On This Day 28/09/1981 Nazareth

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On this day, 28 September 1981, Scottish hard rock band Nazareth played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens on their The Fool Circle tour.

Formed in Dunfermline in 1968 that had several hits in the United Kingdom, as well as in several other Western European countries in the early 1970s.

They established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog, which featured their hits "Hair of the Dog" and a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts".

Inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Nazareth took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, which is cited in the first line of The Band's classic song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead...").

Tour Setlist

Telegram

Big Boy

(The Sensational Alex Harvey Band cover)

Hair of the Dog

Expect No Mercy

Shapes of Things

(The Yardbirds cover)

Love Hurts

(The Everly Brothers cover)

Tush

(ZZ Top cover)

Razamanaz

I Want To (Do Everything for You)

(Joe Tex cover)

Holiday

Heart's Grown Cold

Cocaine

(J.J. Cale cover)

Let Me Be Your Leader

Encore:

Dressed to Kill

Pop the Silo

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On This Day 27/09/2003 Starsailor

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On this day, 27 September 2003, post Brit-pop band Starsailor played Cardiff University on their Silence Is Easy tour,

Formed in 2000, the band has included guitarist and vocalist James Walsh, drummer Ben Byrne, bassist James Stelfox and keyboardist Barry Westhead.

They are best known for their 2003 single "Silence Is Easy" which reached number 9 in the UK.

For their second album, Silence Is Easy, which was recorded in Los Angeles, Starsailor teamed up with Phil Spector (in what ended up being his final production work before his conviction of murder in 2009 and his death in 2021). The collaboration came about following Spector's daughter Nicole attending one of the band's American concerts in the winter of 2002.

Spector was reported to have been fascinated by "Lullaby", the band's fourth single. After meeting the producer, the band agreed to work with him on their second album. However, the collaboration was short-lived; sessions at London's Abbey Road proved difficult.

Spector is said to have proved difficult to work with. Only two tracks made the band's second album: the title track, "Silence Is Easy", and "White Dove".

The band co-produced seven of the other tracks with Danton Supple and former The Stone Roses and Radiohead producer John Leckie was brought in to oversee the recording of "Shark Food".

Setlist

Shark Food

Music Was Saved

Alcoholic

Poor Misguided Fool

Fidelity

Lullaby

Telling Them

Love Is Here

Four to the Floor

Born Again

Tie Up My Hands

Silence Is Easy

Encore:

Some of Us

Good Souls

On This Day 22/09/1993 The Smashing Pumpkins/The Verve

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On this day, 22 September 1993, American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins played Cardiff University on their Rock Invasion Tour

Support was provided by The Verve.

Formed in 1988 by frontman, guitarist and primary composer Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the band has undergone many line-up changes.

In July 1993 the band recently Siamese Dream, their second studio album which received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, with the album's musical influences and lyrical material standing out compared to other releases during the alternative rock and grunge movements of its time.

The album has since been considered "one of the finest alt-rock albums of all time".

Personnel:

• Billy Corgan

  D'arcy Wretzky

  James Iha

  Jimmy Chamberlin

Set:

"Geek U.S.A."

1. Quiet

2. Disarm

3. Today

4. "I Am One"

5. Hummer

6. Soma

7. Rocket

8. Mayonaise

9. Siva

10. "Cherub Rock"

11. Crush

12. Tristessa

13. "with \"Over the Rainbow\" and \"Jackboot\" teases"

14. Silverfuck

On This Day 21/09/1974 Roxy Music

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On this day, 21 September 1974, rock band Roxy Music played the first of two nights at Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. It was the first gig of their Country Life tour. They were supporetd by the Jess Roden Band.

The tour took them around Europe, Australia and USA where they were seen on USA TV's Midnight Special perfroming 'A Really Good Time' & 'Out Of The Blue'.

Country Life, peaked at number three on the UK albums chart.and was the first Roxy Music album to enter the US Top 40, albeit at No. 37.

Country Life was met with widespread critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone referring to it "as if Ferry ran a cabaret for psychotics, featuring chanteurs in a state of shock".

The cover image was controversial in some countries, including the United States and Spain, where it was censored for release. As a result, early releases in the US were packaged in opaque shrink wrap; a later American LP release of Country Life (available during the years 1975–80) featured a different cover shot. Instead of Karoli and Grunwald posed in front of some trees, the reissue used a photo from the album's back cover that featured only the trees. In Australia, the album was banned in some record stores, while others sold each copy inside a black plastic sleeve.

Author Michael Ochs has described the result as the "most complete cover-up in rock history".

Tour Musicians

Bryan Ferry - Vocals & Keyboards

Phil Manzanera - Guitars

Andy Mackay - Sax & Oboe

Paul Thompson - Drums

Eddie Jobson - Violin & Keyboards

John Wetton - Bass

Setlist

Prairie Rose

Beauty Queen

Mother of Pearl

All I Want Is You

A Song for Europe

Three and Nine

Out of the Blue

In Every Dream Home a Heartache

If It Takes All Night

If There Is Something

Street Life

Virginia Plain

Editions of You

Encore:

Do the Strand

On This Day 18/09/1991 Massacre

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On this day, 18 September 1991, American Death Metal rock band Massacre played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

In support were German Death Metal band Morgoth and American fellow rockers Immolation.

Massacre (briefly known as Massacre X and Gods of Death) formed in 1984 by Allen West, Bill Andrews, and Mike Borders, soon after vocalist Kam Lee joined.

The band has reunited several times with varying line-ups, most recently in late 2016.

Getting a deal with Earache records, They finally managing to release their 1991 debut album From Beyond, followed by an EP a year later (featuring Cronos of Venom).

On This Day 11/09/1975 Wings

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On this day, 11 September 1975, Paul McCartney’s Wings played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his band Wings (consisting of his wife Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English, together with a brass section led by Howie Casey) performed the third of 66 shows of the Wings Over the World tour at the Capitol Theatre in Cardiff Wales, following concerts at Southampton and Bristol.

The Wings Over the World tour was a series of concerts in 1975 and 1976 by the British–American rock band Wings performed in Britain, Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada. The North American leg constituted band leader Paul McCartney's first live performances there since the Beatles' final tour, in 1966, and the only time Wings would perform live in the US and Canada.

The world tour was well-attended and critically acclaimed, and resulted in a triple live album, Wings over America, released in December 1976. In addition, the tour was documented in the television film Wings Over the World (1979) and a cinema release, Rockshow (1980).

BAND Interview - https://youtu.be/oW8K_dn4AN4

Setlist:

1. Venus and Mars

2. Rock Show

3. Jet

4. Let Me Roll It

5. Spirits of Ancient Egypt

6. Little Woman Love

7. C Moon

8. Maybe I'm Amazed

   (Paul McCartney song)

9. Lady Madonna

   (The Beatles cover)

10. The Long and Winding Road

    (The Beatles cover)

11. Medicine Jar

12. Soily

13. Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)

14. Richard Cory

    (Simon & Garfunkel cover)

15. Bluebird

16. I've Just Seen a Face

    (The Beatles cover)

17. Blackbird

    (The Beatles cover)

18. Yesterday

    (The Beatles cover)

19. You Gave Me the Answer

20. Magneto and Titanium Man

21. Go Now

    (Bessie Banks cover)

22. Junior's Farm

23. Letting Go

24. Live and Let Die

25. Call Me Back Again

26. My Love

27. Listen to What the Man Said

28. Band on the Run

29. Hi, Hi, Hi

On This Day 08/09/1990 Sonic Youth

On this day, 8th September 1990, American rock band Sonic Youth played Cardiff Unversity.

The band had just released their 6th studio album Goo, their first album for Geffen

The album featured the single "Kool Thing" on which Public Enemy's Chuck D made a guest appearance. "Kool Thing" was later featured in the film Simple Men and the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and was made available as a paid download for the Rock Band video game.

For this album, the band sought to expand upon its trademark alternating guitar arrangements and the layered sound of their previous album Daydream Nation (1988) with songwriting on that was more topical than past works, exploring themes of female empowerment and pop culture.

The record was considered much more accessible than their previous works and became the band's best-selling record to date.

Setlist

Tom Violence

Eric's Trip

Cinderella's Big Score

Stereo Sanctity

Kill Yr Idols

Tunic (Song for Karen)

Dirty Boots

The Bedroom

(I Got a) Catholic Block

Mary-Christ

Kool Thing

Encore:

White Kross

My Friend Goo

Titanium exposé

On This Day 06/09/2012 Damon Albarn Africa Express

On this day 6 Spetember 2012, Blur frontman Damon Albarn played Cardiff’s Solus (Cardiff University) on the Africa Express Tour.

Participating musicians included, Amadou & Mariam, Rokia Traoré, Kano, Baloji, Charli XCX, Fatoumata Diawara, Noisettes, Jupiter & Okwess International and Jack Steadman (Bombay Bicycle Club).

Africa Express began out of a 2005 gathering in a Covent Garden bar where Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn along with other musicians and music industry friends were angered by the Live 8 charity concert for Africa's inclusion of only one African artist in its line up.

Co-founding the organization with the journalist Ian Birrell, Africa Express's inaugural project featured Albarn and Birrell taking a number of Western musicians including Fatboy Slim, Martha Wainwright, and Jamie T, to perform at Festival au Désert in the Sahara outside of Timbuktu.

In the early years of Africa Express, shows would be put on semi-spontaneously in locations such as Brixton pubs, with little to no advance announcement. The spirit of spontaneous collaborations between musicians of diverse cultures has carried on as the organization has grown to stage large scale events.

Live review: Africa Express at Cardiff University Student Union

By Amy McMullen

The new tour from the Damon Albarn led Africa Express project is both special and ambitious, bringing over 80 musicians from the Western hemisphere and and the African continent to create a unpredictable and unique musical experience. The ensemble are travelling all over the UK this week, in a custom built train - a real life (Africa) Express.

And so arriving at Cardiff University Student Union expectations were high.

One thing Africa Express certainly has is value for money. It was refreshing to cut the long hours often spent waiting for the music to start, with the first act taking to the stage at around 8pm and the music running continuously until after 11pm. It was chaotic - but an exciting and enthralling kind of chaotic, with each Western/African collaboration alternating with parts of the African ensemble performing alone.

African music undeservedly gets very little attention in the UK, and this gig demonstrated that it has more than enough talent and excitement to match up to its European counterpart.

The unplanned nature of the evening gave rise to some thrilling moments; Damon Albarn playing piano and duetting with African singer Rokia on a beautiful version of 'On Melancholy Hill' by Gorillaz, Carl Barat leading a euphoric, African-inspired version of The Libertines 'Don’t Look Back Into The Sun', local hero Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals making an appearance, and an electrifying ensemble version of 'Train In Vain' by The Clash.

Every single performer on stage looked like they were having the time of their lives, and the party atmosphere spread to the audience too, with everyone dancing and cheering along. This wasn’t about hits, or style, or who could play the best, it was simply about having a great time playing music, and the joy emanating off the stage was infectious. The cheers and applause continued long after the performers had left the stage, and I’m sure that like myself, the rest of the audience felt a bit sad that we couldn’t join the train ourselves.