David Byrne Ultilita Arena, Cardiff 02/03/2026

There very few really innovative, ground breaking artists still providing the spark to inspire whilst entertain with their music that’s powerful, intriguing, uplifting, intelligent, all aided and abetted by stunning visuals and fascinating choreography. Fortunately, we have David Byrne!

The loss of David Bowie, the ultimate creative, passed on the mantle for Byrne, who, whilst not living in his shadow, can truly now be recognised as rock’s premier musical pioneer in an industry so lacking in creativity and devoid of any authenticity.

Since the days of Talking Heads, his collaborations with a multitude of worldwide artists and his mixing of musical genres, has lead to an intriguing back catalogue, the like of which is hard to find, pushing the boundaries that not even the chameleon-like Bowie could reach.

So, to the show, the stage was sparse, and the opening track, a version of the Talking Heads song Heaven played as the Earth rose behind them and with Byrne saying “There she is - our heaven. The only one we’ve got,” highlighting our frailty on a planet in distress. It was message that featured throughout the evening. A message that with some optimism we can rise above.

It was the beginning of two hours of what was a wonderous and uplifting show, the antidote to the worries of a world currently in such turmoil.

Byrne and his twelve piece band, dressed all in blue instantly brought similarities to his previous American Utopia tour where the band dressed all in grey. But this time the colour emphasised and gave a more joyful and upbeat tone that complemented the music and visuals perfectly.

The set is a mix from Byrne’s career with slight emphasis on his latest recording Who Is the Sky? Though Heads fans were treated to plenty of classic songs played effortlessly with a few surprises. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) one of his/their greatest moments was exceptional and the moment the arena is plunged into darkness when Byrne sang “And you’ll love me 'til my heart stops” was enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Of course it wouldn’t have been a show without featuring Such classics as Psycho Killer, Life During Wartime and Once in a Lifetime, the latter song being the perfect end to a stylish set. The arena on its feet in unison, was a sight to behold, a bouncing mass so in tune with Byrne and his excellent band.

Everybody's Coming to My House and Burning Down the House provided the encore to a quite sensational evening and a performance of such quality seldom seen nowadays. Fortunately, for anyone who missed the show, Byrne and band are making a quick return to the Capital, with a show at Cardiff Castle in July. Hopefully the weather will be kind to both artist and fans.

Setlist

Heaven (Talking Heads song)
Everybody Laughs
And She Was – (Talking Heads song)
Strange Overtones – (Brian Eno & David Byrne cover)
Houses in Motion – (Talking Heads song)
T Shirt
(Nothing but) Flowers – (Talking Heads song)
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) – (Talking Heads song)
What Is the Reason for It?
Like Humans Do
When We Are Singing
Independence Day
Slippery People – (Talking Heads song)
Moisturizing Thing
My Apartment Is My Friend
Air – (Talking Heads song)
Psycho Killer – (Talking Heads song)
Life During Wartime – (Talking Heads song)
Once in a Lifetime – (Talking Heads song)

Encore:
Everybody’s Coming to My House
Burning Down the House (Talking Heads song)

Review by TW

Graham Nash - New Theatre - 09/10/2025

Images may be subject to copyright

After seeing Crosby, Stills and Nash playing Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena in 2015, the opportunity appeared remote that they’d ever appear again either together or as solo artists.

A big falling out amongst band members plus their declining health meant it unlikely that there would be the chance of a return visit anytime soon, if at all.

Fortunately, 10 years later, Graham Nash announced his More Evenings of Songs & Stories tour with a visit to Cardiff’s New Theatre on the itinerary, and with tickets purchased, headed out to witness a quite incredible evening.

Opener for the night was Nash’s great friend Peter Asher, famous for being one part of the Sixties singing duo Peter & Gordon and Grammy award winning music producer.

Between songs from his career Asher recalled stories of his life most notably of family lodger Paul McCartney who was in the process of writing World Without Love (rejected by Lennon for The Beatles). Asher played a early demo recording that McCartney made in his bedroom, a song that Asher managed to blag and became a #1 hit all over the world for Peter & Gordon

Then it was time for Nash. Featuring songs from his early days with The Hollies it was his work with the famous C,S & N that really raised the roof.

Describing how he wrote Marrakesh Express on train ride to Marrakesh, he then proceeded to produce a great version with his very impressive stellar band. Rarely have I witnessed such a talented trio of musicians. A guitarist playing drums, a drummer, playing bass whilst drumming. All the while providing immaculate backing vocals, highlight being the drummer stepping forward for a ripping guitar solo in a rocking version of Woodstock.

Nash enthralled his audience with his memories of times hanging out with the good and the great of Laurel Canyon. How he wrote the beautiful Our House after a shopping trip with his then muse, Joni Mitchell.

One of the highlights of the evening was a song, the heartbreaking Simple Man, written on the morning of his breakup with Joni. The sadness still echoes in his voice and tugs at your heart.

A very vocal opponent of the situation in Gaza his anti-war song Military Madness struck a chord with many witnessing the dreadful news each day, and hoping that a solution would be found to end that particular madness.

Leaving the stage after three encores which included striking versions of Teach Your Children and Woodstock, the evening climaxed with a quite stunning version of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s, Judy Collins’s inspired, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.

It was an evening of nostalgia and musical perfection, and fans left hoping it’s a quicker return for the legend that is Graham Nash.

An Audience with Stewart Copeland-Savoy Theatre-Monmouth 2/10/25

As a 13-year-old boy, I can remember buying ‘Roxanne’, on blue vinyl, back in 1979.  We were spoilt for choice back them with so many great bands, Blondie, ELO and The Jam, so I was really looking forward to hearing tales about one of my favourite bands, The Police

The stage was set with just two armchairs, one each for Stewart Copeland and the interviewer, Lisa Thompson.  Stewart was first asked to describe his early life where he grew up in Beirut.  Copeland's father Miles was a spy who worked for the CIA. It was while he was attending a American Community school that  he first picked up the drumsticks. He had watched his cooler, older brother play with a band called the Black Knights and realised his brother wasn't that good, so he decided to slip into his brother’s room and try the drumsticks himself.  This turned out to be a turning point for him, as he was a natural and he was soon recruited and joined the Black Knights.

Stewart was then asked how his music career started with the hippy band, Curved Air and how The Police first got together.  It was at this point we heard him call Sting ‘Stingo’ which made the audience laugh. He recalled how seeing Sting in his band Last Exit in concert led to wanting to work with him. He persuaded Sting to leave Last Exit and move to London where he believed they could cash in on the rock,punk movement.  Whilst in London the pair met Andy Summers  while they were session musicians  and they eventually asked him to join the band.

The Police found success hard to come by at first. The songs, Roxanne and Can’t Stand Losing you had little impact with the general public.  In fact, their first appearance on Top of The Pops was with Copeland’s pseudonym character, Klark Kent.

After an interval, the second half of the show was more about The Police breaking up, Copeland’s solo career and  their  reunion tour ending with some questions from the audience.  Stewart picked out the questions by hand from an empty kick drum on the stage, that was a nice touch.

It was only after some band therapy,  just before their 2007 reunion tour, that Sting and Stewart managed to understand their musical differences.  He joked and said although he had Slipknot on his playlist, he dubbed that you would find them on Sting’s!

If I am totally honest, I enjoyed the evening but would love to have heard more stories about the Police, maybe you would be better off buying his book, appropriately entitled ‘Have I Said Too Much’. 

Reviewed by Steven Davies, YYFM Radio.

BORN ON JULY 17: 1941: Spencer Davis (The Spencer Davis Group)

Spencer Davis (born Spencer David Nelson Davies; 17 July 1939 – 19 October 2020) was a Welsh musician. He founded the Spencer Davis Group, a band that had several hits in the 1960s including "Keep On Running", "Somebody Help Me", "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man", all sung by Steve Winwood. Davis subsequently enjoyed success as an A&R executive with Island Records.

Davis was born in Swansea, South-West Wales, on 17 July 1939. His father was a paratrooper during World War II. While his father was away, his uncle Herman was a musical influence on Davis, teaching him how to play the harmonica at age six. While growing up in Swansea, Davis lived through The Blitz: "The bombed city centre was my playground. I watched the town being absolutely destroyed."

Davis's mother continued to live in the West Cross area of Swansea until her death.

He began learning to play harmonica and accordion at the age of six. He attended Dynevor School in Swansea and became proficient at speaking a few languages. He moved to London when he was 16 and began working in the civil service as a clerical officer at the Post Office Savings Bank in Hammersmith and then for HM Customs and Excise. However, he went back to his old school to study for A-levels in languages, becoming head boy in 1959. In 1960, he moved to Birmingham, to read German at the University of Birmingham. In music circles, Davis was later known as "Professor".

No Maybes: Supersonic Oasis definitely smash it

By Ed Shrinker

Friends: the wait is over.

Oasis was superb. Their seamless set was stellar.

It was scintillating; exhilarating; uplifting; rowdy; raunchy; compassionate and comprehensive.

On the day when this great city of ours was the epicentre of global rock, Oasis reopened for business and the Oasis collective, from seven to seventy, cajoled and encouraged by rock’s eternal teenager Liam Gallagher, sang and cried their hearts out.

We knew they would be stadium-ready after a 16-year hiatus when, separately, they had roamed the world making very good- but not great- rock, new sets whose own restrictions were highlighted by both’s occasional forays into their Oasis back-catalogue.

The only question mark remaining was- could their performance match the amazing anticipation this reunion had fuelled since the end of last year?

From the first bars, it was never in doubt.

The band and the audience were a unit, revelling in a crackling bonfire of a catalogue that had no “massive potatoes” (don’t mention ‘em) but a lot of bangers at its heart. A bucket-hat brim-full with bangers in fact. One stopped; another started. Liam was rejuvenated. He intoned and inflected, spitting out sequences of emphasised, extended words that were elevated tolyrical lynchpins after beginning life as humble two or three syllable nondescripts.

The master vocalist stared into mid-space, then nodded with assurance and then contorted and grimaced his way through barnstormer after barnstormer.

Alongside, brother Noel, heavy brows knitted and furrowed, coaxed and caressed riff after riff, fill after fill, hook after hook from his guitar. He surfed on a six stringhard drive provided by “legend “ Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Gem Archer and a rhythm section of Bassist Andy bell and drummer Joey Waronker.  And he sang a short selection of his own work, including Half the World Away.

The full 23-tune set list is below. All were excellent. The sound system was superb; the decision to keep the roof closed spot on. The psychedelia-inspired back projections were a nostalgic nod to the musical homage that forms the bedrock of Oasis’ music.

For those of us who were there, the heady heydays of 1995 are a long way away. The optimism, swagger and immediacy of Britpop has passed. Cool Britannia has become Broken Britain.

But last night’s gig shows that that spirit remains strongand Oasis certainly aren’t lying down anytime soon.

In fact, like our great city, they are still the Bollox.

For the record, Oasis’ Cardiff setlist was:

‘Hello’ 
‘Acquiesce’ 
‘Morning Glory’
‘Some Might Say’
‘Bring It On Down’
‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’
‘Fade Away’
‘Supersonic’
‘Roll With It’
‘Talk Tonight’
‘Half The World Away’
‘Little By Little’
‘D’You Know What I Mean?’
‘Stand By Me’
‘Cast No Shadow’
‘Slide Away’
‘Whatever’
‘Live Forever’
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’
‘The Masterplan’
‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’
‘Wonderwall’
‘Champagne Supernova’

All photos ©️TC/RC/LP Photography

New Welsh Band Lower Forces Announce Debut Single

Listen here: https://linktr.ee/LowerForces_

Cardiff-based dream pop band Lower Forces this week release their powerhouse début single, ‘Electricity’.

The band comprises lead vocalist Daniel Reed,Guitarists Owen Harries and Liam Moylan and Bassist Rory Chapman. The single is a testament to each member’s influences, including post-punk, indie and shoegaze, which helped them shape their own dream pop sound. ‘Electricity’ was recorded over two sessions at Hot Jam Studios, Bridgend, and produced by Colm Foxon, and is characterised by its atmospheric feel and expressive vocals.

Lower Forces débuted with an appearance at Porters, Cardiff, earlier this year. It’s a venue close to their hearts as it is renowned for its commitment to grassroots music and consistent support of up-and-coming musical talent. Lower Forces are currently planning on touring venues in Cardiff and across South Wales.

Despite the release of ‘Electricity’, the band have several other self-penned releases in the pipeline and are enthusiastically working on their next single.

Lower Forces formed in September 2023. Original members Liam Moylan, Rory Chapman and Owen Harries first met in their workplace in central Cardiff. Music was always a mainstay of water-cooler conversations and, with all three already working on songs individually, starting a band was a natural and exciting evolution.

Their painstaking search for the singular sound that would unify their vision with delivery came with the sonic synergy of Daniel Reed’s distinctive vocals that lend an emotional depth above the clear cohesion of the collective and producing the driven identity that underpins the band’s content.

Listen to Electricity now on Spotify, Apple Music, and all other major streaming platforms - https://linktr.ee/LowerForces_

More information from contact.lowerforces@gmail.com

Review - Graham Gouldman - Heart Full Of Song - The Gate, Cardiff - 10/03/2025

Images - Tony Woolway

He’s a national treasure that most concert-goers today would not have heard of, and whilst people of a certain age would be aware of the great band he co-founded, 10cc, they would hardly have known the number of hits written for others throughout his staggering musical career.

For Graham Gouldman’s songwriting pedigree puts him fairly and squarely at the top of the list when discussing the very best songwriters this country’s produced, and he continues to do so with a quality for melody, highlighting a craft that is sadly absent today.

With a new album, ‘I Have Notes’ due to be released in July, he’s certainly not resting on his laurels with his recordings hardly short of talent with Brian May, Hank Marvin, Albert Lee and Ringo Starr, among others, all featured. One song, his current single ‘We’re Alive’ co-written with Nashville-based singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman and songwriter/guitarist Gordon Kennedy, was included in this evening’s quite stunning set.

In between classic songs like ‘For Your Love’, ‘Bus Stop’ and ‘Heart Full of Soul’, hits for legendary Sixties bands The Hollies and The Yardbirds, Gouldman informed the very attentive audience on the birth of these iconic songs, lovingly revisited by his mostly acoustic band mates.

Gouldman reminisced about about his career, the input of his father, especially in the writing of ‘No Milk Today’ a worldwide hit for Herman’s Hermits, the inspiration coming after his father had noticed the build up of milk bottles on a neighbouring doorstep and suggested it would make an interesting theme for a song.

Gouldman also talked of his great friendship and collaboration with American singer/songwriter Andrew Gold, now sadly passed, with Gouldman and is talented band performing a stunning version of ‘Bridge to Your Heart’, a 1987 hit for the pop duo Wax.

No performance would be complete without playing one of the greatest hits of the Seventies, 10cc’s ‘I’m Not In Love’, a song that along with the likes of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, is considered one of British Rock and Pop’s great masterpieces.

In an evening of great nostalgia, exceptional songwriting and quality musicianship, it was quite simply the best damp, cold Monday evening ever spent witnessing the best of British and a true musical legend.

Tony Woolway

Review - Catfish & The Bottlemen - Cardiff Castle 20/07/2024

After cancelling their performance at the Principality Stadium in 2022, fans feared it might be the end for Catfish and the Bottlemen. However, on Friday, they made a triumphant return to Cardiff Castle!

Friday was the warmest day we've had this year, and fans dressed in band merch were seen all around the city, buzzing with excitement for what promised to be a fantastic comeback. This gig, the first announced after releasing their recent single 'Showtime,' had fans eagerly competing for tickets. It was their second show since their comeback, following their performance at Sefton Park in Liverpool.

The evening kicked off with a set from 'The Big Moon.' Although I only caught the end of their performance, having seen them support other acts previously, I can attest to their ability to set a great tone for the night. Their lively and engaging presence on stage always manages to energise the crowd, making them an excellent choice to warm up the audience for the main event.

As Catfish and the Bottlemen took to the stage at Cardiff Castle, they were met with a huge applause. They opened with the fan-favourite 'Kathleen,' instantly getting the crowd’s hands in the air and setting a high-energy tone for the evening. This was followed by 'Soundcheck,' during which inflatable crocodiles sold at the merch stall bounced around the front of the stage, adding a playful touch to the vibrant atmosphere.

The mid-section of their set consisted of hits like 'Conversation,' 'Business,' and 'Homesick,' maintaining the momentum and keeping the audience fully engaged. My favourite moment was during '2all,' as it’s my favourite Catfish song, and hearing it live again alongside best friends was a nice experience. The energy throughout the set was exciting, with everyone singing along, hands in the air, and many fans perched on shoulders.

Despite a few moments where the energy from the stage dipped, the passionate and consistent atmosphere from the fans never waned. The band closed with an electrifying performance of 'Cocoon,' leaving the crowd on a high note. Although they delivered a familiar setlist, mirroring the one they performed in 2021, and didn't include their most recent single, the night was still enjoyable. Their set began around 9:15 and wrapped up just before 10:40, leaving many of us wishing for at least one or two more songs. The abrupt ending felt somewhat anticlimactic, especially given the high energy and enthusiasm bestowed on them by the crowd.

Overall, it was nice to see Catfish make their comeback, and it made me reminisce about my late teenage years. For extremely dedicated fans, this must have been a great night, but for me, it was the crowd's energy that truly made the evening memorable.