On This Day 17/05/2009 Silverstein

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On this day, 17 May 2009, Canadian rock band Silverstein played Cardiff University.

From Burlington, Ontario, and formed in 2000 their band name is a reference to the famous children's author Shel Silverstein, who the band had admired and whose work they had read as children.

They have released a total of 11 studio albums, seven EPs, a compilation album and a live DVD/CD. Their lineup remained unchanged for eleven years from December 2001 to September 2012, then consisting of lead vocalist Shane Told, lead guitarist Neil Boshart, rhythm guitarist Josh Bradford, bassist Billy Hamilton, and drummer Paul Koehler.

In September 2012, the band had announced that Neil Boshart had been fired and would be replaced by Paul Marc Rousseau, who also joined Billy Hamilton on backing vocals. The band achieved moderate success with their second studio album, Discovering the Waterfront, which was nominated for a Juno Award and reached No. 34 on the Billboard 200 charts, with the following two albums charting at similar positions. Silverstein has sold over 1,000,000 albums worldwide.

On 14 December 2008, the band announced by Myspace bulletin that their fourth album would be released by 31 March 2009. The name of the new album, A Shipwreck in the Sand, was announced on 29 January 2009, when the band concluded a viral marketing campaign by announcing the track listing via an album website, also revealing it would be a concept album. Along with the demo of "Broken Stars", which the band had been performing during their final U.S. tour in support of "Arrivals and Departures", short clips of the songs "Vices", "Born Dead" and "American Dream" were made available on MySpace On 17 March, the band filmed a music video for "Vices" with director Robby Starbuck. Later, on 23 March 2009, the band posted the full album to stream on their official MySpace page.

On 14 December 2008, the band announced by Myspace bulletin that their fourth album would be released by 31 March 2009. The name of the new album, A Shipwreck in the Sand, was announced on 29 January 2009, when the band concluded a viral marketing campaign by announcing the track listing via an album website, also revealing it would be a concept album. Along with the demo of "Broken Stars", which the band had been performing during their final U.S. tour in support of "Arrivals and Departures", short clips of the songs "Vices", "Born Dead" and "American Dream" were made available on MySpace. On 17 March, the band filmed a music video for "Vices" with director Robby Starbuck. Later, on 23 March 2009, the band posted the full album to stream on their official MySpace page.

A Shipwreck in the Sand was released on 31 March 2009 and sold nearly 17,000 copies in its first week.[32] The iTunes version of the album includes four bonus cover songs, "Help!" (The Beatles cover), "Go Your Own Way" (Fleetwood Mac Cover), "Three Miles Down" (Saves The Day cover), and "Total Bummer" (NOFX cover).

Setlist

Vices

Your Sword Versus My Dagger

Smashed Into Pieces

Bodies and Words

A Great Fire

Broken Stars

Fist Wrapped in Blood

American Dream

Call It Karma

Born Dead

The Weak and the Wounded

Apologize

(OneRepublic cover)

Smile in Your Sleep

Encore:

Three Miles Down

(Saves the Day cover)

My Heroine

(acoustic first part)

I Am the Arsonist

Bleeds No More

On This Day 25/01/2000 Coldplay

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On this day, 25 January 2000, rock giants Coldplay played Cardiff University along with Shack, Campag Velocet, Les Rythmes Digitales.

The band had recently recorded their debut album, Parachutes, recorded at Matrix (London, England), Wessex (London, England). Parr Street (Liverpool, England)' Rockfield (Rockfield, Wales), Orinoco (London, England),

The album was a commercial success and was met with positive reviews. Upon release, it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom and has since been certified 9× Platinum.

Formed in London in 1996. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey.

They met at University College London and began playing music together from 1996 to 1998, first calling themselves Pectoralz and then Starfish.

Setlist

Don't Panic

Shiver

Spies

Sparks

Yellow

Trouble

Parachutes

High Speed

We Never Change

Everything's Not Lost

Help Is Round the Corner

Bigger Stronger

On this day 17/08/2002 The Darkness

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On this day, 17 August 2002, British rock band The Darkness played Cardiff’s Barfly.

The band had just released their debut recording the EP “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” but had not yet issued their debut album '“Permission To Land” released the following year.

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was originally issued as a 3-track EP in August 2002; however, as only a small number of copies were printed, it was ineligible to chart. The EP also included early versions of "Love on the Rocks With No Ice" and "Love Is Only a Feeling". When released as a single in September 2003, it was beaten to number one by The Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is the Love?".

The Darkness came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Permission to Land, in 2003. Backed by the singles "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", and "Love Is Only a Feeling", the album was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom, with sales of over 1.3 million.

In 2004 the band won three Brit Awards: Best British Group, Best British Rock Act, and Best British Album.

The success of this album led to heavy touring for the band, including European portions of Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003.

They then went on to headline the Carling Festival in 2004. The band won three BRIT Awards in 2004 in response to the album, Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album.

They also won two Kerrang! awards in 2004 for Best Live Act and Best British Band. The third single from the album, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", was a substantial hit in the UK as was their tilt at the Christmas 2003 number 1, "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", which only just fell short, both singles reaching number 2 in 2003.

On this day 10/08/2013 Peter Bruntnell

On this day, 10 August 2013, British singer-songwriter Peter Bruntnell played The Chattery, Swansea.

Bruntnell's family is originally from Wales; His family moved to New Zealand when his father, Owen Bruntnell, was sent to work at the British High Commission in Wellington for four years.

They returned to the UK when Bruntnell was a year old, and settled in Kingston upon Thames. His great great uncle was Australian politician Albert Bruntnell who emigrated from Wales in 1888.

Bruntnell also lived in Vancouver, Canada for a time. In the early 1990s, Bruntnell returned to the UK and formed the band Milkwood, although he soon reverted to solo work and recordings with Matt Backer and Felix Harper as the Peter Bruntnell Combination.

He was signed by Almo Sounds, who issued his debut album, Cannibal, in 1995. He recorded a second album for Almo, Camelot in Smithereens (1997), before moving to the Slow River label for his 1999 album Normal for Bridgwater. The album was highly recommended by VH1's Bill Flanagan and by Rolling Stone's John Luerssen, and helped to establish Bruntnell with American audiences.

The album was recorded with the help of musicians from Son Volt, a band with whom he has toured regularly in the United States.

In 2013, Loose Music released Bruntnell's Retrospective album, featuring music from all of his albums to date. The album was preceded by a single and accompanying video of a re-recording of the song "Played Out", featuring Rumer

Link to video - https://youtu.be/nZ_q-ltE9z0

On this day 3rd/July/2005 Amy Winehouse

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On this day, 3 July 2005, English singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song.

The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics.

Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.

Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother."

Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success.

Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."

Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch and Billie Eilish.

On this day 28/06/2008 Franz Ferdinand

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On this day 28 June 2008 Scottish band Franz Ferdinand played The Point in Cardiff.

Formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band's original lineup was composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion, backing vocals).

Julian Corrie (keyboards, lead guitar, backing vocals) and Dino Bardot (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) joined the band in 2017 after McCarthy left during the previous year.

The band is one of the more popular post-punk revival bands, garnering multiple UK top 20 hits. They have been nominated for several Grammy Awards and have received two Brit Awards – winning one for Best British Group – as well as one NME Award.

Review - David McGonigle - music OMH

It’s gotten to be a bit of a rock band cliche, but it’s nevertheless refreshing to see Franz Ferdinand playing a tour of ‘small, intimate venues’ as a warm-up to their full-on assault on various international festivals later this summer.

Refreshing because no matter how big the four boys from Glasgow get in the future, there’s something about their punky intensity that will always be best heard in the confines of a small, dark club.And while the Point – a stately converted church located in Cardiff’s gentrified Bay Area – couldn’t be further away from the art shows and mates’ houses that the band began their career in, its modest size and superior acoustics ensure that everyone in the venue is no more than a thrown drumstick away from the fab four themselves.

If chief Franz Alex Kapranos’ banter can’t be understood, well, it’s got a lot more to do with his accent than the The Point’s soundsystem.

The last venue that Franz Ferdinand played in Cardiff was the International Arena, and the ease with which Kapranos gets the crowd to clap along to the evening’s opener, a driving, powerful take on Michael suggests that they hasn’t left all of their arena rock moves at home, a point ably made again later as Kapranos and guitarist Nick McCarthy interrupt Tell Her Tonight with some major scissor-kick action.

The band seem to be having a ball, and for the first few songs we get highlights from their two albums, 2004’s Franz Ferdinand and 2005’s You Could Have It So Much Better, including a great Dark of The Matinee, and a tender, more pensive Walking Away.

But this is 2008, and the band haven’t released a new album for three years. And while there’s been a slow trickle of new tunes which have primarily ended up on fan club 7-inches and film soundtracks, Kapranos’ recent suggestions that the new album may be held back to 2009 means that anyone jonesing for a new Franz fix will need to catch them live.

And, despite what you might have heard about the new ‘African’ direction from the group, we’re offered up pretty much more of the same; effortlessly tuneful and sharp, sure, but no real left turns, no obvious changes in musical direction, just tuneful, catchy, bounce-up-and-down guitar pop.

It’s not easy to identify any of the new tunes by name, but going on the lyrics and the band’s own website it’s possible to discern the tracks Ulysses, Kathryn Kiss Me, What She Came For, and perhaps even Lucid Dreams…but don’t quote me on that one.

The band play flawlessly, enthusiastically, even; it’s often hard to know if the musicians are having as good a time as the audience, but the shit-eating smiles on the foursomes’ faces makes it all pretty clear. Yet even as the band finish their encore with a pounding This Fire – sounding more and more like Trevor Jackson’s Playgroup remix every time it’s played – how long will their fans be happy with more of the same, as excellent as it all is? For Franz Ferdinand are not McFly; their lead singer writes books, their guitarist paints – this is a band who wear their art school past clearly and obviously on their sleeves. But, except for a polyrhythmic interlude where the percussionists from Panico join them to provide Miami Vice-esque rim shots to a pretty standard pop punk tune, there is little evidence of their threatened forward direction that the band have riffed on in recent interviews.

Franz Ferdinand came to Cardiff, and saw, and rocked, for sure, but if they want their audience of mainly 20 and 30somethings to keep up with them, they’d better pull something other than scissor kicks out of the leftfield for their next album.

On this day Rufus Wainwright 27/6/2005

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On this day, 27 June 2005, American-Canadian singer, songwriter, and composer Rufus Wainwright played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

He has recorded nine albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set Shakespeare's sonnets to music for a theatre piece by Robert Wilson.

Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III.

His parents divorced when he was three, and he lived with his mother in Montreal for most of his youth.

His father is a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the 17th century Dutch governor of New Amsterdam, later New York. Wainwright has dual US and Canadian citizenship.

Setlist

Crumb by Crumb

Hometown Waltz

Vibrate

Grey Gardens

This Love Affair

The One You Love

Beautiful Child

Memphis Skyline

Beauty Mark

Little Sister

Dinner at Eight

I Don't Know What It Is

Pretty Things

California

On this day Paul McCartney 26/06/2010

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On this day, 26 June 2010, rock legend Paul McCartney played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on his Up and Coming tour. Support was provided by the Manic Street Preachers.

McCartney had announced shows for Europe, including his first appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival, and his first show in Cardiff, Wales in over three decades.

The tour required 31 trucks to transport all its equipment and employed a full-time crew of over 150 people to make it all work.

The total weight of all the tour's equipment was 125,000 pounds (57,000 kg).

The indoor concerts on the tour used 90 speakers, and the outdoor stadium shows used 130.

Backstage at each show there were 14 touring offices and dressing rooms.

The catering department served approximately 480 vegetarian meals a day to the crew.

The tour ended on 10 June 2011 with a show in Las Vegas.

“I’ve had my eye on it for a long time – since it was built. I’ve often said to my promoter, ‘What about Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium?’ but it’s always been booked. So it’s been a long-term ambition of mine.”

Paul McCartney

McCartney began the Millennium Stadium concert with Venus And Mars/Rock Show, before performing a mixture of Beatles, Wings and solo songs. He appeared in good spirits, thanking the crowd in Welsh (“Shw mae Cymru! Croeso Stadiwm y Mileniwm!”), spoke of how he and George Harrison had hitchhiked to Harlech as teenagers, and jokingly referred to Liverpool as the capital of Wales.

After performing Foxy Lady he spoke of his admiration for Jimi Hendrix, and how The Beatles had been flattered when Hendrix performed Sgt Pepper’s title track in concert. He paid tribute to Linda McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon, and performed ‘Paperback Writer’ using the Epiphone Casino which he had used to record it in 1966.

The setlist contained one extra surprise: an unscheduled performance of Ram On, in response to a placard request held up by an audience member. McCartney performed the song on George Harrison’s old ukulele prior to playing ‘Something’.