008 in the UK, and on 27 May 2008 in the US. The first single from the 18-track album was "Soul on Fire". The release was backed by an Electric Mainlines UK tour which began in May. Pierce has also scored Harmony Korine's 2008 film Mister Lonely.