On This Day 21/02/1975 Dr Feelgood

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On this day, 21 February 1975, Canvey Island pub rockers Dr Feelgood played Cardiff University on their Naughty Rhythms Tour.

Also on the bill were Kokomo and Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers.

Dr Feelgood had just released their debut album Down by the Jetty .

Paul Weller and Bob Geldof have acknowledged the influence of Down by the Jetty, as have Blondie, the Ramones and Richard Hell, who were introduced to the album by Blondie's drummer Clem Burke.

In 1976, prior to being signed, Paul Weller's band The Jam demoed a cover of "Cheque Book".

A copy of the album is also glimpsed on the sleeve of the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop by his later band The Style Council.

The album was a primary influence on The Strypes, who covered "I'm a Hog for You Baby" on their 2013 debut album Snapshot.

In 2006, Uncut magazine listed the album at number 87 on its list of the 100 greatest debut albums.

Formed in 1971. the group are best known for early singles such as "She Does It Right", "Roxette", "Back in the Night" and "Milk and Alcohol". The group's original distinctively British R&B sound was centred on Wilko Johnson's choppy guitar style. Along with Johnson, the original band line-up included singer Lee Brilleaux and the rhythm section of John B. Sparks, known as "Sparko", on bass guitar and John Martin, known as "The Big Figure", on drums.

Although their most commercially productive years were the early to mid-1970s, and in spite of Brilleaux's death in 1994 of lymphoma, a version of the band (featuring none of the original members) continues to tour and record to this day.

On This Day 20/2/1994 Morrissey

On this day, 20 Feb 1994, former Smith’s frontman Morrissey played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall as part of his Boxers Tour.

The Boxers Tour took place in February 1995. Lasting barely a month, the tour was organized in support of Morrissey's latest single, "Boxers", and the upcoming compilation, "World of Morrissey", as both releases featured boxers prominently. To further highlight the tour's name, Morrissey applied fake bruises and cuts to his face, and used a backdrop of Cornelius Carr, the boxer featured in the single's music video and the sleeve art for the compilation. Worthy to note, it was also Morrissey's first tour in more than two years. Along with a new bassist, who was replacing the former Gary Day, the band stormed through a slew of dates in the UK.

Personnel: Boz Boorer (guitars), Alain Whyte (guitars), Spencer Cobrin (drums) and Jonny Bridgwood (bass). The latter replaced Gary Day.

Setlist

Billy Budd

Have-A-Go Merchant

Spring-Heeled Jim

London

(The Smiths song)

You're the One for Me, Fatty

The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get

We'll Let You Know

Jack the Ripper

Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself

The National Front Disco

Moon River

(Henry Mancini cover)

Whatever Happens, I Love You

Boxers

Now My Heart Is Full

Speedway

Encore:

Shoplifters of the World Unite

(The Smiths song)

On This Day 19/02/2002 Slipknot

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On this day 19 February 2002, American heavy rock band Slipknot played Cardiff International Arena on their Iowa World Tour.

Formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan, drummer Joey Jordison and bassist Paul Gray. After several lineup changes in its early years, the band settled on nine members for more than a decade: Crahan, Jordison, Gray, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, and Jim Root.

Slipknot is well known for its attention-grabbing image, aggressive style of music, and energetic and chaotic live shows. The band rapidly rose to fame following the release of their eponymous debut album in 1999. The 2001 follow-up album, Iowa, although darker in tone, made the band more popular.

In 2002, Slipknot appeared in Rollerball (2002), performing "I Am Hated". The release and intense promotion of the album resulted in sold-out shows in large arenas in several countries.

SETLIST

People = Shit

Liberate

Left Behind

Eeyore

Disasterpiece

Purity

Gently

Eyeless

My Plague

The Heretic Anthem

Spit It Out

Wait and Bleed

742617000027

(sic)

Surfacing

On This Day 18/02/1977 Procul Harum

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On this day, 18 February 1977, rock band Procul Harum played Cardiff University.

Formed in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies.

Although noted for their baroque and classical influence, Procol Harum's music is described as psychedelic rock and proto-prog with hints of the blues, R&B, and soul.

Guy Stevens their manager, named the band after a Burmese cat, which had been bred by Eleonore Vogt-Chapman and belonged to Liz Coombes. The cat's "cat fancy" name was Procul Harun, Procul being the breeder's prefix.

In the absence of a definitive origin, the band's name has attracted various interpretations, being said to be (incorrect) Latin for "beyond these things"; the correct Latin would be procul hīs.

Band member Keith Reid describes how the name came about:

It's the name of a cat, a Siamese cat. It's the pedigree name, and it belonged to a friend of ours, just somebody that we used to hang out with when we were forming the band. One day, somebody pulled out the cat's birth certificate and said 'Have a look at this', and the name of the cat was Procol Harum. And somebody else, in fact a chap called Guy Stevens who was quite instrumental in Gary [Brooker, the singer and pianist] and myself getting together in the first place, said, 'Oh, you must call the group Procol Harum'. And we just accepted that. We never even questioned it, never even thought if it was a good name, we just went ahead with that suggestion.

Once we put the record out, people started to say, 'Oh, it's Latin, and it means 'beyond these things'. But in fact, we had spelled it incorrectly. It should have been P-R-U-C-U-L, I think, or P-R-U-C-O-L H-A-R-U-M. I believe that's right anyway. If we'd spelled it correctly; it would have meant beyond these things. But it seemed quite apt. That was it really. It was the suggestion of a friend and we just stuck with it.

Tour Setlist

Something Magic

Conquistador

Beyond the Pale

Grand Hotel

Strangers in Space

The Mark of the Claw

Nothing but the Truth

The Worm and the Tree

Pandora's Box

The Unquiet Zone

A Salty Dog

Wizard Man

This Old Dog

Willie and the Hand Jive

(Johnny Otis cover)

Not Fade Away

(The Crickets cover) (GB on guitar)

Sea of Heartbreak

(Don Gibson cover)

A Whiter Shade of Pale

On This Day 17/02/1994 Prodigy

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On this day, 17 February 1994, electronic punk dance music band The Prodigy played Cardiff University.

formed in 1990 by record producer and songwriter Liam Howlett. The band's line-up has included MC and vocalist Maxim, dancer and vocalist Keith Flint (until his death in March 2019), dancer and live keyboardist Leeroy Thornhill (who left to pursue a solo career in 2000), and dancer and vocalist Sharky (1990–1991).

Along with the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, the Prodigy are credited as pioneers of the breakbeat-influenced genre big beat, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s. Howlett's rock-inspired drum rhythms infused with electronic rave music beats/breaks were combined with Maxim's omnipresent mystique, Thornhill's shuffle dancing style and Flint's modern punk appearance.

On This Day 15/02/1969 Joe Cocker and the Grease Band

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On this day, 15 February 1969, singer Joe Cocker played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. All included on the bill were the headliner, Gene Pitney, Marmalade and Welsh band The Iveys, who later became Badfinger.

Cocker was about to release hie debut album With a Little Help from My Friends. Cocker had found commercial success with a rearrangement of "With a Little Help from My Friends", a Beatles cover, which, many years later, was used as the opening theme for The Wonder Years.

The recording features lead guitar from Jimmy Page, drumming by B. J. Wilson, backing vocals from Sue and Sunny, and Tommy Eyre on organ.

The single remained in the top ten of the UK Singles Chart for thirteen weeks before eventually reaching number one, on 9 November 1968. It also reached number 68 on the US charts.

Cocker was born on 20 May 1944 at 38 Tasker Road, Crookes, Sheffield. He was the youngest son of a civil servant, Harold Norman Cocker (1907-2001), at the time of his son's birth serving as an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force, and Madge (née Lee).

According to differing family stories, Cocker received his nickname of Joe either from playing a childhood game called "Cowboy Joe", or from a local window cleaner named Joe.[citation needed]

Cocker's main musical influences growing up were Ray Charles and Lonnie Donegan. Cocker's first experience singing in public was at age 12 when his elder brother Victor invited him on stage to sing during a gig of his skiffle group. In 1960, along with three friends, Cocker formed his first group, the Cavaliers.

On This Day 14/02/1975 The Tremeloes

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On this day, 14 February 1975, pop/rock band The Tremeloes played Cardiff College of Education.

Founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me".

After Poole's departure in 1966, the band achieved further success as a four-piece with 13 Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart between 1967 and 1971 including "Here Comes My Baby", "Even the Bad Times Are Good", "(Call Me) Number One", "Me and My Life" and their most successful single, "Silence Is Golden".

Their line-up changed several times from 1972 onwards, the first new entrants being Bob Benham and a year later Aaron Woolley (replacing Blakley and Hawkes, both of whom later returned to the band), effectively a merger with a Tremeloes-managed group called Jumbo.

Munden remained the only constant member. Hawkes pursued a solo career for a while producing two albums for RCA Records in Nashville, Tennessee.

On This Day 13/02/1974 Thin Lizzy

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On this day, 13 February 1974, Irish rockers Thin Lizzy played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their Vagabonds of the Western World tour.

The band's third album, Vagabonds of the Western World, was released in September 1973 following strong airplay in the UK, but again failed to chart.

The accompanying single "The Rocker" also found little success outside Ireland, and the momentum gained from their hit single "Whiskey in the Jar" was lost.

Eric Bell suddenly left the band on New Year's Eve 1973 after a gig at Queen's University Belfast, due to increasing ill-health and disillusion with the music industry, and young ex-Skid Row guitarist Gary Moore was recruited to help finish the tour.

Moore stayed until April 1974; the band recorded three songs with him in that time, including the version of "Still in Love with You" that was included on the fourth album Nightlife.

The band’s record label Decca had released Thin Lizzy's version of a traditional Irish ballad, "Whiskey in the Jar", as a single.

The band was angry at the release, feeling that the song did not represent their sound or their image, but the single topped the Irish chart, and reached No. 6 in the UK in February 1973, resulting in an appearance on Top of the Pops.

It also charted in many countries across Europe. However, the follow-up single, "Randolph's Tango", was a return to Lynott's more obscure work, and it did not chart outside Ireland.