CENTRE STAGE Everything a sound reaction you need to know about Coldplay’s sell-out gigs
NOW here’s a tale that I enjoyed hearing about this week.
Welsh band The Sandinistas have returned home after being handpicked to play a music festival in Russia – and it’s a trip they’ll never forget and with good reason.
The Tredegar-based punk-pop band were one of just a handful of western acts to play Dobrofest in Yaroslavl, near Moscow. The trip to play the festival, which was headlined by Northern Irish rock band Therapy?, was an eventful affair which included terrible storms, an altercation with drunk Russians, their driver going missing and mud, lots of mud.
“Our booking agent sent our debut single Ready to Blow to the promoter and he really liked the track and offered us the gig off the back of it, which is mental but a huge compliment I guess,” said the band’s drummer Scott Williams.
“We were excited but a little nervous, but we were blown away by how friendly everyone was.”
However, Scott – who is a primary school teacher in Tredegar – admitted the mission to Moscow wasn’t without its hairy moments.
“It started Thursday evening. We had to get a quick practice in and then had a three-hour drive to Manchester. We had to be up at 5am for our flight so we had very little sleep. We travelled to Amsterdam and then to Moscow – to be told that there was a terrible storm hitting Moscow around our time of arrival.
“Luckily we landed safe but were stuck on the runway for three hours as every flight was coming into Moscow airport. Phil, (our manager) and (bass player) Slim made friends with a group of Russian men over a mutual love of the film Trainspotting and football.
“Anyway as we were going through customs with them (singer) Dan pushed in front of them by mistake and the one bloke grabbed Dan by his backpack and pulled him almost to the floor.
“Obviously we all intervened and fortunately the Russian blokes we made friends with calmed it all down – they were big, angry and drunk Russian blokes so I don’t think we would’ve stood much of a chance.”
“Scott added: “We then got pulled over by the police where our driver disappeared for about an hour. Luckily he came back and took us to get some water from a house that’d been converted into a shop in the middle of nowhere.We managed to get to the hotel about 2am and had a well deserved sleep!”
Thankfully Dobrofest was a much more enjoyable affair – if not a little wet.
“The festival was on an abandoned airfield and the rain was pouring down so it was extremely muddy,” said Scott. “The crowd couldn’t understand what we were saying but literally copied everything Dan did. When he put his hands in the air they’d copy and the same when Slim got them all to clap.”
And the eye-opening moments didn’t stop there for the fast-rising band who will play their next show at The Globe in Cardiff in August.
“That evening we went for some food in a bar and ended up playing another gig to about 100 drunk Russians and it was absolutely mental!”
COLDPLAY come to Cardiff next week – the only place in the UK where the band will be playing on this particular leg of their world tour.
Since March last year, the A Head Full Of Dreams Tour has played to 2.5 million people across Latin America, the US and Europe, including four sold-out nights at London’s Wembley Stadium.
They then announced 13 stadium shows across nine European countries -with Cardiff honoured with TWO shows on Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 12.
Here’s all you need to know about the concerts. When do the gates open? Gates open from 5.30pm.
Who is the support act? The main support act is Embrace who will be in the Welsh capital for both nights.
They’ve notched up number one albums and delivered anthem after anthem like Good, Good People, Ashes, and Gravity.
Do we know what his set list is likely to be? These things are never guaranteed but when the band played at Stadio San Siro in Milan on July 4, this is what they performed. A Head Full of Dreams Yellow Every Teardrop is a Waterfall The Scientist Birds Paradise Always in My Head Magic Miracles (Someone Special) Everglow Clocks Midnight Charlie Brown Hymn for the Weekend Fix You Viva La Vida Adventure of a Lifetime Trouble Something Just Like This A Sky Full of Stars Up & Up What can we expect from the concert? The band visited Manchester’s Etihad Stadium back in June last year and the reviewer from Manchester Evening News was more than impressed.
Here’s what he said: “For what is a - sometimes painfully - quiet and introverted band, when they step foot onto the stage that awkwardness all seems to fade away and nowhere was this more evident than with Head Full of Dreams as their opening number. They moved swiftly on to two classics, Yellow and Clocks, which could themselves have closed the show but instead set the tone for the rest of the evening. Classic after classic.” Is it too late to get a ticket? Yes. It’s sold out.
What can I take in to the stadium with me? Following the three terror attacks on Britain in three months, security will be paramount.
All concert goers are encouraged to arrive early and bring as little as possible, ensuring there are no items from the prohibited items list.
This includes: fireworks, flares, pyrotechnics, all horns including air horns, musical instruments, smoke canisters, laser pointers,