On This Day 20/09/1996 Johnny Mathis

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 20 September 1996, American singer Johnny Mathis played Cardiff International Arena.

He had recently released his album All About Love which paired him with producer Phil Ramone for his first venture into contemporary material since 1985's Right from the Heart. The two albums share the fact that they do not include covers of songs associated with other artists, which makes them unique entries in the Mathis catalog.

Starting his career with singles of standard music, Mathis became highly popular as an album artist, with several of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts.

Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three recordings.

Mathis is the third best-selling artist of the 20th century, selling 360 million records worldwide. Although frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Latin American, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album Mathis Magic in 1979. Mathis has also recorded seven albums of Christmas music.

On This Day 25/07/1996 Melissa Etheridge

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day. 25 July 1996, American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge played Cardiff’s International Arena on her Your Little Secret World Tour.

Your Little Secret is the fifth album by singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released in 1995. It was her most successful album on the Billboard 200, where it peaked at number six.

The album also contained three singles, "Your Little Secret", "I Want to Come Over", and "Nowhere to Go". "I Want to Come Over" went on to reach No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Nowhere to Go" peaked at No. 40.

As of 2010, the album has sold 1,348,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Etheridge is known for music with a mixture of "confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals." She has been a gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993.

She has received fifteen Grammy Award nominations throughout her career, winning two, in 1993 and 1995. In 2007, she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up" from the film An Inconvenient Truth.

In September 2011, Etheridge received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tour Setlist

I Really Like You

If I Wanted To

I Want to Come Over

An Unusual Kiss

Come to My Window

Nowhere to Go

Silent Legacy

I Could Have Been You

Must Be Crazy for Me

I'm the Only One

Your Little Secret

Bring Me Some Water

Like the Way I Do

On This Day 16/04/2006 Jeff Wayne

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 16 April 2006, American-born naturalized British composer, musician and lyricist Jeff Wayne performed his masterpiece War Of The Worlds at Cardiff International Arena.

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records. It is a musical adaptation of the science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells in a rock opera style with a rock band, orchestra, narrator, and leitmotifs to carry the story and lyrics that express the feelings of the various characters.

The album features guest artists David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, and Julie Covington, with actor Richard Burton as the narrator.

The album became a commercial success in the UK, peaking at number 5 on the chart and selling over 2.7 million copies there since its release.

The 2006 tour finally began in UK and Ireland and featured Wayne conducting the 48-piece ULLAdubULLA Strings and 10-piece Black Smoke Band.

A "virtual" Richard Burton (a large bust of the Journalist onto which was projected an image of a young Burton with a super-imposed actor's mouth and jaw lip synched to the original Burton recordings) performed as The Journalist.

Hayward reprised his original role as The Sung Thoughts of the Journalist and Thompson returned as The Voice of Humanity. Also from the original recording were Spedding playing lead guitar and Flowers on bass guitar.

Other guest artists who appeared were the "People's Tenor" Russell Watson as Parson Nathaniel, Alexis James as The Artilleryman, and Tara Blaise as Beth.

Daniel Boys was understudy for all the roles sung by male artists.

A model Fighting Machine featured on stage. A short animated prequel to the story was also presented in the style of the upcoming feature-length film detailing the Martians' ecological destruction of their own world (which was originally made for the 1998 computer game) and their preparations to invade Earth, and including a short remix of "The Red Weed".

The show was produced by Wayne, Ray Jones, and Damian Collier.

14th July 2008 on this day - def leppard

On this day, 14 July 2008, English rock band Def Leppard played Cardiff’s International Arena on their Songs From The Sparkle Lounge. Support was provided by Whitesnake and Thunder.

The first show by the band in this city since October 1999 on the Euphoria tour.

The C'mon C'mon single was released in the UK on the same day as this show as a 12 inch picture disc.

The band had recently released their first album of new studio material in six years, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.

Review

Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Thunder, CIA By David Barnes

David Coverdale rocked and rolled back the years as the 2008 incarnation of his 1978 band Whitesnake blew away an adoring capacity audience at Cardiff's CIA after the night had been opened by an impressive Thunder.

Prowling the stage like a caged tiger on heat, ex Deep Purple Coverdale and his stupendous five-piece band powered through number after majestic number.

This was no concert for the uninitiated. It was for the hard core fans, many of whom had been following the Snake for 30 years, and boy did they just love it.

In a set which included some 14 songs plus towering guitar solos, Whitesnake served up what the customer ordered, rising to a crescendo with Is This Love and the anthem Here I Go Again until climaxing with In The Still Of The Night. Awesome.

Headlining, Def Leppard took up the gauntlet and produced a performance of epic proportions which saw energetic frontman, Joe Elliott, don a Wales rugby shirt for the encore before plunging into the seminal Let's Get Rocked.

Leppard, on full power throughout, had the entire arena vibrating to its very foundations as they delivered a 15 number set which included Two Steps Behind, Hysteria, Photograph, Pour Some Sugar On Me and the stunning Rock Of Ages.

"Don't forget us and we won't forget you" yelled Elliott at the end of almost five hours of music.

Metal fatigue? No chance on this showing.

This was metal at its very best - untarnished after over thirty years. Brilliant.

By South Wales Argus 2008.

SHOW INTRO

00 - For The About To Rock (We Salute You) - (By AC/DC) - (PA)

00 - That Was Then This Is Now Video Intro

SETLIST

01 - Rocket (Single Version)

02 - C'mon C'mon

03 - Animal

04 - Nine Lives

05 - Make Love Like A Man

06 - When Love & Hate Collide

07 - Rick Savage Bass Solo/Rock On

08 - Two Steps Behind (acoustic)

09 - Bringin' On The Heartbreak

10 - Hysteria

11 - Armageddon It

12 - Photograph

13 - Pour Some Sugar On Me

14 - Rock Of Ages

15 - Bad Actress

16 - Let's Get Rocked