Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham
Sat 2 July
With 20 years in the business, six number one albums, a calendar full of festivals and tours, the Stereophonics juggernaut steered itself into Wrexham for a day titled Keep The Summer Alive, with support from Ramona Flowers, Pretty Vicious and Catfish & The Bottlemen.
There was a festival feel to the day as trains pulled in to Wrexham General train station, the red of Wales football and rugby shirts jostled in the crowds, worn with passion after the achievements in Euro 2016 the night before. If the celebrations from the previous night left anyone with a hangover, they could easily have mistaken Wrexham General for the valley line, with South and West Walian accents mixing with those of the North. It was clear that fans had travelled from far and wide to fill the Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium, the first music event since the early 1980’s. With buskers on the streets singing Stereophonics songs, live bands in pub car parks, Wrexham were clearly making the most of this opportunity.
The Ramona Flowers kicked off Keep The Summer Alive, and it was a shame the weather couldn’t have been more summer like, with moments of heavy rain followed by some sunshine throughout the afternoon. Pretty Vicious were next up on stage, storming through their set with rumbling drums and bass riffs enticing the crowd.
It was clear from the many black and white t-shirts in the crowd that there was large support for the North Walian band Catfish & The Bottlemen, and they did not disappoint the crowd, with lead singer Van McCann in energetic form.
The day though, belonged to the Stereophonics. Pretty Vicious may be viewed as the future of Welsh rock, and Catfish & The Bottlemen as the present, Stereophonics showed they were still on the top of their game. At 19:40, the background music was replaced by a video on big screens reminding the crowd events that had occurred under 24 hours earlier, three goals against Belgium. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy, Kelly Jones and the band casually took the stage, with drummer Jamie Morrison wearing a Wales football shirt. Songs from recent album Keep The Village Alive began the show, C’est La Vie and I Wanna Get Lost With You which were followed by the first two singles from first album Word Gets Around, Local Boy In The Photograph quickly going into A Thousand Trees without a pause, before the band ploughed through a set list covering every album, totalling 28 songs. There was a nod of the head to former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable, who passed away in 2010, with Kelly stating “He would have been a very proud Welshman today.” in reference to the football achievements, before reminiscing of the band playing at weddings in their early days, and dedicating Too Many Sandwiches to his former band mate.
The band were joined on stage by a string quartet to perform a haunting renditions of classics including It Means Nothing, Nothing Precious at All and Mr Writer. Following such powerful songs, you may have thought the band would want to settle things down, however Sunny was performed at break neck pace, with fire streams shooting out of the roof of the stage as if Kelly Jones’ guitar solo were controlling the flames. Before going into The Bartender and the Thief, Kelly instructed the crowd to bounce, and bounce they did. From the front row to the back, along every seat in the crowd jumping up and down non stop throughout the song. After going through 25 songs, the band stepped off the stage briefly, before Kelly returned on his own, acoustic guitar in hand and wearing a Welsh football shirt, with what only could be described as the biggest flag his small frame could carry, at least 10 foot in length, before a solo acoustic version of Traffic.
When the full band returned, with Richard Jones also wearing a Wales football top, White Lies began, with the crowd participating with lights from mobile phones bouncing around the stadium. The end of the gig was in sight, and for any Stereophonics fan, it would have to be the iconic Dakota to close the night, the crowd singing their hearts out before flames, explosions and streamers erupted from the stage.
As crowds departed to Max Boyce classic Hymns and Arias performed by a male voice choir, many stayed in the arena, partying, dancing and singing in small groups. In a gig reminiscent of their 1999 performance at Morfa Stadium, full of energy and crowd participation and such a positive festival feel, it felt as if Wrexham were gracious and saying thank you to Stereophonics for being the first live music event there in decades.
words and photos ALEX WILLIAMS