On This Day 14/04/1998 Yes

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On this day, 14 April 1998, prog rock giants Yes played Cardiff International Arena on their Open Your Eyes and 30th Anniversary Tour.

Open Your Eyes is the seventeenth studio album by the English rock band Yes, released in November 1997 by Eagle Records in the UK and by Beyond Music in the US. Following the 1996 revival of the 1970s "classic" line-up of Yes, the band's relationship with management had broken down and keyboardist Rick Wakeman had once again left the band.

While various other members dispersed, guitarist, keyboardist, and producer Billy Sherwood (a long-time Yes associate and contributor) began developing new songs with band bassist and de facto leader Chris Squire to prevent the band from losing momentum and fully splitting.

Yes' new management company suggested adding a couple of songs originally written for Squire and Sherwood's other band Conspiracy to help build up material for a new Yes studio album. With the writing and production sessions dominated by Squire and Sherwood, and with singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White only involved later in the process, the writing and creative input of the latter three members was limited.

Open Your Eyes received mixed reviews from music critics and became one of the band's lowest selling albums, reaching number 151 on the US Billboard 200 and failing to enter the UK Albums Chart. Its lead single, "Open Your Eyes", reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart which was followed by a second, "New State of Mind".

A limited edition with a surround sound mix was also released. Yes supported the album with a 12-month world tour from October 1997 that coincided with their thirtieth anniversary. The band were joined by Russian keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, who had played on the album as a guest musician and who became a full-time member at the tour's conclusion.

Lineup:

Jon Anderson – vocals

Steve Howe – guitars, vocals

Billy Sherwood – guitars, vocals

Chris Squire – bass, vocals

Alan White – drums, percussion

plus: Igor Khoroshev – keyboards, vocals

On This Day 13/04/1976 Judas Priest

On this day, 13 April 1976, heavy metal rock band Judas Priest played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their Sad Wings Of Destiny tour.

Formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million copies of their albums, and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time.

Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with indifferent record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when they rose to commercial success with the album British Steel.

In March 1976, the band released their second studio album Sad Wings Of Destiny, recorded at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, S. Wales.

It is considered the album on which Judas Priest consolidated their sound and image, and songs from it such as "Victim of Changes" and "The Ripper" have since become live standards. It was the band's only album to feature drummer Alan Moore.

Noted for its riff-driven sound and the wide range of Rob Halford's vocals, the album displays a wide variety of styles, moods and textures, inspired by an array of groups such as Queen, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath

On This Day 12/04/2010 Chapel Club

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On this day, 12 April 2010, indie-synth band Chapel Club played Cardiff’s Barfly.

Initially named Palace, the newly formed five-piece began rehearsing and gigging around London. As another band was already using the name Palace, the band changed their name to Golden Age before they stopped gigging to focus on writing and recording.

In August 2009, the band recorded 'Surfacing' with US producer Chris Zane at Strongrooms Studio in Shoreditch, London. With their debut single finally recorded, the band, having struggled to choose a new name for the band, settled on Chapel Club, inspired by Bowman's interest in religion and religious imagery and by the proximity of the band's rehearsal space to St. Luke's Church on London's Old Street. The single was scheduled for release in October through their management's label East City Records, however despite being named BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Record in the World' and gaining radio play on stations including BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6Music, XFM and NME Radio, the single was cancelled due to a copyright issue regarding the chorus lyrics from the song "Dream a Little Dream of Me". The copyright wrangle was later resolved with the original song's publisher, allowing the band to release the song in the future.

Autumn 2009 saw Chapel Club's first gigs under their new name, as they hosted their own residency at the Shacklewell Arms pub in Dalston, London. The gigs attracted significant media attention that led to interest from several independent and major record labels. In November 2009 and after just 3 gigs under their new name, the band signed with Universal Records imprint Polydor.

The band denied press reports that they had signed for large amounts of cash, claiming that their deal favoured creative control and long-term commitment over financial reward. In the same month, the band recorded 'O Maybe I' with Claudius Mittendorfer, at Atomic Heart Studios in New York. The song was recorded and produced in a day and a half. The single, now serving as the band's debut single, was released in February 2010 on Polydor on 7" and digitally via the band's own website. The single was named Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Record in the World' as well as 'Record of the Week' on Steve Harris' XFM show.

In April 2010, having tried out several producers, the band began work on their debut album with Paul Epworth at The Pool in South London. The album sessions produced a further eight tracks, including follow up single, 'Five Trees' which was released in May 2010 entered the NME chart at number six. The album was mixed and mastered in June, but release was delayed due to Polydor wanting the band to go out on tour to build up a fanbase first.

On This Day 11/04/2015 East India Youth

On this day, 11 April 2015, musician William Doyle played Clwb Ifor Bach as East India Youth on their Culture of Volume tour.

Doyle released his first solo album, Born in the USB, in 2009, and was the leader of the indie pop group Doyle and the Fourfathers, whose sole studio album Man Made was released in 2011. His debut album as East India Youth, Total Strife Forever, was released by Stolen Recordings on 13 January 2014. It was nominated for the 2014 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize Album of the Year award, as well as the Independent Album of the Year award at the 2014 AIM Independent Music Awards.

The name East India Youth derived from the East India Docks area in East London, where Doyle lived during the writing of Total Strife Forever, an album influenced by Tim Hecker, Brian Eno and Harold Budd. And the Youth part: "That's because this place was the start of something new for me; I was creatively reborn".The flat he shared was also colloquially known as the "youth hostel", owing to friends – and friends of friends – staying over on a regular basis. It's for this reason his first EP was titled Hostel.

On 27 January 2015, it was announced that Doyle had signed with XL Recordings and that his second album would be called Culture of Volume. The album was released on 6 April 2015; the name of the album comes from a fragment of verse from the poem "Monument" by Rick Holland.

On 19 February 2016, Doyle announced that he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from his East India Youth moniker. In a lengthy post published on his website, Doyle stated that it was time to take a break from the project and no more shows are planned for the foreseeable future.

On this Day 10/04/1989 Victor Borge

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On this day, 10 April 1989, Danish and American actor, comedian, and pianist Victoria Borge played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

He achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nicknames "The Clown Prince of Denmark," “The Unmelancholy Dane," and "The Great Dane."

Borge appeared on Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan several times during 1948. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States the same year. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on 2 October 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show in the history of theater with 849 performances when it closed on 21 January 1956, a feat which placed it in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Continuing his success with tours and shows, Borge played with and conducted orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic.He appeared with the Cleveland Opera Company in Mozart's The Magic Flute in 1979 and at London's Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Bizet's Carmen in 1986. Always modest, he felt honored when he was invited to conduct the Royal Danish Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1992.

On This Day 09/04/1999 Pitchshifter

On this day, 9 April 1999, English industrial rock band from Nottingham, Pitchshifter , played Cardiff International Arena University. Also on the bill were Janus Stark and Soundisciples.

The band was started by lead guitarist and programmer Johnny A. Carter, and bassist and vocalist Mark Clayden. The band's early material was characterized for its gritty industrial metal sound with downtuned guitars and the use of drum machines, and has been cited as one of the originators of the genre along with Godflesh.

With later albums the group's music became increasingly more melodic and strongly influenced by nu metal and drum and bass; particularly evident of their 1998 release www.pitchshifter.com, which has been compared with groups like The Prodigy.

Although Pitchshifter has found little mainstream success, the band managed to gain a platinum certification with the release of the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation soundtrack. Since its formation, the band has released six studio albums, three EPs and eight music videos. The band has played in various festivals around the world including Ozzfest, Phoenix Festival and Damnation Festival.

On This Day 08/04/1997 Eternal

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On this day, 8 April 1997, R’n’B girl band Eternal played Cardiff International Arena on their Before The Rain tour.

formed in 1992, with the line-up originally consisting of sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, with Kéllé Bryan and the latter's friend and classmate Louise Nurding (later and better known as Louise Redknapp), who were also recruited into the group by the label.

The group became an international success, selling around 10 million records worldwide. Nurding left the group before the release of their second album to focus on her solo career with the same label.

Following Nurding's departure, the group decided not to replace her and carried on as a trio. Power of a Woman was the first album as a trio, and entered the UK chart at number six. It produced four hit singles, "Power of a Woman", "I Am Blessed" (which they performed for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1995), a remixed version of "Good Thing" and a remixed version of "Secrets". All continued Eternal's tally of Top 10 UK hits.

In 1997, Eternal achieved their first ever UK number one, a duet with BeBe Winans, "I Wanna Be the Only One", which became the second most played song on UK Radio in 1997, and stayed at the top spot for one week. It was taken from their third album Before the Rain, which also included "Don't You Love Me". The album peaked at number three in the UK.

Eternal's Greatest Hits package was released in the latter part of 1997, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart and becoming the highest-selling hits package of the year. In 2013, Eternal's Greatest Hits was confirmed as being the biggest selling best-of album by a girl group in the UK. It featured their last top-10 single "Angel of Mine", which reached number four. "Angel of Mine" became an EP that featured four different mixes, including a remix by veteran party producer Frankie Cutlass and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's track "Dreams" featuring Grand Puba and Sadat X.

On This Day, 07/04/1989 The Commodores

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The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in November 1972, having first caught the public eye opening for the Jackson 5 while on tour.

The band's biggest hit singles are ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", and "Nightshift"; and funk-influenced dance songs, including "Brick House", "Fancy Dancer", "Lady (You Bring Me Up)", and "Too Hot ta Trot".

Commodores were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The band has also won one Grammy Award out of nine nominations. The Commodores have sold over 70 million albums worldwide.

The group gradually abandoned its funk roots and moved into the more commercial pop arena. In 1984, former Heatwave singer James Dean "J.D." Nicholas assumed co-lead vocal duties with drummer Walter Orange.

That line-up was hitless until 1985 when their final Motown album Nightshift, produced by Dennis Lambert (prior albums were produced by James Anthony Carmichael, who would continue to work with Richie on his albums), delivered the title track "Nightshift", a loving tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, both of whom had died the previous year. "Nightshift" hit no. 3 in the US and won the Commodores their first Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals in 1985.