Los Campesinos! at the Big Weekend

Cardiff musical heroes LOS CAMPESINOS! will be supporting THE BLACKOUT as SWN curate the opening night of this year's Admiral Cardiff Big Weekend. It completes the triple bill with the Blackout and Race Horses for the opening night of the Big Weekend on Friday 30th July. Three brilliant bands for free - cracking!

DANANANANAYKROYD have a sissy hit

DANANANANAYKROYD are playing a low key gig under the name Sissy Hit at Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff 29th May

Funeral For a Friend bid farewell to guitarist

Funeral For A Friend are playing 2 special gigs to mark the departure of guitarist Darran Smith. The band will play at Cardiff University July 22 and Shepherd’s Bush Empire July 23. The band will be playing their debut album 'Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation' in it's entirity.

Spillers at Risk

Spillers Record shop again looks to be at risk following reports that the owners of the building have increased the rent substantially. The owners of the shop have indicated that this rise is simply too high for the shop to cope with. Spillers Records is reputed to be the oldest record shop in the world and has become a national icon of independent record shops. At his stage the future of the shop seems bleak.

Big Weekend goes Massive

This year's Big weekend in Cardiff looks set to be one of the best line ups so far with Feeder, Athlete and The Blackout all set to appear. In addition to this the SWN festival will be putting together the Friday night line up so expect a more leftfield collection than usual on that night. The event takes place July 30th - 1st August outside the City Hall Cardiff and it's a free event!

Ellie Goes to University

Ellie Goulding has announced an extensive 21 date UK tour later this year including a date at Cardiff University November 12th.

Say Yea!

YEASAYER have anounced a UK tour including the Millennium Music Hall in Cardiff on Tuesday 19th October. Tickets are £13.50 and go on sale Wednesday 12th May from Spillers Records, www.seetickets.com, Ticketline UK and WeGotTickets.

Toucan Club Closes

The toucan Club in Cardiff appears to have closed its doors yet again. The venue which re-opened on Womanby St last year seems to have failed in becoming a viable live venue. The building was not well suited to live music and numbers were severely restircted making it only really suited to solo acoustic performers. The Toucan Club is a recognised brand so we expect it to rise again from the ashes somewhere else in due course. Watch this space....

Marina Heads Out

Marina and the Diamonds have announced their biggest tour yet in October and November 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at Cardiff's Coal Exchange on Friday 12th November.

A pre-sale begins today exclusively through http://www.marinaandthediamonds.com
General onsale starts 9am Friday 7th May through usual outlets.Tour dates are:

October 20th - Norwich UEA
October 21st - Eastbourne Winter Garden
October 23rd - Birmingham Town Hall
October 24th - Oxford Regal
October 25th - Bristol Ansom Rooms
October 31st - Manchester Ritz
November 1st - Glasgow Old Fruitmarket
November 2nd - Edinburgh Picture House
November 4th - Newcastle Northumbria University
November 5th - Leeds University
November 8th - London Roundhouse
November 12th - Cardiff Coal Exchange
November 14th - Bath Pavillion
November 15th - Brighton Corn Exchange

Imogen Heap at the Coal Exchange

Grammy award winner Imogen Heap will be making a rare appearance in Wales when she plays the Coal Exchange in Cardiff 10th November.

http://www.artistticket.com/link/?w=imogen+heap

Globe Gets the Green Light

After months of speculation and worry, the Globe in Cardiff has got the green light for its new soundproofing. The venue will be allowed to open from 12 NOON to 12 Midnight Sunday to Thursday and from 12 NOON to 1 AM on Friday and Saturday. Music will be allowed up to 11.30 PM from Sunday to Thursday and until 12.30 AM on Friday and Saturday. Councillor Ed Bridges who chaired the licensing committee said: "We are pleased to grant this application, which permits live music at The Globe, and we are confident that the venue can now operate without causing any disturbance to local residents. Cardiff has a thriving live music scene, and venues like The Globe are a vital part of it."

Alan Jones, who runs The Globe, said "We're delighted that we can open our doors again. We want to thank all our customers, the band and our supporters who came to fundraising shows or donated money or joined up to our mailing lists and Facebook Groups to pledge support."

http://www.theglobecardiff.com