On This Day 22/05/2007 Nas

On this day, 22 May 2007, American rapper and entrepreneur Nas played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor University on his Hip Hop is Dead tour 2007.

Hip Hop Is Dead is the eighth studio album by American rapper Nas, released December 19, 2006, on Def Jam Recordings.

His first album for the label, it was co-financed by Nas's previous label, Columbia Records, which once distributed for Def Jam. The album's title was inspired by Nas's view of the music industry and the state of hip hop music at the time.

The album features appearances from Nas's then-wife Kelis, Def Jam label-mates Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Chrisette Michele, as well as will.i.am, Snoop Dogg, and The Game, among others.

The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 355,880 copies in its first week. His fourth U.S. number-one album, it had sold 785,000 copies by March 2014, eventually over time it went gold by the RIAA. Upon its release, Hip Hop Is Dead received generally positive reviews from most music critics.

Hip Hop Is Dead was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, ultimately losing to Kanye West's Graduation at the 50th Grammy Awards.

On This Day 21/05/2006 The Zutons

On this day, 21 May 2006, Liverpool indie rock band The Zutons, played Cardiff University. The band had recently released their second album Tired Of Hanging Around.

Musically, the sound of Tired of Hanging Around has been described as Northern soul,rock and indie pop. Pete Cashmore of NME said the songs could be divided into two sets: "'feeling threatened' and 'being threatening'. The former camp houses the melodically gorgeous," such as "Tired of Hanging Around" and "Someone Watching Over Me". The second group, meanwhile, featured "Oh Stacey (Look What You've Done!)" and "You've Got a Friend in Me". The Guardian writer Mat Snow said the Zutons' "stylistic palette has moved on to 1972 (imagine early Roxy Music without [Bryan] Ferry or [Brian] Eno); the drums have punch, the instrumental textures a rounded warmth, and the band work hard to accentuate the songs with telling detail and ear-catching hooks".

The Zutons formed in Liverpool in 2001, taking their name from Captain Beefheart's Magic Band guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo. McCabe had previously been in the band Tramp Attack. Both Pritchard and Payne were members of Edgar Jones' post Stairs band The Big Kids (with Sean's brother Howie Payne of The Stands). The band was originally a four-piece, before Payne's girlfriend Abi Harding began joining The Zutons on stage for a couple of songs mid-set, playing simple saxophone lines. The other band members liked the way her saxophone enhanced their sound and Harding became a full member, contributing vocals and sax.

Deltasonic head Alan Wills was initially dubious about the musical talents of McCabe: "I'd heard other bands Jay had played in and I thought they were all rubbish". The Coral's James Skelly was persistent in trying to convince Wills of his friend's potential and the breakthrough finally came when the bedroom demos of the newly formed Zutons persuaded the Deltasonic head into working with them.

On This Day 20/05/2015 Fireworks

On this day, 20 May 2015, American punk band Fireworks played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on their Oh Common Life tour. Oh Common Life was the band’s third studio album.

After the release of their previous album, Gospel (2011), the band went on hiatus. During this hiatus the band wrote and demoed new material. In the summer of 2013 the band returned to the studio, with Brian McTernan producing. The band's next album was announced in January 2014 and was released a couple of months later through Triple Crown.

Prior to the album's release, "Glowing Crosses" and "Flies on Tape" were made available for streaming. Music videos were released for "Glowing Crosses", "Bed Sores", and "...Run, Brother, Run...", in March, August and October, respectively.

Setlist

Oh, Common Life

The Wild Bunch

Bed Sores

One More Creature Dizzy With Love

Geography, Vonnegut and Me

When We Stand on Each Other We Block Out the Sun

Glowing Crosses

The Back Window's Down

I Locked My Time Capsule

Arrows

Run, Brother, Run

Play "God Only Knows" at My Funeral

Woods

Detroit

On This Day 19/05/1995 Chuck Berry

On this day, 19 May 1995, rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

A pioneer of rock and roll, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high school life, and consumer culture, and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Review - South Wales Echo

Review - South Wales Argus

On This Day 18/05/1980 The Undertones

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On this day, 18 May 1980, Northern Irish punk band The Undertones played Cardiff’s Top Rank. Support was provided by The Moondogs.

The band had just released their second album Hypnotised, recorded at Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands in December 1979, and at Eden Studios in London in January 1980. The album peaked at No 6 in the UK album charts.

The original release of Hypnotised included two singles: "My Perfect Cousin", which was released on 28 March 1980 and reached number 9 in the charts; and "Wednesday Week", released on 5 July 1980 and which charted at number 11 three weeks later.

The Undertones consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill (rhythm guitar, vocals), Damian O'Neill (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Bradley (bass, vocals) and Billy Doherty (drums).

Much of the earlier Undertones material drew influence from punk rock and new wave; the Undertones also incorporated elements of rock, glam rock and post-punk into material released after 1979, before citing soul and Motown as the influence for the material released upon their final album.

On This Day 17/05/2006 The Kooks

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On this day, 17 May 2006, indie rock band Kooks played Cardiff University.

Following their first tour supporting the Thrills, the Kooks recorded their debut album, Inside In/Inside Out, at Konk studios in London in 2005. Though media attention was dominated by the release of the Arctic Monkeys debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not on the same day, Inside In/Inside Out recorded first week sales of 19,098.

Later, speaking to NME, Pritchard thanked the Arctic Monkeys for "shielding" The Kooks from the press' scrutiny. "God bless the Arctic Monkeys because if it wasn't for them we wouldn't have been so shielded. We were so overshadowed by the success of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not because it was so monster and we crept in behind everybody's back."

Entering the UK Albums Chart at number nine, it would eventually peak at number 2 for two weeks. Singles "Eddie's Gun", "Sofa Song", "You Don't Love Me", "Naïve", "She Moves in Her Own Way" and "Ooh La" achieved chart success in the UK and Europe, while "Naïve" and "She Moves in Her Own Way" put The Kooks in the top ten for the first time.

Kev Kharas, in his review for Drowned in Sound, viewed the Kooks as "a less irreverent and more melodic Art Brut, swapping that band's caustic wit for a far nicer type of honesty."[18] Kharas also noted traces of "emo" in the band's style. AllMusic's Tim Sendra noted that the band's direction was "heavily indebted to classic rock", in particular Thin Lizzy and the Dexys, ultimately though Sendra felt "the band sounds like the Kooks and no one else".

Calling the Kooks "an important reminder that there are just as many mediocre bands in the UK as there are in the United States" reviewer Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone claimed the album was "utterly forgettable, shoddily produced retro rock that at its worst sounds like a Brighton-accented version of the Spin Doctors". Brian Belardi of Prefix gave a positive review, describing Inside In/Inside Out as "An almost-perfect blend of '60s-style Britpop, '90s-style Britpop, and the post-punk of the new millennium".

The album went on to be certified quadruple platinum in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry within a year and certified platinum across Europe by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

The success of their debut album brought the band into mainstream media attention, winning the award for best UK and Ireland act at the MTV Awards in 2006 and picking up a Brit Awards nomination for "She Moves in Her Own Way", in 2007.

On This Day 16/05/1957 Mitchell Torok

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On this day, 16 May 1957, American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist and author Mitchell Torok played Cardiff’s New Theatre as part of abill that included Cardiff born singer Shirley Bassey. He is best known for his 1953 hit record "Caribbean". He also wrote "Mexican Joe", which catapulted Jim Reeves to stardom.

Torok became a member of Louisiana Hayride on KWKH-AM in Shreveport. In 1954, his song "My Arabian Baby" appeared as the B-side of Snow's hit "I Don't Hurt Anymore". Torok gained a No. 8 country hit with "Hootchy Kootchy Henry (From Hawaii)" and in 1956, after joining Decca Records in Nashville, he had top ten success on the UK Singles Chart with his and wife Gail Reed’s song, "When Mexico Gave Up The Rhumba" and "Red Light, Green Light".

This success led to a four-month tour of the United Kingdom in 1957, headlining at the London Palladium. His shows included English comedian Dickie Henderson and Shirley Bassey. It marked the only time Torok has performed with a full pit orchestra with written arrangements on all the songs, led by Torok's own conductor, Maurice " Tex" Bromley, at the on-stage piano with him.

On This Day 15/05/1983 Iron Maiden

On this day, 15 May 1983, heavy metal rock band Iron Maiden played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on their World Piece tour in support of their fourth album, A Piece Of Mind.

The band were supported by Grand Prix.

review - South Wales Argus

In 1983, they released their fourth studio album, Piece of Mind, which reached the No. 3 spot in the UK, and No. 14 on the Billboard 200.

Piece of Mind features the successful singles "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus", the latter being notable as one of the band's few songs to gain substantial airplay in the US.

The other notable songs of the album are "Where Eagles Dare" (based on so same entitled movie with Clint Eastwood starring), "Revelations", "Die with Your Boots On" and an epic "To Tame a Land" based on Frank Herbert's novel titled "Dune".

Iron Maiden played 151 concerts in Europe and North America as a part of World Piece Tour. For the very the first time they booked a massive North America tour as headliners.

Nearly 90 shows took place in 10,000 + capacity arenas, and the band sold out Madison Square Garden with a crowd of 20,000.

In London, they played four consecutive nights at the Hammersmith Odeon, then toured many large venues across Western Europe, including an extensive German leg.

The World Piece Tour was summed up by two headlining performances at the Rock & Pop Festival at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund. The show was broadcast live to 300 million people with the exception of the song "Iron Maiden" due to the band's "violent behaviour on stage".

The final night of the tour in Dortmund saw the band "kill" their mascot Eddie after the song "Iron Maiden". Bruce Dickinson took the brain out of Eddie's head while the rest of the band kicked and pummelled the mascot, while guitarist Dave Murray smashed his Fender Stratocaster on Eddie's neck and a nearby amplifier.

Setlist

1 Intro – theme from Where Eagles Dare

2 "Where Eagles Dare" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)

3 "Wrathchild" (from Killers, 1981)

4 "The Trooper" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)

5 "Revelations" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)

6 "Flight of Icarus" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)

7 "Die with Your Boots On" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)

8 "22 Acacia Avenue" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)

9 "The Number of the Beast" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)

10 "Still Life" (from Piece of Mind, 1983) (Dropped after 12 June 1983)

11 "To Tame a Land" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)

12 "Phantom of the Opera" (from Iron Maiden, 1980) (Dropped after 12 June 1983)

13 "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)

14 "Iron Maiden" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)

15 "Run to the Hills" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)

16 "Sanctuary" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)

17 "Drifter" (from Killers, 1981)

18 "Prowler" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)