On This Day 03/10/1978 Ramones

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On this day, 3 October 1978, New York Punk legends the Ramones, played Cardiff University with support provided by The Snips.

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 02/10/1971 Van Der Graaf Generator

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On this day 2 October 1971, Prog Rock band Van Der Graaf Generator played the Cardiff Institute of Science and Technology on their Pawn Hearts Tour.

Pawn Hearts was the fourth album by the band, released in October 1971 on Charisma Records.

The original album features just three tracks, including the side-long suite "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers".

The album was not commercially successful in the UK, but reached number one in Italy. It has since seen retrospective critical praise and was reissued on CD in 2005 with extra material.

The songs for the album were worked out while on tour in 1971, with further development and arranging at manager Tony Stratton-Smith's house in Crowborough, Sussex over a two-month period.

The original plan had been to release more material, making up a double album, but Charisma vetoed the idea.

A non-album single, "Theme One" was included on some releases in the US and Canada. The album's strong commercial showing in Italy resulted in a number of lucrative promotional tours there, but the resulting pressure led to the band's split in August 1972.

Singer-songwriter Fish is a fan of the album, particularly of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" and Julian Cope has called the album "a masterpiece".

Peter Hammill has said, "although a fairly extreme musical statement, [the album] contains some of our most cohesive work".

Though the George Martin’s "Theme One" cover released from the album did not chart as a single in the UK , John Peel replaced Martin's original orchestral version with the group's before closing down Radio 1 each night.

The BBC subsequently carried on using Van der Graaf Generator's version. Martin enjoyed the group's cover, calling it "a powerful recording that respected the original".

On This Day 28/09/1981 Nazareth

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On this day, 28 September 1981, Scottish hard rock band Nazareth played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens on their The Fool Circle tour.

Formed in Dunfermline in 1968 that had several hits in the United Kingdom, as well as in several other Western European countries in the early 1970s.

They established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog, which featured their hits "Hair of the Dog" and a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts".

Inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Nazareth took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, which is cited in the first line of The Band's classic song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead...").

Tour Setlist

Telegram

Big Boy

(The Sensational Alex Harvey Band cover)

Hair of the Dog

Expect No Mercy

Shapes of Things

(The Yardbirds cover)

Love Hurts

(The Everly Brothers cover)

Tush

(ZZ Top cover)

Razamanaz

I Want To (Do Everything for You)

(Joe Tex cover)

Holiday

Heart's Grown Cold

Cocaine

(J.J. Cale cover)

Let Me Be Your Leader

Encore:

Dressed to Kill

Pop the Silo

.

On This Day 27/09/2003 Starsailor

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On this day, 27 September 2003, post Brit-pop band Starsailor played Cardiff University on their Silence Is Easy tour,

Formed in 2000, the band has included guitarist and vocalist James Walsh, drummer Ben Byrne, bassist James Stelfox and keyboardist Barry Westhead.

They are best known for their 2003 single "Silence Is Easy" which reached number 9 in the UK.

For their second album, Silence Is Easy, which was recorded in Los Angeles, Starsailor teamed up with Phil Spector (in what ended up being his final production work before his conviction of murder in 2009 and his death in 2021). The collaboration came about following Spector's daughter Nicole attending one of the band's American concerts in the winter of 2002.

Spector was reported to have been fascinated by "Lullaby", the band's fourth single. After meeting the producer, the band agreed to work with him on their second album. However, the collaboration was short-lived; sessions at London's Abbey Road proved difficult.

Spector is said to have proved difficult to work with. Only two tracks made the band's second album: the title track, "Silence Is Easy", and "White Dove".

The band co-produced seven of the other tracks with Danton Supple and former The Stone Roses and Radiohead producer John Leckie was brought in to oversee the recording of "Shark Food".

Setlist

Shark Food

Music Was Saved

Alcoholic

Poor Misguided Fool

Fidelity

Lullaby

Telling Them

Love Is Here

Four to the Floor

Born Again

Tie Up My Hands

Silence Is Easy

Encore:

Some of Us

Good Souls

On This Day 22/09/1993 The Smashing Pumpkins/The Verve

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On this day, 22 September 1993, American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins played Cardiff University on their Rock Invasion Tour

Support was provided by The Verve.

Formed in 1988 by frontman, guitarist and primary composer Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the band has undergone many line-up changes.

In July 1993 the band recently Siamese Dream, their second studio album which received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, with the album's musical influences and lyrical material standing out compared to other releases during the alternative rock and grunge movements of its time.

The album has since been considered "one of the finest alt-rock albums of all time".

Personnel:

• Billy Corgan

  D'arcy Wretzky

  James Iha

  Jimmy Chamberlin

Set:

"Geek U.S.A."

1. Quiet

2. Disarm

3. Today

4. "I Am One"

5. Hummer

6. Soma

7. Rocket

8. Mayonaise

9. Siva

10. "Cherub Rock"

11. Crush

12. Tristessa

13. "with \"Over the Rainbow\" and \"Jackboot\" teases"

14. Silverfuck

On This Day 21/09/1974 Roxy Music

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On this day, 21 September 1974, rock band Roxy Music played the first of two nights at Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. It was the first gig of their Country Life tour. They were supporetd by the Jess Roden Band.

The tour took them around Europe, Australia and USA where they were seen on USA TV's Midnight Special perfroming 'A Really Good Time' & 'Out Of The Blue'.

Country Life, peaked at number three on the UK albums chart.and was the first Roxy Music album to enter the US Top 40, albeit at No. 37.

Country Life was met with widespread critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone referring to it "as if Ferry ran a cabaret for psychotics, featuring chanteurs in a state of shock".

The cover image was controversial in some countries, including the United States and Spain, where it was censored for release. As a result, early releases in the US were packaged in opaque shrink wrap; a later American LP release of Country Life (available during the years 1975–80) featured a different cover shot. Instead of Karoli and Grunwald posed in front of some trees, the reissue used a photo from the album's back cover that featured only the trees. In Australia, the album was banned in some record stores, while others sold each copy inside a black plastic sleeve.

Author Michael Ochs has described the result as the "most complete cover-up in rock history".

Tour Musicians

Bryan Ferry - Vocals & Keyboards

Phil Manzanera - Guitars

Andy Mackay - Sax & Oboe

Paul Thompson - Drums

Eddie Jobson - Violin & Keyboards

John Wetton - Bass

Setlist

Prairie Rose

Beauty Queen

Mother of Pearl

All I Want Is You

A Song for Europe

Three and Nine

Out of the Blue

In Every Dream Home a Heartache

If It Takes All Night

If There Is Something

Street Life

Virginia Plain

Editions of You

Encore:

Do the Strand

On This Day 18/09/1991 Massacre

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On this day, 18 September 1991, American Death Metal rock band Massacre played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

In support were German Death Metal band Morgoth and American fellow rockers Immolation.

Massacre (briefly known as Massacre X and Gods of Death) formed in 1984 by Allen West, Bill Andrews, and Mike Borders, soon after vocalist Kam Lee joined.

The band has reunited several times with varying line-ups, most recently in late 2016.

Getting a deal with Earache records, They finally managing to release their 1991 debut album From Beyond, followed by an EP a year later (featuring Cronos of Venom).

On This Day 11/09/1975 Wings

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On this day, 11 September 1975, Paul McCartney’s Wings played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his band Wings (consisting of his wife Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English, together with a brass section led by Howie Casey) performed the third of 66 shows of the Wings Over the World tour at the Capitol Theatre in Cardiff Wales, following concerts at Southampton and Bristol.

The Wings Over the World tour was a series of concerts in 1975 and 1976 by the British–American rock band Wings performed in Britain, Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada. The North American leg constituted band leader Paul McCartney's first live performances there since the Beatles' final tour, in 1966, and the only time Wings would perform live in the US and Canada.

The world tour was well-attended and critically acclaimed, and resulted in a triple live album, Wings over America, released in December 1976. In addition, the tour was documented in the television film Wings Over the World (1979) and a cinema release, Rockshow (1980).

BAND Interview - https://youtu.be/oW8K_dn4AN4

Setlist:

1. Venus and Mars

2. Rock Show

3. Jet

4. Let Me Roll It

5. Spirits of Ancient Egypt

6. Little Woman Love

7. C Moon

8. Maybe I'm Amazed

   (Paul McCartney song)

9. Lady Madonna

   (The Beatles cover)

10. The Long and Winding Road

    (The Beatles cover)

11. Medicine Jar

12. Soily

13. Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)

14. Richard Cory

    (Simon & Garfunkel cover)

15. Bluebird

16. I've Just Seen a Face

    (The Beatles cover)

17. Blackbird

    (The Beatles cover)

18. Yesterday

    (The Beatles cover)

19. You Gave Me the Answer

20. Magneto and Titanium Man

21. Go Now

    (Bessie Banks cover)

22. Junior's Farm

23. Letting Go

24. Live and Let Die

25. Call Me Back Again

26. My Love

27. Listen to What the Man Said

28. Band on the Run

29. Hi, Hi, Hi