On This Day 20/12/1988 The Proclaimers

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On this day, 20 December 1988, Scottish duo The Proclaimers played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall. The band had just released their second album Sunshine on Leith.

Sunshine on Leith marked a departure from the minimalist acoustics of the group's 1987 debut This Is the Story, toward a rock-oriented full band sound, backed by members of the Fairport Convention and Dexys Midnight Runners.

Review - South Wales Echo

The album's sound draws heavily from American music, such as country and 1950s rock and roll, with homages to the duo's own Scottish culture. The album was a major worldwide hit, particularly in Australia where it was described as the band's "biggest success", reaching No. 2 in the ARIA Charts and being 1989's 12th highest-seller.

The album peaked at No. 3 and No. 6 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom respectively, while also charting in Canada and Sweden, ultimately selling over 2 million copies worldwide, including over 700,000 in the USA.

On This Day 19/12/1994 The Cult

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On this day, 19 December 1994, rock band The Cult played Cardiff’s Astoria on their Beauty is on the Streets tour.

The band had just released their sixlth studio album The Cult on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the US. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover.

The record also features one of the very rare times when Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have shared songwriting credit with anyone: bassist Craig Adams is credited as co-author of "Universal You".

Vocalist Ian Astbury referred to the record as "very personal, and very revealing" songs about his life, with the subject matter ranging from sexual abuse at the age of 15, to the death of Nigel Preston (friend and former drummer for The Cult), to his directionless years spent in Glasgow in the late 1970s. But the record was barely noticed, only reaching US#69, and UK#21, and then quickly dropping out of sight.

Reportedly it reached number one on the charts in Portugal, but quickly dropped out of sight as well. The single "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)" (UK#51) was released with the band going on tour in support of the new album. Only one more single, "Star" (UK#65), was officially released. That song began life in 1986 as "Tom Petty" before being dropped by the band during rehearsals. In 1993 the song was resurrected once again as "Starchild", and was finally completed for the record in 1994 as, just simply, "Star".

On This Day 18/12/2014 Decade

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On this day, 18 December 2014, rock band Decade played Cardiff University on their All Signs Point to Britain tour.

Formed in 2009, the band consists of lead vocalist Alex Sears, guitarist Joe Marriner, guitarist and backing vocalist Connor Fathers and bassist Harry Norton. Encapsulated by the locution 'Loud quiet happy sad', Decade currently have two studio albums, Good Luck and Pleasantries, a self-titled EP as well as an EP they pretend does not exist.

Decade signed to Rude Records in late 2016. Their second studio album, Pleasantries, was released in 2017 to much acclaim across a number of independent publications.

ON THIS DAY 17/12/1972 THE SWEET

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On this day 17/12/1972, Glam rock giants The Sweet played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.

The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit.

Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments.

In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.

The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.

Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image.

Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe".

A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period).

The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.

On This Day 16/12/1994 Dina Carroll

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On this day, 16 December 1994, singer Dina Carroll played Cardiff International Arena.

Combining the early soul-pop of Mariah Carey, the power balladry of Whitney Houston, and the sophisticated dance-pop of M People, Dina Carroll was one of the most successful U.K. female vocalists of the '90s.

Born in Newmarket, Suffolk in 1968 to a Scottish mother and Afro-American G.I. father, Carroll began singing with her sister at a young age, and after winning a talent competition at school, she decided to pursue a career in the music industry.

In her teens, she moved to West London after signing to independent dance label, Streetwave, where she provided uncredited vocals for a production outfit named Masquerade. In 1989, she signed to Jive/Zomba Records where she released several club hits, including a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By," and contributed to Brothers in Rhythm's single "Peace and Harmony."

Her breakthrough came in 1991, when she appeared on Quartz's Top Ten dance reworking of Carole King's "It's Too Late," and was offered an album deal by A&M Records. Two years later, her first LP, So Close, had spawned two Top Five singles, "Don't Be a Stranger" and a rendition of Sunset Boulevard number "The Perfect Year" helped her to scoop Best British Female Vocalist at the 1994 Brit Awards, and up until Dido's No Angel, was the biggest-selling debut album by a female artist in U.K. chart history.

Review - South Wales Echo

After moving to Mercury Records, she developed otosclerosis, a hereditary bone disease which affects the ears, whilst working on her sophomore, Only Human, which despite reaching number two, failed to achieve the same multi-platinum sales of its predecessor.

Carroll changed directions for her self-titled third effort, hooking up with Rhett Lawrence in Los Angeles for a dance-pop sound reminiscent of her club roots, but although lead single "Without Love" reached the Top 20, various record company wranglings meant that plans for its release were shelved. Other than a performance of Van Morrison's "Someone Like You" on the Bridget Jones soundtrack, and a 2001 hits compilation, Carroll hasn't released any new material since.

On This Day 15/12/2014 Chris Rea

On this day, 15 December 2014, singer/songwriter Chris Rea played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on his The Last Open Road Tour.

Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty five studio albums, two of which topped the UK Albums Chart, The Road to Hell in 1989 and its successor, Auberge, in 1991.

He had already become "a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10" with the single "The Road to Hell (Part 2)".

Over the course of his long career, Rea's work has at times been informed by his struggles with serious health issues.[6] His many hit songs include "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach", "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It", "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge", and "Julia".

He also recorded a duet with Elton John, "If You Were Me".Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Setlist

The Last Open Road

Work Gang

Where the Blues Come From

Josephine

Easy Rider

'Til the Morning Sun Shines on My Love and Me

Julia

Stony Road

Come So Far, Yet Still So Far to Go

Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49

Stainsby Girls

The Road to Hell (Part 1)

Encore:

On the Beach

Let's Dance

Driving Home for Christmas

On This Day 14/12/1976 Sex Pistols

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On this day, 14 December 1976, pioneering punk rock band the Sex Pistols played the Castle Cinema, Caerphilly on their Anarchy tour.

Earlier in the year they had played three other Welsh shows with barely a raised eyebrow, but following a last-minute cancelation by Queen, The Sex Pistols and friends appeared on the Tonight Show, presented by Bill Grundy. Famously turning the air blue, John Lydon, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones and Paul Cook came across as uncouth, ill-mannered oiks to millions watching, and as a fantastic anti-establishment breath of fresh air to a few. The incident cost Grundy his job, and made the Pistols front page news.

Venues already booked for their Anarchy Tour reneged on deals, and local councils pressured others to cancel shows. So many venues cancelled on the band that they ended up going twice to some of the venues that would have them.

Cardiff's Top Rank was one of the shows cancelled, but a south Wales promoter called Andy Walton stepped into the breach and offered a show at the town's Castle Cinema.

A campaign was waged in the South Wales press, urging the gig to be abandoned. A typical letter can be found in the archives of the South Wales Echo: "...we feel bound to protest against the decision of our local Castle Cinema management to engage a 'punk rock group' already notorious for its dependence on obscenity, blasphemy and open violence." But to no avail. The gig went ahead, not least because the Castle Cinema's elderly lady owner... refused to be bullied by Caerphilly's worthies."

There was a lot of religious objection to the band and the gig. A leaflet handed out in the town that night said, "Even though apparently just a passing fad... such trends are clearly part of the fulfilment of Jesus' prophecy that before his return to earth, wickedness would multiply beyond all previous limits". (You can see the full leaflet at www.thesexpistols.co.uk.).

On This Day 13/12/1972 Supertramp

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On this day, 13 December 1972, rock band Supertramp played Cardiff High School.

formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), the group were distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles.

The classic lineup, which lasted ten years from 1973 to 1983, comprised Davies, Hodgson, Dougie Thomson (bass), Bob Siebenberg (drums) and John Helliwell (saxophone), after which the group's lineup changed numerous times, with Davies eventually becoming the only constant member throughout its history.

The group found no success with their first two albums, but after a lineup change into what became their classic lineup, their third album, Crime of the Century (1974), was their breakthrough.

Initially a more experimental prog-rock group, they began moving towards a more pop-oriented sound with the album. The band reached their commercial peak with 1979's Breakfast in America, which yielded the international top 10 singles "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Take the Long Way Home". Their other top 40 hits included "Dreamer" (1974), "Give a Little Bit" (1977) and "It's Raining Again" (1982).