On This Day 22/07/2008 Michael Buble

On this day, 22 July 2008, Canadian crooner Michael Buble played Cardiff’s International Arena promoting third studio album, Call Me Irresponsible. released the previous year with Buble on a worldwide tour.

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.”

On This Day, 21/07/2001 Stereophonics

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On this day, 21 July 2001, Welsh rock band Stereophonics, played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium with support provided by the Black Crowes, Ash and another Welsh band The Crocketts.

The band had just released their third studio album Just Enough Education To Perform (JEEP) and spawned three top-ten singles in the form of "Mr. Writer", "Have a Nice Day" and "Handbags and Gladrags" as well as topping the UK album charts.

Review - BBC Wales

The Stereophonics conquered the odds of illness to stage a triumphant homecoming concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday night.

Plagued by foot-and-mouth disease, which forced a relocation from Chepstow Racecourse, and Kelly Jones's flu, which cancelled their US tour, the band were happy to finally turn up at their biggest ever gig on Welsh soil.

An estimated 60,000 fans joined the Phonics in the capital along with support acts the Black Crowes and the Crocketts - this was a rock concert in the very best sense of the word.

Stadium bosses closed the retractable roof to keep out the rain and to keep in the raucous rockers' noise.

But the fans could not keep a lid on their enthusiasm, many waving Welsh flags and huge plastic daffodils.

The boys from Cwmaman played a varied, two-hour set including material from their third and latest album, Just Enough Education To Perform, which went to the top of the charts when it was released in April.

JEEP is still top of the indie charts, moving around 20,000 copies each week.

The performance came as a relief after a troubled few months for the Phonics.

In May, the band was forced to cancel a US tour after Kelly Jones's flu bug worsened to a chest infection and doctors ordered a month's rest.

They also had to pull out of a curtain-raising appearance before the FA Cup Final on 12 May.

Saturday's concert, which seemed to fit the Millennium Stadium so well, was slated for Chepstow Racecourse - but foot-and-mouth put paid to the band's "Day At The Races" idea along with a host of horse races.

Then, Glastonbury 2001, which the Stereophonics were rumoured to headline, was cancelled over crowd safety concerns.

They went on to play a virtual 90-minute Glastonbury event to a handful of faithful fans and a web audience.

But it served as little more than a rehearsal for the impressive Cardiff concert.

Setlist

Local Boy in the Photograph

More Life in a Tramp's Vest

A Thousand Trees

Traffic

T-Shirt Sun Tan

The Bartender and the Thief

Just Looking

Pick a Part That's New

I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio

I Stopped to Fill My Car Up

Mr Writer

Hurry Up and Wait

Have a Nice Day

Step on My Old Size Nines

Roll Up and Shine

Encore:

Everyday I Think of Money

Watch Them Fly Sundays

Vegas Two Times

Rooftop

On This Day 20/07/2001 All About Eve

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On this day, 20 July 2001, rock band All About Eve played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange on a mainly acoustic tour after releasing live albums Fairy Light Nights in 2000, and Fairy Light Nights Volume 2 in 2001.

The initial creative core consisted of Coventry-born Julianne Regan (vocals), Huddersfield-born Tim Bricheno (guitar) and Andy Cousin (bass guitar), with other members changing over the years.

Their highest-charting UK single was "Martha's Harbour" (1988). The band was active from 1984 to 1993, then 1999 to 2004, achieving four UK Top-50 albums.

The band had been recognised for their "unique, folk-rock-influenced take" on the gothic rock style, and Regan has been described as "certainly one of the more talented singers" of the scene in the late 1980s.

Setlist

Intro

Scarlet

What Kind Of Fool

In The Clouds

More Than The Blues

Freeze

Are You Lonely

Forever

Wild Hearted Woman

Never Promise

Martha's Harbour

Our Summer

You Bring Your Love To Me

Will I Start To Bleed

Share It With Me

Shelter From The Rain

The Mystery We Are

Encore

Farewell Mr.Sorrow

Every Angel

On This Day 19/07/2002 Green Day/Iggy Pop

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On this day, 17 July 2002, American Punk/Rock band Green Day played Cardiff’s Cooper’s Field.

Also featured on the billwas rock legend Iggy Pop plus A, Hundred Reasons, Face To Face and (Spunge).

Green Day were about to release their seventh studio album, the classic American Idiot.

formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a power trio with drummer Tré Cool, who replaced John Kiffmeyer in 1990 before the recording of the band's second studio album, Kerplunk (1991).

Touring guitarist Jason White became a full-time member in 2012, but returned to his touring role in 2016.

Green Day - Set list

Maria

Longview

Welcome to Paradise

Hitchin' a Ride

Brain Stew

Jaded

All By Myself

Dominated Love Slave

Knowledge

Basket Case

She

King for a Day

Shout

Waiting

Minority

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

Platypus (I Hate You)

When I Come Around

Macy's Day Parade

On This Day 18/07/1994 The Prodigy

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On this day, 18 July 1994. electronic dance music band The Prodigy played the Cardiff Astoria venue on their Jilted tour.

The band had just released their second album Music for the Jilted Generation

The album is largely a response to the corruption of the rave scene in Britain by its mainstream status as well as Great Britain's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which criminalised raves and parts of rave culture.

This is exemplified in the song "Their Law" with the spoken word intro and the predominant lyric, the "Fuck 'em and their law" sample. Many years later, after the controversy died down, Liam Howlett derided the title of the album, which he referred to as "stupid", and maintained that the album was never meant to be political in the first place.

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.

The Prodigy describe their style as "electronic punk," being the pioneers in this rhythm, with a punk conceptual expression in many of their albums accompanied by strong and groundbreaking rhythms.

On This Day 05/07/1985 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

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On this day, 5 July 1984, rock band Red Lorry Yellow Lorry played Cardiff’s New Ocean club supporting German rockers Xmal Deutschland.

Formed in Leeds in early 1981 by guitarist and songwriter Chris Reed, vocalist Mark Sweeney, bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown. After breaking up in 1991, the band reformed in 2003 and have released 5 studio albums over the course of their career.

In 1985, the band's debut album, Talk About the Weather, was released and peaked at No. 3 on the NME independent albums chart.

The album, which most fans consider to be the band's best, received generally positive reviews and sold extremely well for a small label offering.

"Hollow Eyes", a single taken from the album, attained good sales as well, as did follow-up non-LP singles "Chance" and "Spinning Round" the latter of which is generally felt to be the Lorries's strongest song.

Personnel

Chris Reed - vocals, guitar

David Wolfenden - guitar

Paul Southern - bass guitar

Mick Brown - drums

On This Day 04/07/1985 B. B. King

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On this day. 4 July 1985. legendary American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. B. B. King played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players.

AllMusic recognized King as "the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century".

King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and is one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname "The King of the Blues", and is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and Freddie King, none of whom are related).

King performed tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing on average at more than 200 concerts per year into his 70s. In 1956 alone, he appeared at 342 shows.

B.B. King used equipment characteristic of the different periods he played in. He played guitars made by various manufacturers early in his career. He played a Fender Esquire on most of his recordings with RPM Records. Later, he was best known for playing variants of the Gibson ES-355.

In 1980, Gibson Guitar Corporation launched the B.B. King Lucille model, a ES-355 with stereo options, a varitone selector and fine tuners (neither of which were actually utilized by B.B.) and, at King's direct request, no f-holes to further reduce feedback. In 2005, Gibson made a special run of 80 Gibson Lucilles, referred to as the "80th Birthday Lucille", the first prototype of which was given as a birthday gift to King, and which he used thereafter.

On This Day 03/07/1984 The Waterboys

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On this day 3 July 1984, folk rock band The Waterboys played Cardiff’s New Ocean Club.

Formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained as the only constant member throughout the band's career.

The band’s second alnum, A Pagan Place released in June 1984 and It was the first Waterboys record with Karl Wallinger as part of the band and also includes Roddy Lorimer's first trumpet solo for the band on the track "A Pagan Place".

The album shares a title with the book A Pagan Place, written by Irish novelist Edna O'Brien. According to a post at the official Waterboys forum, Mike Scott, who chose the album name, has never read the book, and neither the album nor the title track share any other similarities with the novel.