PrettyInScarlett

In its 2nd year, Cardiff Calling returned on 25th August. Much better weather than last year (which led to Dirty Sanchez to 'go soft', advising listeners to drink the free water & wear sunscreen), but substantially fewer people, not as many essential must-see bands, and as for the food - it will put me off going again next year (if there is one - the promoters seemed to be struggling and the event was on a much smaller scale than previously). All was not lost - of the 3 stages (main stage plus Myspace tent and Xfm tent), the smaller stages and bands contained the real gems, the exception was Newton Faulkner on the main stage. Out of the line-up, we checked out: Inner City Pirates The Guns (for about 5 mins & then The Jan Watkins Band) Newton Faulker Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog The Roseville Band Killing for Company The Automatic Remi Nicole Bonde do Role Super Furry Animals The Rumble Strips and about 5 minutes of The Streets - not our thing, sorry! The best, in terms of at

Last Sunday 5th August, we had a quick trip to the Admiral Cardiff Big Weekend . We hadn't bothered with most of the lineup, in fact it looked pretty poor this year, and even the fireworks didn't seem up to their usual standard. The Magic Numbers tempted us out, though. Their set was very enjoyable, especially their cover of 'Crazy in Love' and end-of-set jig to get the (rather wet - yup, it was raining) crowd moving. I may now check them out more often - did recognise some of their tracks but unfortunately not enough to remember the titles!

It looks like the summer has finally arrived, & along with the sun came another trip to Barfly on 2nd August (which still doesn't smell quite right since the smoking ban!), this time the line-up were The Sugars, supported by Victims of Convenience and Afterview. Unfortunately, it was really rather empty, especially after the popularity of Silversun Pickups. Which is a terrible shame as we had an excellent night! Starting the evening off were Worcester quarter Afterview. Not bad as far as support bands go, & for once some influences wider than emo! There's a 80s rock quality to some of their melodies that I thoroughly enjoyed, and they were also (especially bass player Russell) comfortable performing. Their vocals were slightly disappointing in voice and content, although, as shown on this morning's 6Music, there are plenty of 'non-singer lead singers' around. Check out their myspace (what else?!) for info on their new EP & upcoming shows. Next support b