Cardif – the music capital of Wales.
Well yes, it’s also the capital of Wales, but for a small city there is a lot going on music-wise. Cardiff and Newport combined have more bands and venues per square kilometre than many a city twice their size. Talented bands from the depths of the valleys also emerge blinking in the daylight every now and again to play the capital
Bet you didn’t know that South Wales was also the UK birthplace of nu-metal and emo, home to bands such as Lostprophets, Funeral for a Friend and Bullet for my Valentine
Cardiff sports many venues, from the usual 150-capacity pub to the internationally renowned Millennium stadium which can house over 60,000 people for a gig. In between there are a wealth of cosmopolitan bars, student venues, converted churches and all manner of halls where South Wales can play host to their own talent and the many visiting bands who want a piece of Welsh action.
In Cardiff, one of the smallest venues has to be the Buffalo Bar, although that doesn’t mean it’s one of the least popular. No, the Buffalo Bar is still one of the places to be ‘scene’ amongst Cardiff’s better-off 20-somethings. Its younger brother, 10 Feet Tall, also showcases a range of local bands and regular club nights, and a wider clientele.
Another bijou venue is Clwb Tafod, in the bowels of the Riverbank Hotel on the banks of the Taff opposite the Millennium Stadium. Previously home to Cardiff’s crazy rock and metal night, Fuel, which didn’t take long to outgrow the venue, it now hosts eletronicness and various DJs.
Several pubs put on gigs regularly, such as Callaghan’s, O’Neill’s and Dempsey’s in the city centre. Dempsey’s rent their upstairs bar to various young, budding musical entrepreneurs and fortnightly to roaming indie night ‘Twisted by Design’.
Cardiff University has three ‘rooms’ of varying sizes for their gigs – CF10, Solus and The Great Hall (and that’s only if this year’s influx of students hasn’t voted to change the venues’ names again). Tommy’s Bar provides UWIC students with their fill of bands with regular gigs from promoters The Family.
The best known venues in the city centre for live music must be the Barfly, Clwb Ifor Bach (aka The Welsh Club) and Cardiff International Arena. The Barfly is the smallest of the three, underground with a single stage. But being part of the Barfly group with six venues across the country, it is never short of the latest headliners.
Clwb Ifor Bach has three floors and two stages, the middle floor usually being used as backstage or a chillout room on dance nights. It puts on a huge variety of gigs and is also available to rent for promoters wishing to put on their own bands.
Cardiff International Arena hosts large, well known touring bands from the UK and abroad. Sometimes they feel the need to seat their audiences, and not only for those bands where the fans would have trouble standing up for longer than an hour.
The Coal Exchange and The Point are both Cardiff Bay venues, by Mount Stuart Square. The Coal Exchange is currently undergoing repairs or refurbishment, and will be closed until 2009. Which is a shame as it’s a good sized venue, somewhere between the size of the University’s CF10 and the CIA. Although Cardiff has a good range of venues it’s lacking in ones of this size.
The Point is a converted church and for some inexplicable reason makes for a fantastic venue. The stage is more than big enough for a venue of its size, everyone gets a good view, and it always inspires a rather good atmosphere. It’s larger than the Barfly or a single floor of Clwb Ifor Bach so you get room to move (and breathe without inhaling someone else’s hair).
Newport has its share of good niche venues too. Following the demise of the original Mauringer pub and its rock dukebox, Le Pub on Caxton Place is now the only place with an ‘alternative’ dukebox. Gigs aplenty are held upstairs in the rather unsuitably shaped bar, where no one can see the band unless they are seven feet tall or standing in the front row.
TJ’s is the infamous venue at which Kurt Cobain was supposed to have proposed to Courtney Love. Lucky it has had a major facelift which although an improvement to the levels of human comfort, may have detracted from its pure punk charm.
Newport Arena is the larger venue for the town with a capacity of about 1500. This place was hopping in the heyday of Funeral for a Friend and Goldie Lookin’ Chain but now seems to be remarkably quiet apart from appearing in the locally filmed Doctor Who, maybe even shut.
Cardiff does have just about all the types and sizes of venue you could hope to find in one place, although there’s plenty of room for one of about 300-500 capacity…
By: Finch Preston
About the Author:
Well yes, it’s also the capital of Wales, but for a small city there is a lot going on music-wise. Cardiff and Newport combined have more bands and venues per square kilometre than many a city twice their size. Talented bands from the depths of the valleys also emerge blinking in the daylight every now and again to play the capital
Bet you didn’t know that South Wales was also the UK birthplace of nu-metal and emo, home to bands such as Lostprophets, Funeral for a Friend and Bullet for my Valentine
Cardiff sports many venues, from the usual 150-capacity pub to the internationally renowned Millennium stadium which can house over 60,000 people for a gig. In between there are a wealth of cosmopolitan bars, student venues, converted churches and all manner of halls where South Wales can play host to their own talent and the many visiting bands who want a piece of Welsh action.
In Cardiff, one of the smallest venues has to be the Buffalo Bar, although that doesn’t mean it’s one of the least popular. No, the Buffalo Bar is still one of the places to be ‘scene’ amongst Cardiff’s better-off 20-somethings. Its younger brother, 10 Feet Tall, also showcases a range of local bands and regular club nights, and a wider clientele.
Another bijou venue is Clwb Tafod, in the bowels of the Riverbank Hotel on the banks of the Taff opposite the Millennium Stadium. Previously home to Cardiff’s crazy rock and metal night, Fuel, which didn’t take long to outgrow the venue, it now hosts eletronicness and various DJs.
Several pubs put on gigs regularly, such as Callaghan’s, O’Neill’s and Dempsey’s in the city centre. Dempsey’s rent their upstairs bar to various young, budding musical entrepreneurs and fortnightly to roaming indie night ‘Twisted by Design’.
Cardiff University has three ‘rooms’ of varying sizes for their gigs – CF10, Solus and The Great Hall (and that’s only if this year’s influx of students hasn’t voted to change the venues’ names again). Tommy’s Bar provides UWIC students with their fill of bands with regular gigs from promoters The Family.
The best known venues in the city centre for live music must be the Barfly, Clwb Ifor Bach (aka The Welsh Club) and Cardiff International Arena. The Barfly is the smallest of the three, underground with a single stage. But being part of the Barfly group with six venues across the country, it is never short of the latest headliners.
Clwb Ifor Bach has three floors and two stages, the middle floor usually being used as backstage or a chillout room on dance nights. It puts on a huge variety of gigs and is also available to rent for promoters wishing to put on their own bands.
Cardiff International Arena hosts large, well known touring bands from the UK and abroad. Sometimes they feel the need to seat their audiences, and not only for those bands where the fans would have trouble standing up for longer than an hour.
The Coal Exchange and The Point are both Cardiff Bay venues, by Mount Stuart Square. The Coal Exchange is currently undergoing repairs or refurbishment, and will be closed until 2009. Which is a shame as it’s a good sized venue, somewhere between the size of the University’s CF10 and the CIA. Although Cardiff has a good range of venues it’s lacking in ones of this size.
The Point is a converted church and for some inexplicable reason makes for a fantastic venue. The stage is more than big enough for a venue of its size, everyone gets a good view, and it always inspires a rather good atmosphere. It’s larger than the Barfly or a single floor of Clwb Ifor Bach so you get room to move (and breathe without inhaling someone else’s hair).
Newport has its share of good niche venues too. Following the demise of the original Mauringer pub and its rock dukebox, Le Pub on Caxton Place is now the only place with an ‘alternative’ dukebox. Gigs aplenty are held upstairs in the rather unsuitably shaped bar, where no one can see the band unless they are seven feet tall or standing in the front row.
TJ’s is the infamous venue at which Kurt Cobain was supposed to have proposed to Courtney Love. Lucky it has had a major facelift which although an improvement to the levels of human comfort, may have detracted from its pure punk charm.
Newport Arena is the larger venue for the town with a capacity of about 1500. This place was hopping in the heyday of Funeral for a Friend and Goldie Lookin’ Chain but now seems to be remarkably quiet apart from appearing in the locally filmed Doctor Who, maybe even shut.
Cardiff does have just about all the types and sizes of venue you could hope to find in one place, although there’s plenty of room for one of about 300-500 capacity…
By: Finch Preston
About the Author:
