On This Day 04/11/1972 The Kinks

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On this day, 4 October 1972, legendary London band The Kinks played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

The band had just recently released their eleventh album Everybody’s in Show-biz, a double album, the first disc features studio recordings, while the second disc documents a two-night Carnegie Hall stand.

Everybody's in Show-Biz is often seen by fans as a transition album for the Kinks, marking the change in Ray Davies' songwriting style toward more theatrical, campy and vaudevillian work, as evidenced by the rock-opera concept albums that followed it.

This album marks Davies' explorations of the trials of rock-star life and the monotony of touring, themes that would reappear in future releases like The Kinks Present A Soap Opera and the 1987 live album Live: The Road.

On This Day 04/08/2002 Ray Davies (Kinks)

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On this day 4 August 2002, rock legend Ray Davies of the Kinks played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s.

The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965.

Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States.

The Kinks' music drew from a wide range of influences, including American R&B and rock and roll initially, and later adopting British music hall, folk, and country.

The band gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies' wittily observational writing style, and made apparent in albums such as Face to Face (1966), Something Else (1967), The Village Green Preservation Society (1968), Arthur (1969), Lola Versus Powerman (1970), and Muswell Hillbillies (1971), along with their accompanying singles including the transatlantic hit "Lola" (1970).

On This Day 11/4/1968 The Kinks

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On this day, 11 April 1968, influential London rock band The Kinks played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on their Something Else tour with support that included The Tremeloes and The Herd.

The band were promoting their Something Else album but
1968 also saw the release of the band’s classic Village Green Preservation Society, the band’s sixth studio album and the last album by the original quartet (Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife, Mick Avory.

The album failed to chart upon its initial release, and Ray Davies has called it "the most successful ever flop."The album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and it was described by Uncut in 2014 as a "brilliantly observed concept album".