’PHONICS ROCK FANS AT STADIUM
STEREOPHONICS rocked their second date on home soil last night on the latest stage of their 2018 tour. Just three months after their last stop at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and fresh from another sell-out show at Wrexham Racecourse Ground last week, the Cwmaman hit-makers delighted crowds at Cardiff City Stadium with a rich set list of classic anthems.
The band have taken something of a shine to the home of the Bluebirds given this is their third visit to the stadium in the space of eight years.
They made history as the first band to headline the stadium in June 2010 and played there again in June 2016.
Two years later they were back and the Valleys boys kicked off proceedings with the crowd-pleasing C’est La Vie, before making their way through their seemingly inexhaustible back catalogue of hits.
It wasn’t long before the capacity stadium was literally rocking beneath feverish choruses of A Thousand Trees, Have a Nice Day and The Bartender and the Thief.
Early in the set, frontman Kelly Jones took a brief pause to dedicate the next song, More Life in a Tramp’s Vest, to the son of the group’s late ex-drummer Stuart Cable who he announced was in the crowd watching his very first ’Phonics performance.
Last night’s show comes just two days after the eighth anniversary of Cable’s tragic early death.
The gig was not only a homecoming for frontman Kelly Jones and bass player Richard Jones, but a birthday celebration for Kelly who celebrated his 44th birthday last week.
There was a carnival atmosphere in the packed football ground. Many of the more devoted followers could be seen in tour T-shirts of an early 2000s vintage and there were fans perched on the shoulders of others by the second song.
Support acts PINS, Fireroad and Jake Bugg got the die-hard ’Phonics crowd in the festival spirit and by the time the boys were due to make their way on to the stage there was a palpable sense of anticipation.
But the seasoned rock professionals didn’t need to say much in between tween belting out the hits to keep the e crowd in rapture.
This tour – featuring shows over two o and a quarter hours in length – comes mes on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Stereophonics’ first album Word ord Gets Around.
Over that time, the group have had 10 singles charting in the UK top ten, becoming coming one of the most successful Welsh rock acts in history, with more than an 7,565,000 albums sold in the UK.
The second half of 2018 is set to be a busy one for Stereophonics, with shows ows scheduled all over the UK including cluding London, Birmingham, Manchester, anchester, Cardiff, Dublin and Glasgow. asgow.
But there will also be several al stops in Europe – Milan, lan, Belgium and Paris – before fore they take the tour across ross the Atlantic for dates tes in Canada and the USA. A. To paraphrase the title e of one of their albums bums – they’ll just keep calm m and carry on!
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