Music concerts have been held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, since the stadium's opening in 1999. The musicians who have played at the stadium include The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney and Madonna. The highest music concert audience at the stadium was 73,354, who saw U2 in 2009.[1] The stadium's total seating capacity for sporting events is 73,434.[2]
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The first concert held was on New Year's Eve 1999 when the Manic Street Preachers headlined Manic Millennium, followed two days later by a concert for the BBC's Songs of Praise programme, with Cliff Richard performing his UK number-one single "The Millennium Prayer". This event attracted an attendance of 66,000.[3]
During 2003, the stadium established a new in-house promotions and events department to attract major concerts to the stadium, taking over from SJM Concerts. The stadium's General Manager Paul Sergeant at the time said of the change, "We looked at the current way our business was run, (and) realized that if we do it ourselves and have direct contact with the event owners and promoters...we will be able to offer an improved service".[4]
At the end of January 2005, the stadium hosted a Tsunami Relief Cardiff, a tsunami relief concert, in aid of victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with Eric Clapton headlining the event. On 22 August 2009, U2 played at the stadium as part of their European leg of their U2 360° Tour, playing to a record-breaking concert attendance for a concert at the stadium of 73,354.[1]
In 2005 the stadium installed an "Arena Partition Drape System" — a 1,100 kg black curtain made up of 12 drapes measuring 9 m (30 ft) x 35 m (115 ft) — to vary the audience from a capacity of over 73,000 down to between 12,000 and 46,000, depending on the four different positions that it can be hung. The curtains can be stored in the roof of the stadium when not in use. The £1m cost of the curtain was funded by the stadium, the Millennium Commission, its caterers Letherby and Christopher (Compass Group) and by the then Wales Tourist Board.[5] The curtain was supplied by Blackout Ltd.[6]
It was feared that music concerts and sporting events would take business away from local shops, however, David Hughes Lewis, chairman of Cardiff Retail Partnership, said in 2005 that "despite initial concerns that major events in the Millennium Stadium hit trading in the shops, it now believed such events had a positive impact...When people come to Cardiff for the concerts, they more often than not arrive the night before and they'll spend the morning shopping".[7]
| Concerts | ||||||
| Year | Day/month | Headline artist | Name of concert or tour | Supporting artists | Notes | Ref(s) |
| 1999 | 31 December | Manic Street Preachers | Manic Millennium | Super Furry Animals, Feeder, Shack, and Patrick Jones. | This was the first rock concert held at the new stadium. There were safety conerns prior to the concert that there may be a "ripple effect" if the crowd started to jump up and down at the same time, although there was no danger of the stands collapsing. It was thought that the sway might panic the crowd into stampeding. Special props were put in place to support part of the stand before the concert. The 54,000 tickets were sold out a month before the concert and set a European indoor crowd record. The DVD Leaving the 20th Century was made of the event. | [2][8] |
| 2000 | 2 January | Cliff Richard | Millennium Songs of Praise. | Bryn Terfel, Daniel O'Donnell, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Band of the Welsh Guards. | The concert was made for the BBC television programme Songs of Praise. It was the largest broadcast event in the programme's history, with 66,000 attending the event and was simultaneously broadcast live on BBC One. | [3][9] |
| 9 July | Tina Turner | Twenty Four Seven Tour | Lionel Richie | Tina Turner said of the Twenty Four Seven Tour that, "This will be my final big stadium rock tour". Turner has subsequently toured again in her 50th Anniversary Tour throughout Europe and North America. | [10][11] | |
| 2001 | 17 June | Bon Jovi | One Wild Night Tour | Matchbox Twenty, Delirious | [12] | |
| 14 July | Robbie Williams | Weddings, Barmitzvahs & Stadiums Tour | Toploader | [2] | ||
| 15 July | ||||||
| 21 July | Stereophonics | A Day at the Races | The Black Crowes, Ash, and The Crocketts. | An open-air concert was originally set for Chepstow Racecourse, called "A Day at the Races" and it was expected to attract a record crowd of 80,000 fans. On 18 April 2001, the concert was moved to the Millennium Stadium, because the racecouse was within the foot-and-mouth infected area. The concert was part of the Just Enough Education to Perform (J.E.E.P.) Tour. The DVD A Day at the Races was made of the event. | [13] | |
| 20 October | Atomic Kitten | Showtime @ The Stadium | S Club 7, A1, Steps, Charlotte Church, Sinéad O'Connor, Petula Clark, Russell Watson and Damage | A charity concert to raise funds for the Red Hot Aids Charitable Trust and Children in Need. | [14][15] | |
| 2003 | 20 December | Stereophonics | You Gotta Go There to Come Back Tour | Feeder, Ocean Colour Scene, and Adam Masterson | [16][17] | |
| 2004 | 23 June | Red Hot Chili Peppers | By the Way Tour | James Brown and Chicks On Speed | ||
| 2005 | 22 January | Eric Clapton | Tsunami Relief Cardiff | Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Badly Drawn Boy, Camera, Charlotte Church, Craig David, Embrace, Feeder, Goldie Lookin' Chain, Katherine Jenkins, Aled Jones, Kelly Jones, Keane, Lemar, Liberty X, Lulu, Manic Street Preachers, Brian McFadden, Raghav, Heather Small and Snow Patrol. | The concert raised £1.25m and 61,000 people attended the event at the stadium. The concert was, at the time, the biggest charity concert held in the United Kingdom since Live Aid in 1985. The main tickets sold out in just 3 days with a further 3,000 tickets issued selling out in 20 minutes. | [18] |
| 29 June | U2 | Vertigo Tour | The Killers and Starsailor | |||
| 10 July | R.E.M. | Around the Sun Tour | The Zutons, Idlewild, and Jonathan Rice | |||
| 10 December | Oasis | Noise & Confusion in Cardiff | Foo Fighters, Razorlight, The Coral, The Subways, Nic Armstrong & The Thieves, and Yeti | This concert was part of Oasis' Don't Believe the Truth Tour. | [7] | |
| 2006 | 21 June | Take That | The Ultimate Tour | Sugababes and Beverley Knight | ||
| 25 June | Eagles | Farewell I Tour | No support act | [19] | ||
| 30 July | Madonna | Confessions Tour | Paul Oakenfold | [20] | ||
| 29 August | The Rolling Stones | A Bigger Bang Tour | The Kooks | |||
| 2007 | 7 July | Rod Stewart | European Stadium Tour | Pretenders | [21][22] | |
| 19 October | The Police | Reunion Tour | Mr Hudson and the Library, Fiction Plane, and Coco Sumner | |||
| 2008 | 14 June | Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | Magic Tour | No support act | 48,500 attended the event | [23] |
| 19 June | Neil Diamond | UK Tour | 26,000 attended the event | [23][24] | ||
| 23 August | Madonna | Sticky & Sweet Tour | No support act | [25][26] | ||
| 2009 | 12 June | Oasis | Dig Out Your Soul Tour | Kasabian, The Enemy, Twisted Wheel and The Peth | ||
| 16 June | Take That | Take That Present: The Circus Live | James Morrison and Gary Go | [27] | ||
| 17 June | ||||||
| 22 August | U2 | U2 360° Tour | Glasvegas and The Hours | U2 played to a record-breaking concert attendance at the stadium of 73,354. A £20M stage, dubbed The Claw, was used for this concert. | [1][28] | |
| 2010 | 26 June | Paul McCartney | Up and Coming Tour | Manic Street Preachers and The Joy Formidable | This was Paul McCartney's first concert in Wales for 35 years. | [20] |
| 29 September | Shirley Bassey | Welcome to Wales | Katherine Jenkins, Lostprophets, Only Men Aloud! and Shaheen Jafargholi | This concert was held two days before the first match of the 2010 Ryder Cup golf tournament at Celtic Manor Resort in Newport. This event replaced the traditional gala dinner at the beginning of the event. The event was broadcast a day later on the television channel Sky2 with a programme title of "The Ryder Cup Concert". | [29][30][31][32] | |
| 2011 | 14 June | Take That | Progress Live | Pet Shop Boys | Over 50,000 tickets were sold out within three hours of going on sale | [33][34][35] |
| 15 June | ||||||
| 8 October | Beyonce (on a live video link), Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green | Michael Forever – The Tribute Concert | Jackson Brothers, Alexandra Burke, Yolanda Adams, 3T, Alien Ant Farm, Pixie Lott, Diversity, Craig David, JLS, Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx, Gladys Knight, LaToya Jackson, Leona Lewis and Smokey Robinson. | A benefit concert dedicated to Michael Jackson to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his solo career. | ||
| Cancelled concerts | ||||||
| Year | Day/month | Headline artist | Name of concert or tour | Supporting artists | Reason for cancellation | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 27 October | Coldplay | Farm Aid | Reef and Toploader. | This concert was arranged as a 2001 foot-and-mouth benefit concert to aid farmers. It was cancelled "Due to the horrendous events (the September 11 attacks) in America". | [36][37] |
| 2006 | 28 January | The Strokes | One Earth Concert | Manic Street Preachers, The Darkness, Super Furry Animals, Elbow and Embrace. | The organisers of the event, Climate Change Now, but did not provide a reason why the event had been postponed, but did say "We apologise wholeheartedly for any inconvenience caused by the change of date...but we can assure those who have already purchased tickets that the event will still take place at the Millennium Stadium." The event never did take place. | [38][39] |
| 2008 | 25 August | R.E.M. | European Tour 2008 | Editors and Guillemots | Due to poor ticket sales, the concert was transferred to Cardiff International Arena. | [40][41] |
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Concerts_at_Millennium_Stadium Concerts at the Millennium Stadium] at Wikimedia Commons
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