On This Day 05/02/1972 Stackridge

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On this day, 5 February 1972, prog/folk rock group Stackridge played Llandaff Technical College in Cardiff.

Stackridge Lemon were formed from the remains of a previous band, Grytpype Thynne, by Andy Davis and James "Crun" Walter during 1969 in the Bristol/Bath area of South West England. After initial experimentation, the word Lemon was dropped from the band's name.

The band played their first London gig at The Temple in Wardour Street on 6 February 1970. They were the opening and closing act at the first Glastonbury Festival between 19 September and 20 September 1970.

During 1970, the members of the band shared a communal flat as their headquarters at 32, West Mall in Clifton, Bristol, the address of which Davis and Warren later used as the title of a song, which appeared on the debut album, Stackridge.

During 1971, Stackridge began serious gigging, although Crun left to take up bricklaying. Davis, Warren, Bent, Evans, and Slater embarked on a UK tour supporting Wishbone Ash. Later in the year they signed to MCA Records and recorded their first album Stackridge, at De Lane Lea Studios, London. They toured the UK as headliners with Renaissance supporting and played their first John Peel session for the BBC, which included a version of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".

The group continued on a year of touring, again with Wishbone Ash and also Forever More. On 30 September they supported Lindisfarne at Newcastle City Hall. The second album Friendliness was quickly recorded in August 1972, and released in November with some songs that had started life in pre-Stackridge days. By this time Crun had rejoined the band which consisted of Davis, Warren, Slater, Evans, Walter and Billy Sparkle.

On This Day 04/02/1984 Gary Moore

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On this day, 4 February 1984, rock guitarist Gary Moore played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on his Victims of the Future tour.

Influenced by Peter Green and Eric Clapton, Moore began his career in the late 1960s when he joined Skid Row, with whom he released two albums. After Moore left the group he joined Thin Lizzy, featuring his former Skid Row bandmate and frequent collaborator Phil Lynott.

Moore began his solo career in the 1970s and achieved major success with 1978's "Parisienne Walkways", which is considered his signature song. During the 1980s, Moore transitioned into playing hard rock and heavy metal with varying degrees of international success.

In 1983, Moore released the album Victims of the Future, which marked another musical change, this time towards hard rock and heavy metal.

The album also saw the addition of keyboardist Neil Carter, who would continue to push Moore in this new musical direction. For the supporting tour, they were joined by former Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber and drummer Bobby Chouinard, who were later replaced by Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley and former Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson, respectively.

Setlist

Majestuoso E Virtuoso

Rockin' Every Night

Wishing Well

(Free cover)

Murder in the Skies

Shapes of Things

(The Yardbirds cover)

Cold Hearted

Don't Take Me for a Loser

Victims of the Future

So Far Away

(Mo Foster cover)

Empty Rooms

Blinder

White Knuckles

(G-Force song)

End of the World

Back on the Streets

Encore:

Nuclear Attack

Rockin' and Rollin'

(G-Force song)

On This Day 03/02/1975 Julian Bream

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On this day, 3 February 1975, classical guitarist Julian Bream played Cardiff’s City Hall.

Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perception of the classical guitar as a respectable instrument. Over the course of a career that spanned more than half a century, Bream also helped revive interest in the lute.

On his 11th birthday, Bream was given a small gut-strung Spanish guitar by his father. He became something of a child prodigy, at 12 winning a junior exhibition award for his piano playing, enabling him to study piano and composition at the Royal College of Music. He made his debut guitar recital at Cheltenham on 17 February 1947, aged 13; in 1951, he debuted at Wigmore Hall.

Bream's recitals were wide-ranging, including transcriptions from the 17th century, many pieces by Bach arranged for guitar, popular Spanish pieces, and contemporary music, for much of which he was the inspiration. He stated that he was influenced by the styles of Andrés Segovia and Francisco Tárrega.

Bream had some "sessions" with Segovia but did not actually study with him. Segovia provided a personal endorsement and scholarship request to assist Bream in taking further formal music studies. Bream's work showed that the guitar could be capably utilized in English, French, and German music.

On This Day 02/02/2001 Starsailor

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On this day, 2 February 2001, post-Brit pop band Starsailor played Cardiff University.

Formed in 2000. Since their formation 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, and "Four to the Floor", which reached number one in France as well as the top five in Australia.

The band has released five studio albums, and have scored ten Top 40 hit singles in the UK. Their first album Love Is Here was released in 2001, followed by Silence Is Easy (2003) and On the Outside (2005). After the release of its fourth album All the Plans (2009), the band entered into extended hiatus until 2014, during which its members were involved in individual projects.

Fever", the band's first single, was released in early 2001. The song, and its two B-Sides "Love Is Here" and "Coming Down" were cut from a demo recording session in mid-2000. All three tracks went on to feature on Starsailor's first album Love Is Here, but were re-recorded.

On This Day 01/02/2003 Bowling For Soup

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On this day, 1 February 2003, American rock band Bowling For Soup played Cardiff University.

Formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums), and Rob Felicetti (bass guitar, backing vocals). The band is best known for its singles "Girl All the Bad Guys Want", "1985" (their version of the SR-71 song of the same name), "Almost" and "High School Never Ends". The band is also known for performing the theme song for the Disney Channel TV show Phineas and Ferb.

Let's Do It for Johnny!!, Bowling for Soup's major label debut, was released on Jive in 2000. The album mostly contained re-recordings of the group's previous material along with a few new tracks and a cover of Bryan Adams' song "Summer of '69".

Drunk Enough to Dance is Bowling for Soup's second album with Jive Records, released August 6, 2002. It was recorded at Tree Sound Studios and Sonica Recording in Atlanta and Big Time Audio in Dallas. One of the album's two singles, "Girl All The Bad Guys Want" (the other single was "Emily"), was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003 in the "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" category. Reddick considers the Grammies one of his shining moments, not for the nomination, but for winning "worst dressed" from Joan Rivers.

A re-release in 2003 added "Punk Rock 101", a cover of the 1980s new wave band A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran (So Far Away)", and "Star Song". An acoustic version of the song "Belgium" exists at the end of the album, as well as at the very end of the initial release. The cover of "I Ran (So Far Away)" was used as the opening theme song of the anime television show Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac in North America.

On. This Day 31/01/2002 Stereolab

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On this day, 31 January 2002, Anglo-French avant-pop band Stereolab played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach.

Formed in London in 1990 and led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's sound features influences from krautrock and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repetitive motorik beat with the use of vintage electronic keyboards and female vocals sung in English and French.

Their lyrics have political and philosophical themes influenced by the Surrealist and Situationist movements. On stage, they play in a more feedback-driven and guitar-oriented style. The band also draw from funk, jazz and Brazilian music, and were one of the first bands to be dubbed "post-rock".

Stereolab were formed by Gane (guitar and keyboards) and Sadier (vocals, keyboards and guitar) after the break-up of McCarthy. The two were romantically involved for fourteen years and are the group's only consistent members. Other longtime members included 1992 addition Mary Hansen (backing vocals, keyboards and guitar), who died in 2002, and 1993 addition Andy Ramsay (drums). The High Llamas' leader Sean O'Hagan (guitar and keyboards) was a member from 1993 to 1994 and continued appearing on later records for occasional guest appearances.

Throughout their career, Stereolab has achieved moderate commercial success. The band were released from their recording contract with Elektra Records, and their self-owned label Duophonic signed a distribution deal with Too Pure and later Warp Records. After a ten-year hiatus, the band reunited for live performances in 2019.

On This Day 30/01/1998 Ocean Colour Scene

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On this day, 30 January 1998, rock band Ocean Colour Scene played Cardiff International Arena.

Ocean Colour Scene were formed after two other bands called The Boys and Fanatics disbanded. Fanatics released an EP titled Suburban Love Songs. OCS signed to Phfftt Records in 1990.

With the explosion of the Britpop scene, OCS's music became nationally and internationally known. Their second album Moseley Shoals was released to mixed-to-positive reviews, containing four hit singles and reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart. They also played at one of the concerts at Knebworth House supporting Oasis in August 1996.

Marchin' Already, the follow-up to Moseley Shoals, went to No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, displacing Oasis' Be Here Now at the top of the charts in 1997.

In 1998 they headlined their own arena tour in support of Marchin' Already and played three sold out nights at Stirling Castle, Scotland.

On This Day 29/01/2003 Counting Crows

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On this day, 29 January 2003, American rockers Counting Crows played Cardiff International Arena on their Handy Candy tour. Support was provided by Gemma Hayes.

On July 9, 2002, the band released its fourth studio album, Hard Candy. The album included a cover of Joni Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi". Vanessa Carlton contributed backing vocals to the single edit of the track, which appeared on the soundtrack for Two Weeks Notice and was re-released on future Hard Candy albums.

The original version, without vocals by Carlton, appeared on the first album release as a hidden track. Hard Candy received better reviews than the previous efforts, with "radio friendly" songs, like "American Girls" (which featured Sheryl Crow on backing vocals), and contains a more upbeat feel and tempo. The band toured with the Dutch band, Bløf.

A song, "Holiday in Spain", came together as a result of the camaraderie between the two groups: it is sung partly as a dual language duet, and partly as a musical "round", with both lead singers singing in differing languages at the end of the song.

Midway through the Hard Candy tour, drummer Ben Mize (born February 2, 1971, Durham, North Carolina) amicably left the band to spend more time with his family and pursue his own musical interests. After Mize completed the American leg of the tour, he was replaced by Jim Bogios, formerly a drummer with Ben Folds and Sheryl Crow. Jim attributes leaving Sheryl Crow for Counting Crows to becoming a band member and having more creative input.

Following the Hard Candy tour, longtime bassist Matt Malley left the band after growing weary of touring, and to attend to his duties as a new father. He was replaced by Millard Powers.

Counting Crows released the greatest hits album Films About Ghosts in November 2003.[38]

Setlist

Have You Seen Me Lately?

(acoustic)

If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead

(acoustic)

Mr. Jones

(acoustic)

Perfect Blue Buildings

Four White Stallions

(electric)

Speedway

(electric)

Omaha

(electric)

Mercy

(Tender Mercies cover)

Rain King

(with Sweet Thing)

Goodnight L.A.

A Long December

Big Yellow Taxi

(Joni Mitchell cover) (acoustic)

Good Time

Angels of the Silences

(acoustic)

A Long December

(electric)

Miami

(electric)

Round Here

(electric)

Encore:

Hanginaround

(with Gemma Hayes) (electric)

Sullivan Street

Encore 2:

Blues Run the Game

(Jackson C. Frank cover) (acoustic)

Holiday in Spain

(electric)