On This Day 23/11/2002 David Gray

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On this day, 23 November 2002, singer/songwriter David Gray played Cardiff International Arena on his A New Day At Midnight tour. Support was provided by Turin Brakes.

Gray was born in 1968 in Sale, Cheshire, England, and lived in Altrincham before moving with his family at the age of nine to Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales, where his parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business. "I had an amazing time growing up there ... My imagination could run wild ... It was that which gave me the kind of insane self-belief I have, and had even then, that I could do something as unlikely as play music for a living."He went to Ysgol Dewi Sant high school in nearby St Davids and then on to Carmarthenshire College of Art and finally Liverpool School of Art.

In November 2002, Gray released the follow-up to White Ladder, entitled A New Day at Midnight. The new release did not receive the same critical acclaim as its predecessor, but still went straight in at number 1, famously beating Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates's debut album What My Heart Wants to Say to the summit and selling nearly 150,000 copies in its first week of release.

It went on to achieve platinum status within a year, eventually being certified four times platinum overall, and was the second-biggest selling album by a UK artist in 2002, behind Pop Idol winner Will Young's debut album From Now On. A New Day at Midnight produced two further UK Top 30 hits in "The Other Side" and "Be Mine" and a minor US hit with "Dead in the Water".

On This Day 22/11/1984 Gary Numan

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On this day, 22 November 1984, Synth legend Gary Numan played Cardiff St David’s Hall on The Berserker Tour. Support was provided by Hohokam and Larry Lieberman.

Released on 9 November 1984, Berserker iwas his first album to be released under Numan's own record label, Numa Records.

Gary Numan's recording contract with his previous record label Beggars Banquet had ended with the release of 1983's studio album, Warriors. Disillusioned with record companies, Numan decided to create his own record label, Numa Records, to give himself full control over his recordings, production and marketing. Numan was now free to take his music into a harder direction without interference.

Berserker presented a harder synth, hi-NRG-inspired rock sound than Numan's previous studio albums, with an abundant use of sampling and the distinctive sound of the PPG Wave synthesiser. It developed on the electro-funk sound of Warriors, marking a change from the prominent fretless bass on his previous three studio albums but retaining the female backing vocals and occasional saxophone.

Lyrically, the album has a haunting, dystopian theme.

The poignant track "A Child with the Ghost" was Numan's tribute to his friend and former bassist Paul Gardiner, who died in February 1984 from a heroin overdose. The track was also covered by the duo Tik and Tok on their studio album Intolerance (which featured Numan) the same year. The industrial undertones of the Berserker album would be more fully explored on Numan's next studio album, The Fury (1985).

Numan appeared on the cover (and throughout the subsequent tour) as a white-skinned, white-clad "Iceman" with blue makeup and hair. The album was named after a series of science-fiction novels by Fred Saberhagen, which Numan had read at school.

Gary Numan -Vocals      Rrussell Bell -Guitar, Tambourine, Keyboards, Violin, Guiro, Drum Pads   Cedric Sharpley -Drums & Congas      John Webb -Keyboards & Saxaphone      Chris Payne -Keyboards & Viola      Andy Coughlan -Bass, Drum Pads      Karen Taylor -Backing Vocals

Setlist - The Berserker Tour Concert

01 - Berserker

02 - Metal

03 - Me! I Disconnect From You

04 - Remind Me To Smile

05 - The Secret

06 - Sister Surprise

07 - Music For Chameleons

08 - The Iceman Comes

09 - Cold Warning

10 - Down In The Park

11 - This Prison Moon

12 - I Die: You Die

13 - My Dying Machine

14 - Cars

15 - We Take Mystery (To Bed)

16 - We Are Glass

Encore 1.

17 - This Is New Love

18 - My Shadow In Vain

Encore 2.

19 - Are 'Friends' Electric ?

On This Day 21/11/1979 Gang of Four

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On this day, 21 November 1979, post punk band The Gang of Four played Cardiff Top Rank

Formed in 1976 in Leeds the original members were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. There have been many different line-ups including, among other notable musicians, Sara Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey, and Mark Heaney.

After a brief lull in the 1980s, different constellations of the band recorded two studio albums in the 1990s. Between 2004 and 2006 the original line-up was reunited; Gill toured using the name between 2012 and his death in 2020. In 2021, the band announced that King, Burnham, and Lee would be reuniting for a tour in 2022 with David Pajo on guitar.

The band played a stripped-down mix of punk rock, funk and dub, with a lyrical emphasis on the social and political ills of society. Gang of Four are widely considered one of the leading bands of the late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk movement. Their debut album, Entertainment!, was ranked by Rolling Stone as the fifth greatest punk album of all time.

The band's debut single, "Damaged Goods" backed with "(Love Like) Anthrax" and "Armalite Rifle", was recorded in June 1978 and released on 10 December 1978, on Edinburgh's Fast Product label. It was a Number 1 indie chart hit and John Peel radio show favourite. "Damaged Goods" was voted one of the 100 Greatest debut singles of all time in 2020's Rolling Stone Poll.

On This Day 20/11/1993 Dream Theater

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On this day, 20 November 1993, American progressive metal band Dream Theater played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on their Music In Progress Tour. Support was provided by Damn The Machine.

Formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy — all natives of Long Island, New York — while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Their current lineup consists of Petrucci, Myung, Portnoy, vocalist James LaBrie, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess.

Over the course of various lineup changes, Petrucci and Myung have been the only two constant members. Portnoy remained with the band until 2010, when he was replaced by Mike Mangini after deciding to leave to pursue other musical endeavors before rejoining Dream Theater in October 2023.

Setlist

Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper

Theme from Mission: Impossible

(Lalo Schifrin cover)

Afterlife

Under a Glass Moon

Wait for Sleep

Surrounded

The Ytse Jam

(with drum solo)

Puppies on Acid

Take the Time

To Live Forever

Barfbag

(John Petrucci song)

Another Day

Only a Matter of Time

March of the Tyrant

(instrumental outro)

Pull Me Under

Encore:

Eve

Learning to Live

On This Day 19/11/1975 Queen

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On this day, 19 November 1975, rock greats Queen played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on their A Night At The Opera Tour. The were supported by Mr Big.

Formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.

A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was reportedly the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release.

Named after the Marx Brothers' film of the same name, A Night at the Opera was recorded at various studios across a four-month period in 1975. Due to management issues, Queen had received almost none of the money they earned for their previous albums. Subsequently, they ended their contract with Trident Studios and did not use their studios for the album (the sole exception being "God Save the Queen", which had been recorded the previous year).

They employed a complex production that extensively used multitrack recording, and the songs incorporated a wide range of styles, such as ballads, music hall, dixieland, hard rock and progressive rock influences. Aside from their usual equipment, Queen also utilised a diverse range of instruments such as a double bass, harp, ukulele and more.

Upon release, A Night at the Opera topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and became the band's first platinum-certified album in the US. It also produced the band's most successful single in the UK, "Bohemian Rhapsody", which became their first number one song in the country. Despite being twice as long as the average length of singles during the 1970s, the song became immensely popular worldwide.

Setlist

Procession

Bohemian Rhapsody

(Rock section)

Ogre Battle

Sweet Lady

White Queen (As It Began)

Flick of the Wrist

Bohemian Rhapsody

Killer Queen

The March of the Black Queen

Bohemian Rhapsody

(Reprise)

Bring Back That Leroy Brown

Son and Daughter

The Prophet's Song

Stone Cold Crazy

Doing All Right

Keep Yourself Alive

Seven Seas of Rhye

Liar

In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited

Encore:

Now I'm Here

Big Spender

(Cy Coleman cover)

Be-Bop-A-Lula

(Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps cover)

Jailhouse Rock

(Elvis Presley cover)

God Save the Queen

([traditional] cover)

On This Day 18/11/1971 Olivia Newton-John

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On this day, 18 November 1971, Australian/British singer and actress Olivia Newton John played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Olivia Newton-John was born on 26 September 1948 in Cambridge, to Brinley "Bryn" Newton-John (1914–1992) and Irene Helene (née Born; 1914–2003). Her father was born in Wales to a middle-class family. Her mother was born in Germany in a partly Jewish academic family who came to the UK with her in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime.

Newton-John released her first solo album, If Not for You (US No. 15) in 1971. (In the UK, the album was known as Olivia Newton-John.) The title track, written by Bob Dylan, was her first international hit.

Her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio", was a top 10 hit in the UK and Australia. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. She made frequent appearances on Cliff Richard's weekly show It's Cliff Richard and starred with him in the telefilm The Case.

Although principally raised in Australia, Newton-John remained a British subject throughout her childhood and did not formally become an Australian citizen until 1981 with an application that was expedited by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

On This Day 17/11/1970 Fairport Convention

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On this day, 17 November 1970, English folk rock band Fairport Convention played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

Formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig). They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane".

Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, with Matthews later leaving during the recording of their third album.

Denny began steering the group towards traditional British music for their next two albums, What We Did on Our Holidays and Unhalfbricking (both 1969); the latter featured fiddler Dave "Swarb" Swarbrick, most notably on the song "A Sailor's Life", which laid the groundwork for British folk rock by being the first time a traditional British song was combined with a rock beat.

Shortly before the album's release, a crash on the M1 motorway killed Lamble and Jeannie Franklyn, Thompson's girlfriend; this resulted in the group retiring most of their prior material and turning entirely towards British folk music for their seminal album Liege & Lief, released the same year. This style has been the band's focus ever since.

For this album Swarbrick joined full-time, alongside drummer Dave Mattacks. Both Denny and Hutchings left before the year's end; the latter replaced by Dave Pegg, who has remained the group's sole consistent member to this day; Thompson left after the recording of 1970's Full House.

On This Day 16/11/1985 Siouxsie and the Banshees

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On this day, 16 November 1985, punk rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees played Cardiff’s New Ocean Club on the band’s Tinderbox tour.

Formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. The Times called the group "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".

Initially associated with the punk scene, the band including guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation".

Their debut album The Scream was released to widespread critical acclaim in 1978. Following membership changes, including the addition of guitarist John McGeoch and drummer Budgie, they radically changed their musical direction and became one of the most successful alternative pop groups of the 1980s.

Banshees line-up spent much of 1985 working on a new record, Tinderbox. The group finished the song "Cities in Dust" before the album, so they rushed its release as a single prior to their longest tour of the UK.

Tinderbox was released in April 1986. Sounds magazine said: "Tinderbox is a refreshing slant on the Banshees' disturbing perspective and restores their vivid shades to pop's pale palette". Due to the length of time spent working on Tinderbox, the group desired spontaneity and decided to record an album of cover songs, Through the Looking Glass, in 1987.

Mojo magazine later praised their version of "Strange Fruit". After the album's release, the band realised Carruthers was no longer fitting in and decided to work on new material as a trio.