For the second weekend in a row, Cardiff’s 74,500 capacity Principality Stadium is playing host to a prominent British rock band whose origins lay in the pre-internet age of the 1990s. After last Friday’s official – and apparently rather epic – 16-years-in-the-making resurrection of Oasis, one would forgive Kelly Jones and company being a tad reticent in following a musical event of such history-making grandeur. However, with robustly anthemic rock songs of their own, a distinctively voiced frontman maintaining good form into his fifties, and the added topspin of national heroes performing to an adoring audience in their own backyard, The Stereophonics prove more than up to the task.
Outside of the music itself, these stadium shows of course come adorned with the bells and whistles of a large production budget. Thus, a double row of pyrotechnic flames shoot skyward when the five piece band launch into opener ‘Vegas Two Times’. These pyros feel somewhat symbolic of the day’s stifling 30+ degree temperatures. Two songs in, frontman and songwriter Kelly Jones reminisces about an inspirational 1990 Rolling Stones show across the road at Cardiff Arms Park. This serves as the intro to 2001 favourite ‘Have A Nice Day’ – a large chunk of those sat in the stands take to their feet and it’s the first of many arms-aloft singalongs.
There’s a fairly egalitarian spread of songs from the group’s thirteen album discography. The pop-rock of ‘There’s Always Gonna Be Something’ is one of two tracks from this year’s Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry, Make ‘Em Wait. Kelly Jones – he being separate to lead guitarist Richard Jones, no relation – is met with a round of applause when he describes, as the mental health themed inspiration for the song, that “everyone is going through stuff.”
Judging by the enthusiastic, arms-in-the-air reaction to the one-two punch of standout tunes ‘Just Looking’ and ‘Pick a Part That’s New’, Stereophonics can clearly wield a big chorus, and a joyful sense of communion, in a way not dissimilar to the Gallagher brothers. There’s an explicit classic rock reference as Led Zeppelin’s ‘Heartbreaker’ is coopted as the intro to ‘Geronimo’, a track in which an added saxophone player attacks his instrument with the raw power of a Clarence Clemons.
Based on the consistent evidence displayed on the large screens either side of the stage, Kelly Jones, now 51 years of age, is wearing rather well. With those trademark dark eyebrows, he’s maintained both a strong hairline and a boyish demeanour. The whisky-soaked rasp of his voice, a defining characteristic of the band’s sound, also remains in decent order. Swapping in an acoustic guitar, the voice takes flight during singalong moment ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ and it sounds positively riveting during the amped up final verse refrain of the brilliant ‘Local Boy in the Photograph.’
He also cuts a likeable figure in his interactions with the crowd. Sat on a stool and poised with a ukulele for ‘I Wouldn’t Leave Your Radio’, he relays an anecdote harkening back to the band supporting David Bowie, during Bowie’s last ever tour in 2003-4. In polite deference to a bona fide musical legend, Stereophonics would truncate their songs in soundchecks to such an extent that Bowie half-jokingly remarked “If you ever finish these songs, you’d really be on to something.”
At risk of being too Kelly Jones-centric, there are of course plenty of moments where his bandmates shine in their own right. ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’, a song we’re told about having an affair and booking hotel rooms under a false identity, culminates with a spectacular drum solo – while accompanied by more flaming pyros – from Jamie Morrison. ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ has large swathes of the audience activating the lights on their smartphones before Richard Jones – akin to the song’s titular bird – delivers a soaring guitar solo. Similarly, the mean and moody sonics of ‘Graffiti on the Train’ is further emphasised by the piercing reverb of his guitar work.
During a six song encore, a concerned Kelly Jones notices a small bit of drama in the audience – someone appears to be struggling somewhat with the heat – and offers up a status check: “Are we alive? Okay, we’re alive.” Judging by the endless sea of clapping hands during debut album oldies ‘Traffic’ and ‘A Thousand Trees’, one would expect that things have only heated up further. ‘Dakota’, the bands sole number one single, from 2005, is similarly rapturous send off. In the wake of last week’s Oasis shows, The Stereophonics are the new conquerors of Cardiff.
Scott Hammond