On This Day 04/11/1967 Sam and Dave

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On this day, 4 November 1967, soul legends Sam and Dave played the Capitol Theatre on their “Soul Explosion” tour. Support was provided by Arthur Conley, Linda Carr, Little Charles and Sam Baker, Percy Sledge was to be part of the package but was replaced by Lee Dorsey due to illness.

Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988).

Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The Sultans of Sweat", and "The Dynamic Duo" for their gritty, gospel-infused performances, Sam & Dave are considered one of the greatest live acts of the 1960s. Many subsequent musicians have named them as an influence, including Bruce Springsteen, Al Green, Tom Petty, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Steve Van Zandt, Elvis Costello, The Jam, Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Joel, and Steve Winwood.

The Blues Brothers, who helped create a resurgence of popularity for soul, R&B, and blues in the 1980s, were influenced by Sam & Dave – their biggest hit was a cover of "Soul Man", and their act and stage show contained many homages to the duo.

According to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sam & Dave were the most successful soul duo and brought the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their call-and-response records. Recorded primarily at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1965 through 1968, these included "Soul Man", "Hold On, I'm Comin'", "You Don't Know Like I Know", "I Thank You", "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", "Wrap It Up", and many other Southern Soul classics.

Except for Aretha Franklin, no soul act during Sam & Dave's Stax years (1965–1968) had more consistent R&B chart success, including 10 consecutive top-20 singles and three consecutive top-10 LPs. Their crossover charts appeal (13 straight appearances and two top-10 singles) helped to pave the way for the acceptance of soul music by white pop audiences, and their song "Soul Man" was one of the first songs by a black group to top the pop charts using the word "soul", helping define the genre. "Soul Man" was a number-one Pop Hit (Cashbox: November 11, 1967) and has been recognized as one of the most influential songs of the past 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone magazine, and RIAA Songs of the Century. "Soul Man" was featured as the soundtrack and title for a 1986 film and also a 1997–1998 television series, and Soul Men was a 2008 feature film.

Sam & Dave are inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame.[2] They won a Grammy Award for "Soul Man" and they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.[3] Rolling Stone ranked Sam & Dave No. 14 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.[

On This Day 03/11/1983 King Kurt

On this day, 3 November 1983, Psychobilly/rock-n-roll band King Kurt played Cardiff’s New Ocean Club with support provided by Demented Are Go. Reduced price entry was offered for anyone with a special rat and rodent card, which was available free by writing to King Kurt in advance of the gig.

The band began as Rockin' Kurt and his Sauer Krauts in 1981, with Jef Harvey on vocals, John Reddington on guitar, Bert Boustead on bass guitar, Alan "Maggot" Power on "saxamaphone" and Rory Lyons on drums. Paul "Thwack" Laventhol joined on guitar at their third gig in July 1981, and the name was shortened to King Kurt later that year.

Harvey left in 1982 to be replaced by Gary "The Smeg" Clayton as vocalist, and it was at Harvey's farewell concert at the 101 Club in Battersea, London that the infamous "food fight" gigs started. The band were known for their stage performances in which eggs and bags of flour were thrown around both on and off stage.

Free haircuts and other audience participation included stage props such as "The Wheel of Misfortune", a wheel on which a fan was strapped and fed Snakebite through a tube. Themed concerts included "Kurt Skirts", where admittance was refused to men unless wearing a skirt, or Easter concerts with the band dressed as legionaries, angels on flying trapeze, and an extra in a loincloth on a cross at the back of the stage.

The band joined Stiff Records in 1983 and recorded the album Ooh Wallah Wallah with producer, Dave Edmunds. They had a few minor hit singles that featured in the UK Singles and UK Indie Charts, such as "Zulu Beat", Weill and Brecht's "Mack the Knife" and "Banana Banana", along with their Top 40 hit "Destination Zululand", which reached No. 36 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1983.

On This Day 02/11/2003 Evanescence

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On this day, 2 November 2003, American rock band Evanescence played Cardiff International Arena on their Fallen tour. Support was provided by Finger Eleven.

Founded in 1995 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent EPs as a duo in the late 90s and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut studio album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003.

Propelled by the success of hit singles like "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal", Fallen sold more than four million copies in the US by January 2004, garnering Evanescence two Grammy Awards out of six nominations. The band released their first live album and concert DVD, Anywhere but Home, in 2004, which sold over one million copies worldwide.

On the UK Albums Chart, Fallen debuted at number 18 with sales of 15,589 copies. The album reached number one (with 38,570 copies sold) seven weeks later, after "Bring Me to Life" topped the UK Singles Chart. It sold 56,193 copies in December 2003, its highest week of sales (although it was number 28 on the chart that week). Fallen spent 33 weeks in the top 20 and 60 weeks in the top 75. It re-entered the UK chart at number 35 the week after the release of Evanescence's second studio album, The Open Door.

Fallen also topped the charts in more than ten other countries and reached the top ten in over 20 countries. According to Nielsen SoundScan figures, after more than three months in the top 10 of the Canadian Albums Chart Fallen peaked at number one on August 13, 2003 with sales of 8,900 copies.

Setlist

Haunted

Going Under

Taking Over Me

Everybody's Fool

4th of July

(Soundgarden cover)

My Last Breath

Even in Death

Zero

(The Smashing Pumpkins cover)

Farther Away

Breathe No More

My Immortal

Bring Me to Life

Tourniquet

Imaginary

Encore:

Whisper

On This Day 01/11/1977 Roy Harper

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On this day, 1 November 1977, folk/rock singer songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper played Cardiff University with support supplied by The Spriguns.

He had earlier in the year released his ninth studio album Bullinamingvase

Controversy followed the release of 1977's Bullinamingvase. The owners of Watford Gap service station objected to criticism of their food – "Watford Gap, Watford Gap/A plate of grease and a load of crap..." – in the lyrics of the song "Watford Gap", as did an EMI board member who was also a non-executive director of Blue Boar (the owners of the service station). Harper was forced to drop it from future UK copies of the album, though it remained on the US LP and reappeared on a later CD reissues.

The album also featured the song "One of Those Days in England", with backing vocals by Paul McCartney and Linda; the single from the album went to number 42 in the UK charts.

During this period, Harper's band were renamed 'Chips' and included Andy Roberts, Dave Lawson, Henry McCullough, John Halsey and Dave Cochran. In April 1978, Harper began writing lyrics for the next Led Zeppelin album with Jimmy Page, but the project was shelved when lead singer Robert Plant returned from a break after the death of his son, Karac Pendragon.

On This Day 31/10/1979 The Stranglers

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On this day, 31 October 1979, punk icons The Stranglers played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their Raven tour. The band spent part of the afternoon signing copies of the recently released Raven album at Spillers Records, the world’s oldest surviving record store.

The Raven was the fourth studio album released by the band on the 15 September by their label United Artists reaching #4 in the UK charts.

The album was originally released with a limited-edition 3D cover. Another limited edition had to be created when the band was forced to remove an image of Joh Bjelke-Petersen from the inner sleeve artwork. Bjelke-Petersen was the subject of the album's sixth track, "Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)".

"Duchess" was the first and most successful single from the album, released on 10 August 1979 and reaching No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart. "Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)" was the second single released; this reached No. 36 on the same chart.

A four-track EP, "Don't Bring Harry", was released in November. In addition to the title track and a live version of "In the Shadows", it also included "Wired" (taken from Cornwell and Robert Williams' forthcoming album Nosferatu) and a live version of "Crabs" (a track from Burnel's solo album, Euroman Cometh). IIt reached No. 41.

The Stranglers

Hugh Cornwell – guitar, vocals, second bass ("Dead Loss Angeles")

Jean-Jacques Burnel – bass, vocals

Dave Greenfield – keyboards, vocals

Jet Black – drums

On This Day 30/10/1988 The Flatmates

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On this day, 30 October 1988, Bristol indie pop band The Flatmates played Cardiff’s Ritzy.

Following the group's formation in 1985, singles such as "I Could Be in Heaven", "Happy All the Time" and "Shimmer" established the band as a successful indie band but The Flatmates disbanded in April 1989 before releasing a proper studio album.

The group's core members were Martin Whitehead (guitar) and Debbie Haynes (vocals). Initially, the band also included Kath Beach (bass guitar) and Rocker (drums). Prior to recording their first single, Beach left the band and was replaced by Sarah Fletcher.

The line-up of Haynes, Whitehead, Fletcher and Rocker recorded the first two Flatmates singles, 1986's "I Could Be in Heaven" and 1987's "Happy All the Time", both Whitehead compositions.

Rocker left the band prior to their third single, November 1987's "You're Gonna Cry", and was replaced by Joel O'Bierne.[2] Ironically, "You're Gonna Cry" was a Rocker composition, the only A-side he would pen for the band.

"Shimmer", released in March 1988 as the fourth Flatmates single, was the band's biggest hit, produced by Chris Allison reaching No. 2 on the UK Indie Chart. Shortly after the single was released, Tim Rippington was added as a second guitarist. Bassist Fletcher then left The Flatmates prior to their fifth and final single "Heaven Knows". She was eventually replaced by Jackie Carrera; however it was Whitehead who played bass on "Heaven Knows", while Rippington handled all the guitar.

The group split up in 1989, with Carrera joining The Caretaker Race and Whitehead and O'Bierne forming The Sweet Young Things. Whitehead later formed the short-lived band Shrimptractor in 1992.

On This Day 29/10/1977 Steve Hillage

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On this day, 29 October 1977, English musician Steve Hillage, played Cardiff University.

best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo recordings he has been a member of Khan, Gong and System 7.

For his first post-Gong solo work, Hillage and Giraudy relocated to Woodstock, New York in May and June 1976 to record with Todd Rundgren and his band Utopia on L, which included covers of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "It's All Too Much" that became integral to his live set. The album was released on 24 September and spent 12 weeks on the UK album chart peaking at #10. Needing to tour to promote the album, he put together a band with Christian Boulé (guitar), Clive Bunker(drums), Colin Bass (bass), Paul Hodges (keyboards) and Basil Brooks (synthesiser, flute).

They debuted supporting Queen at a free Hyde Park, London concert on 18 September, then toured heavily in Britain and France to promote the album including a BBC Radio 1 In Concertbroadcast. In January and February 1977 they supported Electric Light Orchestra on their US tour and appeared on the German television music programme Rockpalast in March.

In May 1977, Hillage was part of a live performance of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells in Glasgow with the Scottish National Orchestra. He participated in the Gong re-union concert in Paris as part of the trilogy band, a solo set and also accompanied Blake. In late summer, Hillage produced Nik Turner's Xitintoday album which featured contributions from other Gong members, Harry Williamson and drummer Andy Anderson. Hillage also contributed to Williamson's protest single "Nuclear Waste" issued as The Radio Actors with lead vocals by Sting.

During the US tour Hillage had taken an interest in funk music and became disheartened that he was being perceived as "progressive rock" and so deliberately chose to move in that direction. He had met Malcolm Cecil of Tonto's Expanding Head Band who he felt may help in his pursuit of a new style and in July they entered the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles to record Motivation Radio. A new band was put together with Reggie McBride on bass and Joe Blocker on drums, although Curtis Robertson Jr. took over bass duties for the live dates. The album was issued in September and the band toured through to November visiting Germany, France and Britain.

On This Day 28/10/2006 Razorlight

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On this day, 28 October 2006, indie rock band Razorlight played the Cardiff International Arena on the Razorlight World Tour. Support was provided by The Like.

Formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo, as well as drummer Andy Burrows. This lineup is a reunion of the lineup from the band's second and third albums.

The band have gone through several line-up changes, with Borrell remaining the sole permanent member. They released three studio albums before splitting up in 2014. The band reformed in 2017 and released the album Olympus Sleeping in 2018.

They are best known for the singles "Golden Touch" and "America", the latter of which was a number-one single on the UK Singles Chart in 2006.

Razorlight released their second album Razorlight on 17 July 2006, in the United Kingdom and it debuted at No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart a week later. It received mixed reviews, Q magazine giving it a rare 5/5 rating, whilst Pitchfork Media gave it 2.8/10.

The lead single from the album, In the Morning was released as a single on 3 July 2006, which peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. To date, it is their third biggest single after Somewhere Else, which peaked at No. 2, and America, which peaked at No. 1. It also reached No. 2 on iTunes.

In 2007, Razorlight were nominated for two BRIT Awards – one for Best British Band and the other for Best Song, America. They were also nominated for two NME Brit Awards for Best Band and Best Album.