On This Day 21/07/2001 Stereophonics

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On this day 21 July 2001, Welsh rockers The Stereophonics played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, with support provided by the Black Crowes, Ash and another Welsh band The Crocketts.

The band had just released their third studio album Just Enough Education To Perform (JEEP) and spawned three top-ten singles in the form of "Mr. Writer", "Have a Nice Day" and "Handbags and Gladrags" as well as topping the UK album charts.

Review - BBC Wales

The Stereophonics conquered the odds of illness to stage a triumphant homecoming concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday night.

Plagued by foot-and-mouth disease, which forced a relocation from Chepstow Racecourse, and Kelly Jones's flu, which cancelled their US tour, the band were happy to finally turn up at their biggest ever gig on Welsh soil.

An estimated 60,000 fans joined the Phonics in the capital along with support acts the Black Crowes and the Crocketts - this was a rock concert in the very best sense of the word.

Stadium bosses closed the retractable roof to keep out the rain and to keep in the raucous rockers' noise.

But the fans could not keep a lid on their enthusiasm, many waving Welsh flags and huge plastic daffodils.

The boys from Cwmaman played a varied, two-hour set including material from their third and latest album, Just Enough Education To Perform, which went to the top of the charts when it was released in April.

JEEP is still top of the indie charts, moving around 20,000 copies each week.

The performance came as a relief after a troubled few months for the Phonics.

In May, the band was forced to cancel a US tour after Kelly Jones's flu bug worsened to a chest infection and doctors ordered a month's rest.

They also had to pull out of a curtain-raising appearance before the FA Cup Final on 12 May.

Saturday's concert, which seemed to fit the Millennium Stadium so well, was slated for Chepstow Racecourse - but foot-and-mouth put paid to the band's "Day At The Races" idea along with a host of horse races.

Then, Glastonbury 2001, which the Stereophonics were rumoured to headline, was cancelled over crowd safety concerns.

They went on to play a virtual 90-minute Glastonbury event to a handful of faithful fans and a web audience.

But it served as little more than a rehearsal for the impressive Cardiff concert.

Setlist

Local Boy in the Photograph

More Life in a Tramp's Vest

A Thousand Trees

Traffic

T-Shirt Sun Tan

The Bartender and the Thief

Just Looking

Pick a Part That's New

I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio

I Stopped to Fill My Car Up

Mr Writer

Hurry Up and Wait

Have a Nice Day

Step on My Old Size Nines

Roll Up and Shine

Encore:

Everyday I Think of Money

Watch Them Fly Sundays

Vegas Two Times

Rooftop

On This Day 20/07/1958 Shirley Bassey..."washed up." ?

Shirley Bassey pictured sitting at the piano as she tries one of her numbers with Cliff Lewis, (pianist), and New theatre manager Reg Phillips - 1958 - Wales Online Copyright

On this day, 20 July 1958, it was reported in the music press that Cardiff singing legend Shirley Bassey’s latest appearance more than confirmed the singer was still a hit and far from being “washed up’”.

The review.

Shirley Bassey’s return to Variety at the Leeds Empire last Monday proved that she was far from being “washed up.”

The plaintive appeal, physical attraction and slick sophistication are still there.

her act, altered for the better to include blues and standards, is still linked with her old eye-catching, ear-bending numbers.

Although publisher Cliff Lewis (replacing Colin Beaton on piano) was making his debut on Monday, the act was polished and brilliant.

The supporting bill was strong, too - Howard Jones and Reggie Arnold are top entertainers, Des O’Connor scores with songs and comedy, and the Metronotes vocal group is worth the top spot in any show.

On This Day 19/07/1992 Bryan Adams

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On this day 19 July 1992, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams played Cardiff Arms Park on his Waking Up The World Tour.

Support was provided by Extreme, Squeeze and Little Angels

Review - South Wales Echo

The Canadian finished his British tour last night in fine style, and the party mood out front soon spread to the band.

It's taken 10 years of hard slog to reach

Robin Hood's slings and arrows have brought outrageous fortune for Adams.

And he teased the crowd before half way through launching into the inevitable (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. There was a humourous banter with the band and whether or not guitarist Keith Scott's grandmother is really Welsh, he had plenty of home support.

Adams even demanded a rugby song from the 31,500 crowd, and from his reaction, don't be surprised if there's a cover version of Bread Of Heaven on the next album.

He took the band briefly to a second stage out on the pitch, with a live favourite - Eddie Cochran's C'Mon Everybody, before picking half a dozen fans from the crowd to join him for She's Only Happy When She's Dancing.

Then it was back to the main stage to finish with the Adams standard - Summer Of '69 - and Straight From The Heart If there's a certain formula, few carry it off in such a no-frills style.

Setlist

House Arrest

Kids Wanna Rock

Cuts Like a Knife

Somebody

(Everything I Do) I Do It for You

Run to You

When Night Falls

Can't Stop This Thing We Started

It's Only Love

There Will Never Be Another Tonight

B-Stage

C'mon Everybody

(Eddie Cochran cover)

She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'

Encore:

Summer of '69

Straight From the Heart

On This Day 18/07/1958 Nigel Twist

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On this day, 18 July 1958, drummer with Welsh rockers The Alarm, Nigel Twist was born.

He was born in England and moved to Wales as a teenager. His first band was named Quasimodo. He played drums for The Toilets Seventeen, and The Alarm.

In 1977, a punk band was formed in Rhyl, Wales, billed as "The Toilets". It contained Mike Peters (alias Eddie Bop), Glyn Crossley (alias Steve Shock), Richard "O'Malley" Jones (alias Bo Larks) and Nigel Buckle (alias Des Troy). The band ceased to exist in 1978; they renamed themselves Quasimodo and played note-for-note covers of The Who's Live at Leeds with guitarist Dave Sharp. This group also included Karl Wallinger on keyboards.

Later the group named themselves Seventeen, with both Mike Peters and Nigel Buckle alongside Eddie MacDonald (who had been Mike Peters' next-door-but-one neighbour in Edward Henry Street, Rhyl). Seventeen began as a three-piece but were joined by guitarist David Kitchingman (who changed his name to Dave Sharp) and became a power pop mod band that released the single ("Don't Let Go"/"Bank Holiday Weekend") in March 1980 and toured with the Stray Cats later that year. They played their last concert under the name of Alarm Alarm in January 1981 at the Half Moon, Herne Hill, London.

The band soon reformed under the new name of The Alarm (with Nigel Buckle changing his surname to 'Twist'), and played their first gig at The Victoria Hotel, Prestatyn, North Wales on 6 June 1981,[5] opening with "Shout to the Devil", which later appeared on the album Declaration.

On This Day 17/07/2011 James Taylor

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On this day, 17 July 2011, American singer-songwriter James Taylor played Cardiff International Arena.

A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the No. 3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first No. 1 hit in 1971 with his recording of "You've Got a Friend", written by Carole King in the same year.

Review; James Taylor, Cardiff Motorpoint Arena - Wales Online

GOING to a James Taylor concert is like cwtching up into a warm, fuzzy musical bed.

OK, that’s probably the cheesiest thing I’ve ever written, but it’s true.

I first saw James Taylor about eight years ago.

I became a fan due to parental influence and decided to keep my mother company when she was going to one of his gigs.

But I was so glad I that went along and discovered that the man on the recordings was the same as the man who performed on stage.

This time round I was just as enchanted by his gig at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena.

It’s very rare that a singer’s voice is a live carbon copy of what you get on a record, but Taylor’s is.

His wiry frame almost looked frail at times, but this belied an enthusiasm and energy that is seen in performers 30 or 40 years younger.

With great pleasure Taylor treated the audience to favourites such as Fire and Rain, Sweet Baby James, Handy Man and – my favourite – Carolina in My Mind.

Interspersed with mellow favourites, the 63-year-old generously shared tales of career and family with the audience and happily signed autographs from the side of the stage.

It wasn’t all mellow songs though as the singer’s passion and enthusiasm came through again with Mexico and How Sweet it Is, as well as his most requested tune, Steamroller.

The singer had wonderful support from his band, including three backing singers who are performers in their own right.

But even without all the fancy backing and great musicianship, Taylor himself is always the focus, and his basic rules of simple guitar and thoughtful melody are never overshadowed.

He is a great storyteller and his touching lyrics provoke loving responses from his fans old and new.

It’s so entertaining to see a performer who is still as animated and lively about his music and touring as James Taylor is.

I just hope I get the opportunity to see him perform live again in the coming years.

On This Day 16/07/2008 Jay-Z

On this day. 16 July 2008, American rap legend Jay-Z played Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena. Support was provided by Mark Ronson.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he has been central to the creative and commercial success of artists including Kanye West, Rihanna, and J. Cole. He is the founder and chairman of entertainment company Roc Nation, and was the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007.

Review - Independent - Simon Price

How much significance can you read into a pair of glasses? A couple of weeks ago, Jay-Z turned up on the Jonathan Ross show studiously bespectacled, with the dress sense and demeanour of an amiable college-boy slacker rather than Roc-A-Fella CEO, rap megastar and bling-bling billionaire.

It was also one hell of a turnaround: the king of shopping- mall rap who has done more than anyone this side of P Diddy to cement the public view of hip-hop as a world of rapacious capitalism suddenly presenting himself as a cuddly intellectual, one of us.

He carried it off, just as – by common consent – he carried off his Glastonbury headlining set, which had the likes of Noel Gallagher in such an apoplectic tizzy beforehand.

The Jay-Z who shows up in Cardiff sure looks like the familiar bling-merchant: the hinges on his ever-present shades have more carats than Bugs Bunny, and the chain around his neck is more than merely goldie-lookin'.

Tellingly, Jay-Z had admitted to Ross that many rap acts make their initial breakthrough with one studio-forged track and, unlike rock bands, have no schooling in the art of the live show.

Indeed, last time I saw Jay-Z himself, he filled Wembley Arena with deadening thuds and bovine bellows. Not any more. He's learned a few lessons in the intervening years, and he's ready to deliver something that's only just short of a masterclass.

You have no idea how much it hurts me to say this. After all, I came to bury Jay-Z, not to praise him. This is a man whose main contribution to 21st-century culture has been to pop up on singles by Rihanna or Beyoncé, mumble lazily for 30 seconds or so and take a million-dollar cheque. (We get abridged bursts of "Umbrella" and "Crazy in Love" tonight.)

His excellent ensemble slide seamlessly between Latin hustle and funk-rock, incorporating teasing snatches of Amy's "Rehab", The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up", Tribe Called Quest's "Bonita Applebum" and AC/DC's "Back in Black".

The high-speed interplay between the main man and his sidekick Memphis Bleek is often dazzling and, in the flesh, a track like "99 Problems" just cannot be argued with.

Just when you're wondering what the point of showing Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull – one piece of bling the Jigga doesn't own – on the big screen might be, and cursing his audacity for name-dropping Public Enemy's Nation of Millions, he ties them both together in a passage about Hurricane Katrina.

A montage of American presidents freezes on the image of GW Bush, and Jay solicits boos, before rapping unaccompanied: "You're up on the roof/A helicopter swooped down with a telescopic lens/Just to get a scoop/But they didn't scoop you..." This time, the screen freezes on Barack Obama, and Jay-Z whips up the cheers.

On This Day 14/07/1082 Samson

On this day, 14 July 1982, heavy metal band Samson played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. They are best known for their first three albums with future Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, then known as "Bruce Bruce", and drummer Thunderstick (real name Barry Graham Purkis), who wore a leather mask and performed on stage in a metal cage.

Drummer Clive Burr was also a member of the band, both before and after his tenure with Iron Maiden. Dickinson's replacement on vocals, Nicky Moore, performed with Samson throughout the mid-1980s and again from the late 1990s onwards. Samson were a part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

The group posted three entries in the UK Singles Chart. These were "Riding With The Angels" (1981, No. 54), "Losing My Grip" (1982, No. 63) and "Red Skies" (1983, No. 65).

On This Day 13/07/1966 The Creation

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On this day, 13 July 1966, English rock band The Creation played Cardiff Top Rank.

Formed in 1966. Their best-known songs are "Making Time", which was one of the first rock songs to feature a guitar played with a bow, and "Painter Man", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached No. 8 in the German chart in April 1967. It was covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the No. 10 position in the UK chart.

"Making Time" was used in the movie Rushmore, and as the theme song from season 2 onwards of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Creation biographer Sean Egan defined their style as "a unique hybrid of pop, rock, psychedelia and the avant garde."

The band's style, produced by Shel Talmy, was, at this point, loud art pop, similar to early records by The Who. Their first single, "Making Time", was a Pickett/Phillips original featuring Phillips playing his electric guitar with a violin bow. (He was reputedly the first guitarist to use this technique.) Released in June 1966 on Talmy's own label, Planet (distributed in the UK by Philips and in the US by Jay-Gee), it reached No. 49 on the UK chart. Almost immediately thereafter, The Creation suffered another lineup change when Jack Jones was fired and replaced by new drummer Dave Preston. However, the band was unsatisfied with Preston's live work,[citation needed] and in less than three weeks Jones was asked back and rejoined the group.

Their next single, October 1966's "Painter Man", became their biggest hit, reaching No. 36 UK and the top 10 in Germany. The Creation took their pop art experimentation slightly further when, during live performances of "Painter Man," Pickett would spray-paint a canvas during their concerts before a member of the road crew would set fire to the artwork on stage.