On This Day 08/09/1990 Sonic Youth

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On this day, 8 September 1990, Sonic Youth 8 Sept 1990 American rock band Sonic Youth played Cardiff University.

Formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the band,

Sonic Youth emerged from the experimental no wave art and music scene in New York before evolving into a more conventional rock band and becoming a prominent member of the American noise rock scene. Sonic Youth have been praised for having "redefined what rock guitar could do" using a wide variety of unorthodox guitar tunings while preparing guitars with objects like drum sticks and screwdrivers to alter the instruments' timbre. The band was a pivotal influence on the alternative and indie rock movements.

After gaining a large underground following and critical praise through releases with SST Records in the late 1980s, the band experienced mainstream success throughout the 1990's and 2000's after signing to major label DGC in 1990 and headlining the 1995 Lollapalooza festival. The band disbanded in 2011 following the separation and subsequent divorce of Gordon and Moore with their final live shows taking place in Brazil.

The members have since asserted that the band is finished and will not reunite.

Setlist

Tom Violence

Eric's Trip

Cinderella's Big Score

Stereo Sanctity

Kill Yr Idols

Tunic (Song for Karen)

Dirty Boots

The Bedroom

(I Got a) Catholic Block

Mary-Christ

Kool Thing

Encore:

White Kross

My Friend Goo

Titanium exposé

On This Day 07/09/1975 Santana

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On this day, 7 September 1975, American Latin-infused rock band Santana played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre with support provided by Earth, Wind and Fire. It was the band’s Borboletta Tour to promote their Borboletta album.

Formed in 1966 by the Mexican American guitarist Carlos Santana, which has performed for five decades.

The group's first concert tours were North America, with performances in Europe, where they performed at small and medium-size venues and rock festivals. Following a lineup change in early 1972, they toured the world from 1972 to 1973. During this tour, the band performed at arenas and theaters, while doing several concerts in South America, one of the first tours of the continent by a major American rock act. After a North American tour in 1974, the last remaining members of the group from their famous lineup, Michael Shrieve and José Areas, quit the group, and the band underwent multiple lineup changes during the following years. In the 1970s to the 1980s, the band played at arenas, but mostly theaters and seldom music festivals.

In the 1990s, the group lost their recording contract, but they continued to tour extensively throughout the decade, mostly playing at theaters and amphitheaters. However, the band ended the decade with the Supernatural Tour, a vehicle for their popular 1999 album Supernatural. The 177–date tour was a success with audiences and critics, and the group continued to perform within the 2000s. In the third quarter of 2010, Carlos Santana proposed to drummer Cindy Blackman after her solo on the song "Corazón Espinado", and she became an official member of the band in 2016. The group continues to tour the world to this day.

Tour band

Leon Patillo – lead vocals, piano, organ (through November 15, 1975)

Greg Walker – lead vocals, percussion (beginning December 4, 1975)

Carlos Santana – guitar, percussion, vocals

Tom Coster – Yamaha organ, Hammond organ, Minimoog, electric piano, percussion, vocals

David Brown – bass guitar

Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums

Armando Peraza – congas, percussion

Setlist

"Incident at Neshabur" (Gianquinto, Santana)

"Black Magic Woman" (Green)

"Gypsy Queen" (Szabó)

"Oye Como Va" (Puente)

"Let the Music Set You Free" (Coster, Patillo, David Rubinson, Santana)

"Time Waits for No One" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards)

"Samba Pa Ti" (Santana)

"Savor" (Areas, Brown, Michael Carabello, Rolie, Santana, Shrieve)

"Toussaint L'Ouverture" (Areas, Brown, Carabello, Rolie, Santana, Shrieve)

"Soul Sacrifice" (Santana, Rolie, Brown, Malone)

On This Day, 06/09/1983 Showaddywaddy

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On this day, 6 September 1983, rock ‘n’ revivalist band Showaddywaddy played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

The band was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of two groups, Choise (Dave Bartram, Trevor Oakes, Al James, and Romeo Challenger) and the Golden Hammers (Buddy Gask, Russ Field, Rod Deas, and Malcolm Allured), the latter often known simply as The Hammers.

They both played at the Fosse Way pub in Leicester, and soon discovered shared musical tastes. After playing together in jamming sessions, they joined together permanently, and Showaddywaddy were born.

This led to an eight-member band, with the unusual feature of having two vocalists, two drummers, two guitarists, and two bassists. The band's gig as professional musicians was at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate, Kent, on 1 September 1973. although the first gigs under the Showaddywady name were in 1972.

They had most of their biggest hits with covers of songs from the 1950s and the early 1960s. These included "Three Steps to Heaven" (originally by Eddie Cochran in 1960), "Heartbeat" (originally written and recorded by Buddy Holly), "Under the Moon of Love" (originally a US hit for Curtis Lee in 1961, again co-written by Tommy Boyce), "When" (originally by the Kalin Twins), "You Got What It Takes" (originally by Marv Johnson) and "Dancin' Party" (originally by Chubby Checker).

These six singles were all produced by Mike Hurst (a former member of the Springfields). On the South African chart, "Three Steps to Heaven" reached number 6 in 1975 and "Under the Moon of Love" number 6 in 1977

On This Day 05/09/2003 The Black Keys

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On this day, 5 September 2003, American rock band The Black Keys played Cardiff’s Barfly on their Thickfreakness tour.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001 the group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their records, before they eventually emerged as one of the most popular garage rock artists during a second wave of the genre's revival in the 2000s. The band's raw blues rock sound draws heavily from Auerbach's blues influences, including Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson.

Thickfreakness, the band’s second album was released on April 8, 2003, and received positive reviews from critics. The record spawned three singles: "Set You Free", "Hard Row", and a cover of Richard Berry's "Have Love, Will Travel". The other cover from the album was Junior Kimbrough's "Everywhere I Go".

Time later named Thickfreakness the third-best album of 2003. That year, the duo received a lucrative offer of £200,000 to license one of their songs for use in an English mayonnaise advertisement. At the suggestion of their manager, they rejected the offer for fear of being perceived as "sell-outs" and alienating their fan base.

The band toured extensively throughout 2003, playing its first dates outside of the United States and opening concerts for Sleater-Kinney, Beck, and Dashboard Confessional. However, exhaustion had set in by the end of the year, forcing the band to cancel European tour dates.

In August, the group made its national television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. As fellow garage band the White Stripes grew in popularity, the Black Keys drew comparisons to them—sometimes as a derivative act—since both groups had two-piece lineups, Midwest origins, bluesy sounds, and names with colors.

In September, the Black Keys released a split-EP with the Six Parts Seven titled The Six Parts Seven/The Black Keys EP, featuring one song by the Six Parts Seven and three songs by the Black Keys.

On This Day 04/09/2011 Public Enemy

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On this day, 4 September 2011, American hip hop legends Public Enemy played Cardiff University.

Formed by Chuck D and Flavor Flav on Long Island, New York, in 1985. The group came to attention for their political messages including subjects such as American racism and the American media.

Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, and their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), was the first hip hop album to top The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll.

Their next three albums, Fear of a Black Planet (1990), Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black (1991) and Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994), were also well received. The group has since released twelve more studio albums, including the soundtrack to the 1998 movie He Got Game and a collaborative album with Paris, Rebirth of a Nation (2006).

Public Enemy @ Cardiff University Solus

Nick Fisk

Back in the late 1980s/early 90s, there were three bands whose albums, without fail, always picked up a 10/10 in the NME – a mark rarely given. The bands in question were: The Pixies, REM and Public Enemy. Tonight, Public Enemy were in town to do a re-run of ‘Fear of a Black Planet’. I’ve seen a couple of these album performances now; whilst some bands just play the album through from track 1 to the end -or maybe jiggle the tracklisting a bit- Public Enemy in true revolutionary style, just played whatever the hell they wanted, cutting in classics from other albums at leisure.

The build up to this gig was filled with excitement from the time it was first announced a few months ago – incredibly, it was to be the group’s first ever show in Cardiff – right up until the moment the band hit the stage. Both warm up DJ and the support act got the crowd going, then a couple of members of the Public Enemy crew came onstage to further get the crowd into the party spirit. The album’s opening jam played before Chuck D, Flavor Flav and the whole band finally appeared to the sound of ‘Brothers Gonna Work It Out’: and the place literally ‘blew up’.

Any questions about whether Public Enemy are still relevant and whether this show would be much more than an entertaining hark back to the past were very quickly forgotten. The band’s stage presence has an impact that is the most captivating I have ever seen. Along with DJ Lord, the drummer, bassist and guitarist, the two main men are flanked on either side by members of the S1W team, who are all dressed in outfits that could be those of prisoners or members of the military. On the one hand, they’re mocking authority, but at the same time, there’s a look of such defiance that you almost think the revolution has just happened and these are the people who have taken over.

One crew member led the crowd in raising fists, and it did not seem to matter that this was by far a majority white crowd. The fact that the NME was one of the band’s biggest champions might well be one of the reasons for this, amongst a crowd of mostly hardened gig goers. The slogan on the back of this particular crew member’s t-shirt (7K, I think Chuck D introduced him as) read “Freedom is a road seldom travelled by the multitude,” and the solidarity expressed within the crowd was reassuring – this being a group of fans who were equally supportive, and free of prejudice.

Politics may well be one facet to the Public Enemy package, but fun is another factor in this, and any hip hop show. Flavor Flav is the fun provider, and gets the place jumping like the floor is on springs. Early on, he leads the crowd in a long cheer of “Woooah” (as if he’s about to do the Ayatollah, heh!). He also invites one audience member to the stage to join in with the words, and later swaps a t-shirt with a girl who’d got him a nice looking pocket watch as a present.

Surprisingly, Flavor also turns out to be a pretty adept musician, twanging away in one section on first the bass, before having a go on the drums. Meanwhile, the guitarist shows off by playing his instrument behind his head. We are also treated to the full force of DJ Lord’s scratching skills, after Flavor gives him an intro like a boxer entering the ring. For a good 5 minutes, he is literally on the “1s and 2s” as the 2 tracks on his decks seem to have just the words “one” and “two” on loops while he cuts and scratches between the two: this sequence is filmed by another crew member, and I would strongly advise checking it out on Youtube –you’ll be in for a treat. This showmanship is an indication that Public Enemy really are the number one hip hop band for a reason –they are all incredibly gifted musicians.

The quality of the songs seals the band’s reputation as being the greatest hip hop act. Along with the best of ‘Fear of a Black Planet’, they play classics like ‘Bring The Noise’ and ‘Don’t Believe The Hype’, as well as more recent song ‘Harder Than You Think’, which was a highlight for me. If there was just one negative aspect on the night, it was the fuss made over a half empty plastic bottle being thrown onto the stage. OK, we had been asked prior to the start not to throw things on stage, but sending security into the crowd to try to deal with the perpetrator was a little excessive I thought, and for a moment I sensed it was a case of using the same heavy handed control which the band purport to oppose. But this was over quickly, and fairly soon after the show drew to a close. Flavor led the crowd into raising our hands once more; this time in a victory salute, then got us all to repeat the word “Peace,” and that was it: a strangely quiet ending.  The band had come onstage with a bang, and left in peace.

There was no encore, but during the unofficial after party at Buffalo, some of the band made an appearance -which is rare. For me, this along with meeting the guy with the cool Public Enemy tattoo, turned a top notch evening into an eleven out of ten performance.

On This Day 03/09/2011 Dolly Parton

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On this day, 3 September 2011, American Country Legend Dolly Parton played the first of two nights at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on her Better Day World Tour.

It was the tenth concert tour by Dolly Parton. Visiting North America, Europe and Australia, the tour supported her 41st studio album, Better Day. With nearly 275,000 tickets sold, and an overall gross of $34 million, it is Parton's most successful tour.

Cardiff Review - Guardian

As women in pink Stetsons and high heels take their seats, Dolly Parton totters on stage in a tight white dress that exaggerates every curve. There is polite pandemonium. Her face and frame may be triumphs of Botox and collagen, but her voice is as pure as mountain air as she launches into a version of Walking on Sunshine. She does a little hoedown, and her enthusiasm is infectious. She would make an excellent primary school teacher. "We need to feel good," she declares, and you think, "Yes, Miss Parton, we do."

The anecdotes are often longer than the songs. And they are all meticulously rehearsed to sound off-the-cuff, such as the one about the red-haired girl who tried to steal her husband that prefaces Jolene.

There is a bluegrass medley, complete with yee-haws and yodelay-heehoos, that includes Dueling Banjos and numerous references to her being a country girl. Parton reminisces about growing up as one of 12 children in poverty in the Tennessee mountains, and it sounds like an episode of The Waltons, so full is it of folksy charm and homespun homilies. She sits on a quilt to tell a story about a coat made for her from scraps by her "Mama" as images appear on the screen of a sepia shack. As her voice cracks, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. When she picks up a shiny saxophone and asks, "How did I get one of these from such humble beginnings?" you think, "Enough of the protestations of poverty!"

Behind the sentiment and shtick, there are dollops of ersatz country – but this is more of a generic US pop-rock sound than it is the real thing. Nevertheless, Parton is a respected songwriter, and pens most of her own material. When she plays tracks from her new album, Better Day, on an acoustic guitar it reminds you that she was a serious musician and ambassador for Americana before she became a figure of cartoon-country fun.

After a 20-minute interval, Parton reappears in a red sequinned jump-suit ("It costs a lot of money to look this cheap," she jokes), and after dispensing with 2001's Little Sparrow, which is as arrestingly solemn and sparse as a traditional folk tune, she cranks out the hits that people have paid to hear. Here You Come Again gets everyone on their feet, and Islands in the Stream keeps them there.

As the singer makes her final assault with I Will Always Love You, infused with country-gospel fervour, and 9 to 5, sung against a glitzy apocalypse of a Las Vegas backdrop, it occurs to you just how strange this self-styled Backwoods Barbie – equal parts Lady Gaga and Loretta Lynn – really is.

Setlist

"Walking on Sunshine" (contains excerpts from "Shine Like the Sun")

"Better Get to Livin'"

"Jolene"

"Rocky Top"

"Mule Skinner Blues"

"Help!"

"Shine"

"Stairway to Heaven"

"My Tennessee Mountain Home"

"Precious Memories"

"Coat of Many Colors"

"Smoky Mountain Memories"

"Son of a Preacher Man"

"Better Day"

"Together You and I"

"Holding Everything"

"Joyful Noise"

"He Will Take You Higher" (contains excerpts from "I Want to Take You Higher")

"He's Everything"

"White Limozeen"

"The Best of Both Worlds"

"The Sacrifice"

"In the Meantime"

"Little Sparrow"

"River Deep – Mountain High"

"Here You Come Again

"Islands in the Stream"

"9 to 5"

Encore

"I Will Always Love You"

"Light of a Clear Blue Morning"

On This Day 02/09/2007 Plain White T’s

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On this day, 2 September 2007, American rock bandPlain White T’s played Cardiff’s Barfly.

From Lombard, Illinois, formed in 1997 by high school friends Tom Higgenson, Dave Tirio, and Ken Fletcher, and joined a short time later by Steve Mast. The group had a mostly underground following in Chicago basements, clubs, and bars in its early years.

The band had a number-one hit song with "Hey There Delilah", which achieved platinum status in 2007 and earned two Grammy nominations. Its songs "1234" and "Rhythm of Love" were certified platinum in 2009 and 2011.

The 2005 release, All That We Needed, was the first studio album from the reformed line-up, and featured the single "Hey There Delilah". In 2006 the band signed to Hollywood Records and recorded Every Second Counts, featuring a new version of "Hey There Delilah" with a string section.

Every Second Counts was released in September 2006. That same year, "Hey There Delilah" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks. The song was written for the track star Delilah DiCrescenzo, whom Higgenson had met in 2002. The song received two Grammy nominations, and Every Second Counts was certified gold. In early 2006, the band teamed up with Motion City Soundtrack for a winter/spring tour.

On This Day 01/09/1978 The Pop Group

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On this day, 1 September 1978, rock band The Pop Group played Cardiff Top Rank supporting American singer Patti Smith.

The Pop Group was formed in 1977 in Bristol when teenager Mark Stewart set out to start a funk group with schoolmates John Waddington and Simon Underwood.

Inspired by the energy of punk rock but feeling the style to be too conservative, the group drew influence from the avant-garde, black music styles such as free jazz and dub, and radical political traditions.

Guitarist Gareth Sager and drummer Bruce Smith were eventually added to the group. Soon after forming, they began to gain notoriety for their live performances and were signed to Radar Records. They appeared on the cover of the NME.

The band donated the proceeds from their first high-profile tour to Amnesty International. They issued their debut single "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" in March 1979 and their debut album Y in April of that year, both to acclaim. Regardless, their moderate success was sufficient to convince Rough Trade to sign the band. During this period, Dan Catsis replaced Underwood on bass.

The band's career with Rough Trade began with the release of the single "We Are All Prostitutes." This was followed by the release of their second album For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? (1980). Shortly afterwards the Pop Group released a split single, "Where There's a Will...", with the Slits, a band with whom they shared a drummer (Bruce Smith) and manager Dick O'Dell.

The band's last live performance was in 1980 to a crowd of 500,000 people at Trafalgar Square as part of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament protest. They split in 1981 after legal wranglings and internal disagreements.

Members of the group collaborated and joined bands such as Pigbag, Maximum Joy, Head, the Slits and Rip Rig + Panic, the latter notable for the involvement of Neneh Cherry. Stewart subsequently embarked on a solo career and went on to collaborate with Adrian Sherwood and On-U Sound, prior to a series of albums on Mute Records.