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On this day, 29 March 1983, West Country band Tears For Fears played Cardiff’s Top Rank on the band’s The Hurting Tour.
The Hurting was the band’s debut album, released 7 March, the album peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart.
The Hurting contains Tears for Fears' first three hit singles – "Mad World", "Change", and "Pale Shelter" – all of which reached the top five in the UK and the Top 40 internationally.
It also contains a new version of the band's first single, "Suffer the Children", which had originally been released in 1981, while the album version of "Pale Shelter" is also a new recording.
Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in Bath, Somerset, England. Their professional debut came with the band Graduate, a mod revival/new wave act whose influences included the Jam and two-tone music. In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska" (referring to Elvis Costello). The single just missed the top 100 in the UK, but performed well in Spain and in Switzerland.
The band split in 1981. Shortly afterwards, Orzabal and Smith became session musicians for the band Neon,where they first met future Tears for Fears drummer Manny Elias. Neon also featured Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher, who went on to become Naked Eyes. The pair continued working together, drawing inspiration from artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno.
