On This Day 16/02/1999 Van Morrison

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On this day, 16 February 1999, Irish legend Van Morrison played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange building.

The early to middle 1990s were commercially successful for Morrison with three albums reaching the top five of the UK charts, sold-out concerts, and a more visible public profile; but this period also marked a decline in the critical reception to his work.

The decade began with the release of The Best of Van Morrison; compiled by Morrison himself, the album was focused on his hit singles, and became a multi-platinum success remaining a year and a half on the UK charts. AllMusic determined it to be "far and away the best-selling album of his career." In 1991 he wrote and produced four songs for Tom Jones released on the Carrying A Torch album and performed a duet with Bob Dylan on BBC Arena special.

Review- South Wales Echo

The 1994 live double album A Night in San Francisco received favourable reviews as well as commercial success by reaching number eight on the UK charts. 1995's Days Like This also had large sales—though the critical reviews were not always favourable. This period also saw a number of side projects, including the live jazz performances of 1996's How Long Has This Been Going On, from the same year Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison, and 2000's The Skiffle Sessions – Live in Belfast 1998, all of which found Morrison paying tribute to his early musical influences.

In 1997, Morrison released The Healing Game. The album received mixed reviews, with the lyrics being described as "tired" and "dull", though critic Greil Marcus praised the musical complexity of the album by saying: "It carries the listener into a musical home so perfect and complete he or she might have forgotten that music could call up such a place, and then populate it with people, acts, wishes, fears."

The following year, Morrison finally released some of his previously unissued studio recordings in a two-disc set, The Philosopher's Stone. His next release, 1999's Back on Top, achieved modest success, being his highest-charting album in the US since 1978's Wavelength.

Setlist

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart No. 1

The New Symphony Sid

(Lester Young cover)

Rough God Goes Riding

Satisfied

Cleaning Windows

Give Me a Kiss

Vanlose Stairway

Ain't That Loving You, Baby

(Eddie Riff cover)

In the Afternoon / Joe Turner Sings / Don't You Make Me High

Brown Eyed Girl

How Long Has This Been Going On?

(George Gershwin cover)

Tupelo Honey

Lonely Avenue / Be-Bop-A-Lula / You Give Me Nothing But the Blues

Georgia (on My Mind)

(Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra cover)

Centerpiece / Outskirts of Town

That's Life

(Marion Montgomery cover)

Naked in the Jungle

It's a Man's Man's Man's World

(James Brown cover)

Have I Told You Lately

The Healing Game

On This Day 19/09/2002 Converge

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On this day, 19 September 2002, American metalcore band Converge, played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

Formed by vocalist and artist Jacob Bannon and guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990.

While recording their landmark fourth album Jane Doe in 2001, the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since.

The members have also been involved in various side-projects and collaborations, including the bands Supermachiner (Bannon), Old Man Gloom (Newton), and Mutoid Man (Koller). With their extremely aggressive and boundary-pushing sound, rooted in hardcore and heavy metal, they are pioneers of metalcore and its subgenre mathcore.

On September 4, 2001, Converge released their fourth studio album, Jane Doe. It was met with immediate critical acclaim, with critics praising its poetic lyrics, dynamic range, ferocity and production. The album was a commercial success in comparison to Converge's previous outings, and both the band and the album have developed a cult following since its release.

It is the band's first studio album to feature Newton and Koller, and the last to feature Dalbec, who was asked to leave the band due to his devotion to his side project Bane.[28] Converge's first tour in support of Jane Doe was in September 2001 with Drowningman and Playing Enemy,[29] however Drowningman later dropped out of the tour to work on a new album.

In 2002 a music video was released for the track/tracks "Concubine/Fault and Fracture" from the album Jane Doe; the music video was directed by Zach Merck.

On This Day 01/07/2003 Eliades Ochoa

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On this day, 1 July 2003, Cuban guitarist and singer Eliades Ochoa played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

Eliades Ochoa was born in Santiago de Cuba on June 22, 1946, in Songo la Maya, Santiago de Cuba. Eliades is considered one of the most renowned Cuban “soneros” of all time, a notable defender of traditional Cuban music, and the best guitarist of his generation. His distinctive cowboy hat and his penchant for wearing black have led some to call him “The Cuban Johnny Cash.”

From a very young age, he began to play the guitar with his parents of peasant origin as teachers and in a self-taught way. He alternated with itinerant troubadours from a very young age. In his walks through “guateques,” bars, and “zonas de tolerancia,” he began to learn the vast traditional repertoire of Cuban music, of which he is a teacher today. His musical style is due to his place of origin, the Cuban countryside, the anecdotes he listened to, the “guateques campesinos,” and a series of other elements that marked him and made him the artist he is today.

He began playing the guitar when he was six and in 1978 he was invited to join Cuarteto Patria, a group founded in 1939, as its leader. Although he looks like a guajiro, and he still wears his trademark cowboy hat, his roots are in the son, and he only agreed to take on the role of leader if he was allowed to introduce new elements to the repertoire. He plays the guitar, tres and also a variant of the guitar, with two additional strings. His involvement with the Buena Vista Social Club and the Wim Wenders film of the same name (1999), has led him to worldwide fame.

On This Day 25/05/1999 Muse

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On this day, 25 May 1999, rock band Muse played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange as support to Welsh band Feeder.

Formed in 1994, theband consists of Matt Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion).

After a few years building a fanbase, Muse played their first gigs in London and Manchester supporting Skunk Anansie on tour. They had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall. He had seen the three boys grow up as he knew their parents, and had a production company with their future manager Safta Jaffery, with whom he had recently started the record label Taste Media.

The meeting led to their first serious recordings and the release of the Muse EP on 11 May 1998 on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label, produced by Paul Reeve. Their second EP, the Muscle Museum EP, also produced by Reeve, was released on 11 January 1999. It reached number 3 in the indie singles chart and attracted the attention of the radio broadcaster Steve Lamacq and the magazine NME.

Later in 1999, Muse performed on the Emerging Artist's stage at Woodstock '99 and signed with Smith and Jaffery. Despite the success of their second EP, British record companies were reluctant to sign Muse. After a trip to New York's CMJ Festival, Nanci Walker, then Sr. Director of A&R at Columbia Records, flew Muse to the US to showcase for Columbia Records' then-Senior Vice-president of A&R, Tim Devine, as well as for American Recording's Rick Rubin.

During this trip, on 24 December 1998, Muse signed a deal with American record label Maverick Records. Upon their return to England, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them control over their career in individual countries.

John Leckie was brought in alongside Reeve to produce the band's first album, Showbiz (1999). The album showcased Muse's aggressive yet melancholic musical style, with lyrics about relationships and their difficulties trying to establish themselves in their hometown.

Their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), incorporated wider instrumentation and romantic classical influences and earned them a reputation for energetic live performances. Absolution (2003) saw further classical influence, with strings on tracks such as "Butterflies and Hurricanes", and was the first of seven consecutive UK number-one albums.

On This Day 17/03/2001 The Company Of Snakes

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On this day, 17 March 2001, rock band The Company Of Snakes played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

The Company of Snakes was formed by former Whitesnake guitarists Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody after the demise of its predecessor The Snakes. The band was completed by Black Sabbath and Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray, drummer John Lingwood from Manfred Mann's Earth Band and vocalist Robert Hart from Bad Company and later British singer Gary Barden. After adding keyboardist Don Airey from Rainbow, the band went on tour, playing concerts almost completely consisting of old Whitesnake songs.

Singer Barden left the band soon afterwards and was replaced by Swedish vocalist and Snakes in Paradise frontman Stefan Berggren. They toured throughout their history and released the live album Here They Go Again: the show was still sung by Barden, but his lead vocals were deleted and replaced in the studio by Berggren (2001)..

They were joined in Germany, during their promotional tour for this album by Humble Pie, re-formed by Jerry Shirley and promoting tracks from their album Back on Track. The band recorded one studio album. Burst The Bubble (2002) which was recorded after Don Airey had left the band.

Bergen left soon after Airey's departure and the remaining band members morphed into M3. After that, Micky Moody and Neil Murray went on to form Snakecharmer.

On This Day 07/03/2000 Eels

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On this day, 7 March 2000, American rock band Eels played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1991 by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett, known by the stage name E. Band members have changed over the years, both in the studio and on stage, making Everett the only official member for most of the band's work. Eels' music is often filled with themes of family, death, and unrequited love.

In 2000, Eels released Daisies of the Galaxy. The album, which was recorded almost entirely in E's basement, is lighter and more upbeat than its predecessor.[citation needed] Everett noted, "if Electro-Shock Blues was the phone call in the middle of the night that the world doesn't want to answer, then Daisies of the Galaxy is the hotel wake-up call that says your lovely breakfast is ready".[8] He was joined in the studio by Michael Simpson (Dust Brothers), Grant-Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo), and Peter Buck (R.E.M.).

The first single, "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues", was co-written by Simpson. The song was not intended to be on the album, but the record company insisted on its inclusion. Therefore, it was not featured on the track listing but was instead listed on the cover sticker as a bonus track, separated from the rest of the album by 20 seconds of silence.

To promote Daisies of the Galaxy, another tour took place across the United States and Europe, with the band also playing their first concerts in Australia. For these performances, Eels were transformed into a 6-piece orchestra, including Lisa Germano and Probyn Gregory. E also played some solo shows, opening for Fiona Apple.

Setlist

Overture

Feeling Good

Grace Kelly Blues

Packing Blankets

My Beloved Monster

Ant Farm

Fucker

It's a Motherfucker

Jeannie's Diary

I Like Birds

Daisies of the Galaxy

The Sound of Fear

Tiger in My Tank

The Cheater's Guide to Your Heart

Suicide Life

Climbing to the Moon

Flyswatter

Mr. E's Beautiful Blues

Susan's House

Novocaine for the Soul

Can't Help Falling in Love

Hospital Food

A Daisy Through Concrete

P.S. You Rock My World

I'm Your Brave Little Soldier

On This Day 07/02/2006 The Grates

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On this day, 7 February 2006, Australian indie pop band The Grates played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

The Grates were formed in 2002 in Brisbane by Patience Hodgson on lead vocals, John Patterson on guitars and backing vocals and Alana Skyring on drums. Patterson and Skyring had attended Alexandra Hills State High School.

In 1999, they met Cleveland District State High School student, Hodgson, in year 12 at a drama class, which all three attended at the local TAFE to avoid physical education classes. Hodgson discovered her singing voice at a karaoke bar, where she performed "A Whole New World" (from Aladdin). According to Patterson the rendition "was less than stellar".

In 2005, the band appeared at the Big Day Out, Meredith, Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival and Homebake. They supported the Go! Team on their tour over late 2005 to early 2006.

In April 2006, the band released their debut album, Gravity Won't Get You High, which peaked at No. 9 on the ARIA Albums Chart.It was recorded in Chicago with Brian Deck (Holopaw, Iron and Wine, Josh Ritter) producing.

It was released in the UK and the United States in June. Nate Dorr of PopMatters opined that it provided "an infectious variety... At times, there's a sense of catchy frivolity to the proceedings, but it can easily be forgiven... sheer excitement of hearing such unbridled enthusiasm in an emerging talent. And they are talented." Pitchfork's Sean Fennessey felt "electric Hodgson, who sounds like she's riding a jet-fueled pogo on almost every song, is joined by guitarist John Patterson and drummer Alana Skyring,

On This Day 23/12/2000 Andy Fairweather Low, Man, Racing Cars

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On this day, 23 December 2000, Welsh rockers Andy Fairweather Low, Man and Racing Cars played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange venue.

Andrew Fairweather Low was a founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop band Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.

Man were formed in November 1968 by Micky Jones (guitar and vocals), Deke Leonard (guitar and vocals), Clive John (keyboards and vocals), Ray Williams (bass guitar) and Jeff Jones (drums), in Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, out of previous local band The Bystanders. They were active through to 1976 with an ever-changing personnel, the last line-up consisting of Jones and Leonard with John McKenzie (bass), Terry Williams (drums) and Phil Ryan (keyboards). Amongst others, Martin Ace (guitar and bass) had a significant spell with group. They released 9 studio albums including the UK charting albums Back into the Future Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics and the live album Maximum Darkness. Their musical style is rock encompassing elements of psychedelia and progressive, and they are noted for their extended live improvisations.

Racing Cars was a Welsh pop band, formed in the Rhondda Valley, Wales in 1973. The only hit single was "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", which peaked at number fourteen in the UK Singles Chart in 1977, and was inspired by the film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Touring included dates supporting Bad Company in 1976.