On This Day 31/12/1999 Manic Street Preachers

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On this day, 31 December 1999, Manic Street Preachers played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium with support provided by a Welsh lineup of Super Furry Animals, Feeder plus Shack.

For the Manic Street Preachers it was the biggest gig of their career when they heralded in a new century at the Millennium Stadium in front of a sellout crowd.

Bassist Nicky Wire said of the importance of the gig: “Ten years ago we did a gig in Cardiff to two people. Today we’re playing in front of 60,000 people. I think that shows how far we’ve come, how far we have grown and how much Wales has grown.”

Setlist

Part 1: 1999

You Stole the Sun From My Heart

Faster

Everything Must Go

Tsunami

The Masses Against the Classes

The Everlasting

Kevin Carter

La tristesse durera (Scream to a Sigh)

Rock and Roll Music

(Chuck Berry cover)

Ready for Drowning

Of Walking Abortion

No Surface All Feeling

Motown Junk

(Baby Love Intro)

Motorcycle Emptiness

Part 2: 2000

Can't Take My Eyes Off You

(Frankie Valli cover) (Acoustic)

Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

(Acoustic)

Australia

Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

You Love Us

Stay Beautiful

If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

A Design for Life

On This Day 20/12/1999 Super Furry Animals

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On this day, 20 December 1999, Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals played Cardiff International Arena on their Guerrilla tour. Support was provided by Big Leaves, Daddy G & 3D (Massive Attack DJs) and Howard Marks.

In 1999, NME readers named them 'best new band' in January (this despite the fact it was now three years since they released their debut album). In May, the single "Northern Lites" was released and made No. 11 in the charts. A dense production, with steel drums clattering out a calypso rhythm whilst Rhys sang an irreverent lyric about the El Niño-Southern Oscillation weather phenomenon, it was an apt taster for the new album, Guerrilla.

Recorded at the Real World Studios, the album retained SFA's pop melodies but took a less guitar-centric approach to their execution and was their most experimental work to date. Layers of samples over brass, percussion and Gruff's melodic singing produced an album which took the freewheeling approach of 1960s groups such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Velvet Underground and updated it to the late 1990s. The album swung from glam and garage rock numbers ("Night Vision", "The Teacher") to novelty techno ("Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)"), ambient indietronica ("Some Things Come From Nothing") and upbeat drum and bass ("The Door To This House Remains Open"). For the cover art, Pete Fowler created the band's first three-dimensional models, rather than the paintings he had supplied for the Radiator album and singles.

After playing several of the summer festivals, SFA released "Fire in My Heart", the most soulful track from Guerrilla, in August and saw it chart at No. 25. They then embarked on a US and UK tour. SFA finished their UK tour at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, where they showcased the first ever concert in surround sound and broadcast it on the World Wide Web.

Setlist

Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)

Bad Behaviour

The Teacher

Do or Die

Something 4 the Weekend

She's Got Spies

The Door to This House Remains Open

The Turning Tide

Northern Lites

Play It Cool

The International Language of Screaming

God! Show Me Magic

Some Things Come From Nothing

Fire in My Heart

Hometown Unicorn

Calimero

Demons

Mountain People

Night Vision

Ice Hockey Hair

Encore:

The Man Don't Give a Fuck

On This Day 04/09/1972 Guto Pryce

Born 4 September 1972 Guto Pryce is a Welsh musician best known as bass guitar player and songwriter in the band Super Furry Animals.

With them he has recorded nine UK Albums Chart Top 25 studio albums, plus numerous singles, EPs, compilations and collaborations. Pryce also records and performs with several other musical acts including his band Gulp.

He is part of the era of Welsh music prominence known as Cool Cymru.

Born in Cardiff, Pryce was in the Welsh-language band U Thant with his brother Iwan Pryce, Huw Bunford (also later of Super Furry Animals), Owen Powell (later of Catatonia) and others in a changing line-up, from 1989 to 1993. He recorded with Catatonia on their first two EPs before Super Furry Animals formed in 1993.

Working with dub and reggae label Trojan Records, Pryce put together a compilation Furry Selection: Luxury Cuts Of Trojan Chosen by a Super Furry Animal in 2007.

In 2008 Pryce recorded The Golden Mile with The Peth, a group which features Welsh actor Rhys Ifans on vocals, Super Furry Animals bandmate Dafydd Ieuan, Meilyr Gwynedd, Osian Gwynedd, Mick Hilton, Dic Ben and Kris Jenkins.

Under the band name The Stand, Pryce joined Welsh actor Jonny Owen, Owen Powell (formerly of Catatonia) and Ryan Richards of Funeral for a Friend to record a fundraising single "I'll Be There" in 2010. Stuart Cable of Stereophonics was involved in the project prior to his death. Proceeds from sales went to a fund to erect a statue of the footballer Fred Keenor on the Cardiff City F.C. grounds.

The song was adapted from the original written during the coal miner's General Strike of 1926 and often sung by Cardiff City fans. Pryce had previously shown his support for the team when the Super Furry Animals signed on as sponsors in 1999, with the band's name displayed on team jerseys.