On This Day 22/07/2008 Michael Buble

On this day, 22 July 2008, Canadian crooner Michael Buble played Cardiff’s International Arena promoting third studio album, Call Me Irresponsible. released the previous year with Buble on a worldwide tour.

Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records and credits his grandfather in encouraging his love for jazz music. "My grandfather was really my best friend growing up. He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation.

“Although I like rock and roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened. The lyrics were so romantic, so real, the way a song should be for me. It was like seeing my future flash before me. I wanted to be a singer and I knew that this was the music that I wanted to sing.”

On This Day 21/07/2010 Pet Shop Boys

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On this day, 21 July 2010, synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys played Cardiff International Arena on their Pandemonium tour.

The Pandemonium Tour was a worldwide concert tour by British pop duo Pet Shop Boys in support of their tenth studio album Yes. The tour visited Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Yes debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 27,639 copies, the duo's highest-placing album since Bilingual (1996). Early sales figures predicted that the album would enter at number one, but its release was beset by distribution problems and Yes proved unable to hold onto its midweek position.

The download version erroneously went on sale through the iTunes Store three days before its official release date, rendering 2,500 sales ineligible for the chart, while, the following week, a number of suppliers of the physical album reported stock level problems.

The closing track "Legacy" was subject to censorship in China for political sensitivity reasons, as it contains the lyric "governments fall". The song was changed to an instrumental.

Setlist

More Than a Dream

Heart

Did You See Me Coming?

Pandemonium

Can You Forgive Her?

Love etc.

Integral

Building a Wall

Paninaro

Go West

(Village People cover)

Two Divided by Zero

Why Don't We Live Together?

New York City Boy

You Were Always on My Mind

(Gwen McCrae cover)

Closer to Heaven

Left to My Own Devices

Do I Have To?

King's Cross

The Way It Used to Be

Jealousy

Suburbia

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

All Over the World

Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)

Discoteca

Domino Dancing

Viva la Vida

(Coldplay cover)

It's a Sin

Encore:

Being Boring

West End Girls

On This Day 20/07/2005 Dogs

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On this day, 20 July 2005, post-punk-influenced indie rock band Dogs played Cardiff’s Barfly.

Their first album, Turn Against This Land, released on 19 September 2005, was recorded at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall, produced by John Cornfield. It was released by Island Records and received critical acclaim from the UK press. It contained the singles "London Bridge/End of an Era" (double A-side), "Tuned to a Different Station" and "Selfish Ways", each charting in the UK chart top 40. Dogs returned during 2007, under Weekender Records, with three singles: "Soldier On", followed by "This Stone Is a Bullet" and thirdly "Dirty Little Shop", released on 18 June 2007. The song "Chained to No-One" was released at the end of 2007 as a download-only single.

The band released their second album, Tall Stories from Under the Table on 25 June 2007. On 19 November 2008, it was announced that original drummer, Rich Mitchell had left the band amicably to join the band Chapel Club and a replacement found in Paul Warren. On 18 August 2009, it was announced that rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist, Luciano Vargas, had left the band amicably to pursue a family lifestyle. Luciano's replacement was found in rhythm guitarist Kevin Iverson, previously frontman of the band Springtide Cavalry. Iverson announced in December 2010 that he would be leaving Dogs for personal reasons.

The band released an EP on 14 June 2010, entitled We Are The Dogs, released independently without any label or PR output. Also, in early 2011, Dogs released a free seven track EP through their Facebook page entitled Fly Like Eagles.

On 21 June 2011, lead singer Johnny Cooke announced that the band were separating via a message on their official forum.

On This Day 19/07/2002 Iggy Pop

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On this day, 19 July 2002, iconic American rocker Iggy Pop played Cardiff’s Cooper’s Field. Iggy was special guest to headliners Green Day.

He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited many times since. Often called the "Godfather of Punk", he was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Stooges. Pop also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 for his solo work.

Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll (progressing later towards more experimental and aggressive rock), the Stooges sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances, which often involved acts of self-mutilation by Pop. He had a long collaborative relationship and friendship with David Bowie over the course of his career, beginning with the Stooges' album Raw Power in 1973.

Although Pop has had limited commercial success, he has remained a culture icon and a significant influence on a wide range of musicians in numerous genres. The Stooges' album Raw Power has proved an influence on artists such as Sex Pistols, the Smiths, and Nirvana. His solo album The Idiot has been cited as a major influence on a number of post-punk, electronic and industrial artists including Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Joy Division, and was described by Siouxsie Sioux as a "re-affirmation that our suspicions were true: the man is a genius."

On This Day 16/07/1990 Rolling Stones

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On this day, 16 July 1990, legendary rockers the Rolling Stones played Cardiff’s National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park, on their Urban Jungle tour. The concert was original to be played on the 11 July but Keith Richards had injured a finger and therefore the concert was postponed until 16th July.

These would be the last live concerts for the band with original member Bill Wyman on bass guitar. This tour would also be the longest the band had ever done up to that point, playing over twice as many shows as their standard tour length from the 1960s and 1970s.

Review - South Wales Echo

The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion

Keith Richards – guitar, vocals

Ronnie Wood – guitar

Bill Wyman – bass guitar

Charlie Watts – drums

Additional musicians

Matt Clifford – keyboards, backing vocals, percussion, French horn

Bobby Keys – saxophone

Chuck Leavell – keyboards, backing vocals and musical director

Bernard Fowler – backing vocals, percussion

Lorelei McBroom – backing vocals

Sophia Jones – backing vocals

The Uptown Horns

Arno Hecht – saxophone

Bob Funk – trombone

Crispin Cioe – saxophone

Paul Litteral – trumpet

On This Day 15/07/1993 INXS

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On this day, 17 July 1993, Australian rock band INXS played Cardiff University on their Get Out Of The House tour.

The band were soon to release Full Moon, Dirty Heart, their ninth studio album which peaked at no 3 in the UK album charts.

When vocalist Michael Hutchence visited then girlfriend Helena Christensen in her home city of Copenhagen in Denmark. Hutchence got into a scuffle with a taxi driver.

The incident started when a drunken Hutchence refused to move off the road to allow the taxi to pass. The taxi driver got out of his vehicle and punched Hutchence causing him to fall onto the pavement.

The singer sustained a fractured skull due to the fall and as a result suffered a loss of his sense of smell and taste. The singer spent two weeks recovering in a Copenhagen hospital.

In the unofficial biography Michael Hutchence: A Tragic Rock & Roll Story, Australian author Vince Lovegrove wrote, "It had a very strange effect on Michael. The alleged injury also caused the singer to act erratically, abusively and to suffer insomnia".

Although temporary, these conditions would have an effect during the production of Full Moon, Dirty Hearts.

Setlist

Communication

Days of Rust

The Gift

The Loved One

(The Loved Ones cover)

Taste It

Need You Tonight

Mediate

Full Moon, Dirty Hearts

Please (You Got That...)

Suicide Blonde

I Send a Message

All Around

What You Need

New Sensation

Kick

Devil Inside

Heaven Sent

Encore:

Time

Mystify

Don't Change

On This Day 14/07/1996 Toto

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On this day, 14 July 1996, American rock band Toto played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. The band were part of the bill supporting singer Tina Turner.

Formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Toto combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.

In 1995 Toto recorded Tambu, their first album with Simon Phillips, which saw the band back with CBS (now Sony). A departure from Toto's sound of the late 1970s and 1980s, Tambu was a very organic release and featured the single "I Will Remember", which received moderate radio play. Other singles released were "Drag Him To The Roof" and "The Turning Point". Tambu also featured John James and Jenny Douglas-McRae as backup singers on some of the tracks. Douglas-McRae even sang lead on the album's bonus track, "Blackeye", and also in a duet with Steve Lukather on "Baby He's Your Man". Tambu sold 600,000 copies worldwide.[citation needed]

The "Tambu Tour" proved to be another success, although there were no North American dates. Simon Phillips suffered from a back problem, so Gregg Bissonette had to fill in for him during the first leg of the tour in late 1995. The tour concluded in 1996. The rest of the tour personnel remained the same, with the exception of Donna McDaniel who had left in 1994 shortly after the "Night of the Proms" performances (which Douglas-McRae had missed since she was out touring with Joe Cocker). The song "Hold the Line" was now sung as a duet between James and Douglas-McRae.[31] Both James and Douglas-McRae were dropped from the band at the conclusion of the 1997 tour.

Lukather released his second solo album, Luke, which was a more "introspective" album than his previous solo album.

On This Day 13/07/1966 The Creation

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On this day, 13 July 1966, English rock band The Creation played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

Formed in 1966, their best-known songs are "Making Time", which was one of the first rock songs to feature a guitar played with a bow, and "Painter Man", which made the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached No. 8 on the German chart in April 1967. It was covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the No. 10 position on the UK chart. "Making Time" was used in the film Rushmore, and as the theme song from season 2 onwards of The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Most of the members of what would eventually become Creation were initially members of The Mark Four, a British beat group based in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. By late 1963 The Mark Four was a quintet consisting of Kenny Pickett (vocals), Eddie Phillips (guitars), Mick "Spud" Thompson (rhythm guitars), John Dalton (bass), and Jack Jones (drums). This lineup played regularly in the UK and in Germany before issuing two non-charting singles for Philips’ Mercury Records, "Rock Around The Clock" and "Try It Baby" in 1964.

Dalton then left the band. He later joined The Kinks as a replacement for Pete Quaife before being replaced by new bassist Tony Cooke. Around the same time, Thompson left the band and was not replaced. This Mark Four lineup issued two further non-charting singles: "Hurt Me If You Will" (Decca, August 1965) and "Work All Day (Sleep All Night)" (Fontana, February 1966).

In April 1966, the group signed a management deal with Tony Stratton Smith. He promptly suggested replacing Cooke with new bassist Bob Garner (previously of the Tony Sheridan Band), and a name change. The band took him up on both suggestions: it was Pickett who came up with the name The Creation, based on a reference he found in a book of Russian poetry.