On This Day 07/10/1980 UFO

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On this day, 7 October 1980, hard rock band UFO played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens on their The Wild, the willing and the innocent tour. Support was provided by Fist.

The Wild, the willing and the innocent was the title of the band’s ninth studio album released the following January.

The album was their first album to be entirely self-produced. Its song "Lonely Heart" was a minor UK hit.

Former Wild Horses' keyboard player Neil Carter replaced Paul Raymond, who had left to join the Michael Schenker Group after a disagreement with singer Phil Mogg. However, according to guitarist Paul Chapman, Carter – though credited on the sleeve – did not play keyboards on the album (see below).

"We produced it ourselves with nobody breathing over our shoulders. The only problem was it cost twice as much because we kept changing studios and re-recording stuff…. [After Paul Raymond's departure] I tried to get John Sloman involved because he could sing, play keyboards and guitar, and was just out of Lone Star like me. He did play on the Wild album, but most of the keyboards are by the brother of the engineer Gary Edwards – until Phil sacked him. We finished that album without a keyboard player, then got Neil Carter in later." – Paul Chapman

Setlist

Alpha Centauri

Lettin' Go

Long Gone

Cherry

Only You Can Rock Me

No Place to Run

Makin' Moves

Love to Love

Hot 'n' Ready

Mystery Train

(Little Junior’s Blue Flames cover)

Too Hot to Handle

Lights Out

Rock Bottom

Doctor Doctor

On This Day 06/10/1982 Dexys Midnight Runners

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On this day, 6 October 1982, Midlands band Dexys Midnight Runners played Cardiff St David’s Hall on "The Bridge" tour. The band were accompanied by new-recruits, Spike Edney on trombone and saxophonist Kevin Gilson.

Earlier in the month the band released "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)" following on from the tremendous success of "Come On Eileen" earlier in the Summer.

The band had recently recorded their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay .

Shortly before recording this album, Dexys' bandleader Kevin Rowland had decided to add a violin section to the band's existing horn section, which had contributed strings (viola and cello) to the band's previous single, "Liars A to E".

However, after violinists Helen O'Hara and Steve Brennan joined the band, the three members of the horn section, including Dexys' co-leader and album co-composer "Big" Jim Paterson, decided to leave Dexys and become an independent horn band (ultimately known as The TKO Horns).

Rowland convinced them to stay with the band long enough to record the album and to perform in a kick-off concert debuting the album on BBC Radio One in June 1982.

All the songs on the album were rearranged to add strings, which caused Dexys to re-record the 1981 singles "Plan B", "Liars A to E", and "Soon". During the rearrangement process,

"Soon" was revised into the opening section of "Plan B"; since both songs were written by Rowland and Paterson, the merged songs are credited on the album simply as "Plan B".

Setlist

Old

Geno

The Celtic Soul Brothers

Let's Get This Straight From the Start

All in All (This One Last Wild Waltz)

Tell Me When My Light Turns Green

Plan B

Let's Make This Precious

I Couldn't Help If I Tried

Until I Believe in My Soul

Kevin Rowland's 13th Time

Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)

(Van Morrison cover)

Respect

(Otis Redding cover)

There, There, My Dear

Come on Eileen

Show Me

I'll Show You

On This Day 04/10/1976 The Runaways

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On this day, 4 October 1976, US rock band The Runaways played Cardiff University.

The Runaways were formed in August 1975[5] by drummer Sandy West and guitarist Joan Jett after they had separately introduced themselves to producer Kim Fowley, who gave Jett's phone number to West. Fowley then helped the girls find other members.

Two decades later he said, "I didn't put the Runaways together, I had an idea, they had ideas, we all met, there was combustion and out of five different versions of that group came the five girls who were the ones that people liked."

Starting as a power trio with singer/bassist Micki Steele, the Runaways began the party and club circuit around Los Angeles. They soon added lead guitarist Lita Ford and Jett switched to rhythm guitar. Steele was soon fired from the group, replaced by bassist Peggy Foster, who left after just one month. Lead singer Cherie Currie was recruited in a local teen nightclub called the Sugar Shack, followed by Jackie Fox on bass.

The Runaways were signed to Mercury Records in 1976 and their debut album, The Runaways, was released shortly afterward.

The band toured the U.S. in support of headlining groups such as Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Talking Heads, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

For their stage performance, the documentary Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways (directed by former Runaway bassist Vicki Blue) revealed each girl patterned herself after their musical idol: Currie on David Bowie, Jett on Suzi Quatro, Ford on a cross between Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore, West on Roger Taylor, and Fox on Gene Simmons.

On This Day 03/10/1978 Ramones

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On this day, 3 October 1978, NY Punk rock pioneers The Ramones played Cardiff University.

The band had just released Road to Ruin, their fourth studio album released on September 21, 1978, through Sire Records.

It was the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Marky Ramone, who replaced Tommy Ramone. Tommy left the band due to low sales of previous albums as well as stress he experienced while touring; however, he stayed with the band to produce the album with Ed Stasium.

The artwork's concept was designed by Ramones fan Gus MacDonald and later modified by John Holmstrom to include Marky instead of Tommy. The album includes the well-known track "I Wanna Be Sedated".

SETLIST

"Rockaway Beach"

"Teenage Lobotomy"

"Blitzkrieg Bop"

"I Don't Want You"

"Go Mental"

"Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"

"You're Gonna Kill That Girl"

"Don't Come Close"

"I Just Want to Have Something to Do"

"Bad Brain"

"She's the One"

"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker"

"Havana Affair"

"Commando"

"Needles and Pins" (Jackie DeShannon cover)

"Surfin' Bird" (The Trashmen cover)

"Cretin Hop"

"Listen to My Heart"

"California Sun" (Joe Jones cover)

"I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You"

"Pinhead"

Encore:

"Do You Want to Dance" (Bobby Freeman cover)

"I Wanna Be Sedated"

"Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World"

Encore 2:

"Judy Is a Punk"

"Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue"

"We're a Happy Family"

On This Day 02/10/1976 Osibisa

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On this day, 2 October 1976, Ghanaian-Caribbean Afro rock band Osibisa played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London-based Caribbean musicians.

Osibisa was the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in London, alongside such contemporaries as Assagai, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Demon Fuzz, Black Velvet, and Noir, and was largely responsible for the establishment of world music and Afro-rock as a marketable genre.

The band spent much of the 1970s touring the world, playing to large audiences in Japan, Australasia, India, and Africa. During this time Paul Golly (guitar) and Ghanaians Daku Adams "Potato" and Kiki Gyan were also members of the band. In January 1976, their single, "Sunshine Day", reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. Their next single release, "Dance the Body Music", peaked at number 31 in the same listing.

On This Day 01/10/1966 Dusty Springfield

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On this day, October 1, 1966, Dusty Springfield performed at the Capitol Theatre in Cardiff as part of a package tour that also included The Alan Price Set and Los Bravos. This date also marks the broadcast of the first episode of her BBC television show, "Dusty," which featured the Dudley Moore Trio as guests.

A fixture on British television, Springfield presented many episodes of the popular 1963–66 British TV music series Ready Steady Go! and, between 1966 and 1969, hosted her own series on the BBC and ITV. In 1966, she topped popularity polls, including Melody Maker's "Best International Vocalist", and was the first UK singer to top the New Musical Express readers' poll for best female singer. She has been inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the UK Music Hall of Fame. Multiple critics and polls have lauded Springfield as one of the greatest female singers in popular music.

In 1966, Springfield scored with three other UK hits, all varying in style: the snappy "Little By Little" (no. 17), a cover of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's poignant and reflective "Goin' Back" (no. 10), and the sweeping dramatic ballad "All I See Is You" (no. 9), co-written by Ben Weisman and Clive Westlake. The last peaked at no. 20 in the United States. In August and September 1966, she hosted Dusty, a six-part BBC TV music/talk show series.

A compilation of her singles, Golden Hits, released in November 1966, peaked at no. 2 in the UK (behind the soundtrack to The Sound of Music). From the mid-1960s onward Springfield used the pseudonym "Gladys Thong" when recording backing vocals for other artists including Madeline Bell, Kiki Dee, Anne Murray and Elton John. Bell was a regular backing singer on early Springfield albums, and the pair, together with Lesley Duncan, co-wrote "I'm Gonna Leave You" ,[49] the B-side of "Goin' Back".

On This Day 30/09/1983 Depeche Mode

On this day, 30 September 1983, electro-rock band Depeche Mode played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on the band’s Construction Time Again Tour.

Construction Time Again was the group’s third studio album and the first to feature Alan Wilder as a member, who wrote the songs "Two Minute Warning" and "The Landscape Is Changing". The album's title comes from the second line of the first verse of the track "Pipeline".

It was recorded at John Foxx's Garden Studios in London, and was supported by the Construction Time Again Tour.

Review - South Wales Echo

In January 1983, shortly before the release of the "Get the Balance Right!" single, songwriter Martin Gore attended an Einstürzende Neubauten concert, giving him the idea to experiment with the sounds of industrial music in the context of pop.

This album introduced a transition in lyrical content for the group. Construction Time Again would include a bevy of political themes, sparked by the poverty Gore had seen on a then-recent trip he had taken to Thailand.

The album also saw a dramatic shift in the group's sound, due in part to Wilder's introduction of the Synclavier and E-mu Emulator samplers. By sampling the noises of everyday objects, the band created an eclectic, industrial-influenced sound, with similarities to groups such as the Art of Noise and Einstürzende Neubauten (the latter becoming Mute labelmates in 1983)

Review - South Wales Argus

Setlist

Everything Counts

Now, This Is Fun

Two Minute Warning

Shame

See You

Get the Balance Right

Love, in Itself

Pipeline

The Landscape Is Changing

And Then...

Photographic

Told You So

New Life

More Than a Party

Encore:

The Meaning of Love

Just Can't Get Enough

Encore 2:

Boys Say Go!

On This Day 29/09/1977 Leo Sayer

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On this day, 29 September 1977, singer Leo Sayer played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre, the first date on his Thunder In My Heart tour.

Thunder In My Heart was the title of Sayer’s fifth album released on the 30 September 1977, peaking at #8 in the UK album charts.

Review - South Wales Argus

Setlist

Giving It All Away

I Hear the Laughter

In My Life

Hold On to My Love

One Man Band

Train

Thunder in My Heart

Easy to Love

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

Moonlighting

Fool for Your Love

When I Need You

(Albert Hammond cover)

How Much Love

Encore:

Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)

The Show Must Go On