Entertainment

BBC ‘diving head first’ into a summer of live music at events across Wales

Published

4 years ago

June 11, 2022

AS FESTIVALS and events are making a comeback, BBC Wales has announced an exciting summer of music across television, radio and digital.

BBC Wales says that it is “diving head first into a summer of live music at events across Wales – from local town hall shows to large scale concerts and festivals.”

On television, an exclusive Stereophonics homecoming gig will be broadcast live from the Principality Stadium Cardiff when the band play in front of 60,000 fans on the second of a two night stand at the iconic venue. Stereophonics Live in Cardiff: We’ll Keep a Welcome will be on BBC One Wales – and BBC Two across the UK – on Saturday, 18 June from 8.40pm just as the band hits the stage.

BBC Wales’ Director Rhuanedd Richards says “As people across Wales at long last come together again to enjoy live music and festivals, BBC Cymru Wales will be supporting and broadcasting from events across the nation. It’s going to be a jam-packed summer – with live music being central to local community and large scale events – and BBC Cymru Wales will be there to capture the performances of Welsh and international artists. Following the pandemic, it’s time to turn up the volume again, and celebrate music as a force for bringing people together and showcasing the best that Wales has to offer. I’m also delighted that our ‘Summer of Music’ will culminate in a landmark series with Huw Stephens exploring The Story of Welsh Music.”

Wynne Evans’ Townhall Showdown sees the presenter and opera singer visit towns and villages across Wales, starting at the Newbridge Memo, and bringing with him regular features from his daily show. Wynne will also perform at each event, as will a local Welsh band or artist. And John Quirk and his band will provide musical accompaniment to the evening. Highlights from the evening will be heard on Wynne Evans’ show every Friday following each event.

Fresh from Gŵyl Triban at the National Urdd Eisteddfod, Radio Cymru will be live at Tafwyl festival in Cardiff, the Sesiwn Fawr in Dolgellau and at the National Eisteddfod in Tregaron, and will bring unmissable and exclusive music to Radio Cymru listeners and BBC Sounds users. To coincide with each of these major events, the station will embark on a schools tour, bringing the best of live Welsh music to a school in each of the local areas.

The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales will be at a variety of events across Wales over the summer. From performing their season closing Romance and Revolution concerts in Cardiff and Swansea in June, to entertaining the crowds at the Welsh Proms in July and accompanying Carwyn Elis at the Greenman Festival in Crickhowell in August. BBC NOW will then return to the St Asaph Festival in September. The orchestra is also performing over the summer at four of the BBC Proms in London, including a concert with the Tredegar Band.

In September, BBC Two Wales will show The Story of Welsh Music, where presenter Huw Stephens will look at key stages in the history of Wales as a musical nation. The two part series will tell various stories – from the history of the triple harp and how it’s importance meant it was considered Wales’ national harp – to the story behind Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, the phenomenon of ‘Cwl Cymru’ and the international success of bands like Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics.

On digital, BBC Wales’ Horizons/Gorwelion project will feature coverage from the In It Together festival in Port Talbot. And will have filmed and recorded sets from venues across Wales – including Queen’s Hall Narberth, Swansea’s Sin City, Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Pontio in Bangor.

BBC Sounds will feature summer playlists and set highlights from across the summer’s events and programmes.

Entertainment

One Night in Dublin returns to the Torch with a brand-new show

Published

2 days ago

February 3, 2026

Tom Sinclair

ONE NIGHT IN DUBLIN is heading back to the stage at the Torch Theatre with a lively new production fronted by renowned Irish singer Danny Muldoon.

Tickets are already selling fast for the feel-good celebration of Irish music, which promises two hours of songs, stories and plenty of craic.

Backed by an award-winning five-piece band, Muldoon leads audiences through a packed set of sing-along favourites including Galway Girl, Tell Me Ma, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town, Whiskey in the Jar, The Wild Rover and The Galway Shawl, along with many more well-loved classics.

The show recreates the atmosphere of a bustling Dublin pub, complete with fiddle, whistle, guitars, banjo, bodhrán, accordion and driving drums, transporting the audience straight into “Murphy’s Tavern” for an unforgettable night of live entertainment.

Fans can also expect hits from Irish legends including The Pogues, The Saw Doctors, The Dubliners, The Fureys, Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys.

One Night in Dublin comes to the Torch Theatre on Thursday, March 26 at 7:30pm.

Tickets cost £26.50. Visit the theatre website or call the Box Office on (01646) 695267 to book.

Entertainment

New appeal in search for missing Manic Street Preachers musician

Published

5 days ago

January 31, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Family and charity issue fresh appeal for information about guitarist 31 years on

THIRTY-ONE years after the disappearance of Richey Edwards, a new public appeal has been issued urging anyone with information to come forward.

Edwards, guitarist and lyricist with Manic Street Preachers, vanished on January 31, 1995, in a case that has become one of the most enduring mysteries in British music history.

***Missing for over 30 years: Richey Edwards***

The then 27-year-old was last seen at the Embassy Hotel Bayswater in west London, where he had been staying ahead of a promotional trip to the United States. He checked out of room 561 but never reached his destination.

Despite numerous reported sightings over the years, none have ever been confirmed. Edwards was officially declared presumed dead in 2008, though his family continue to mark the anniversary of his disappearance and keep hope alive that answers may still emerge.

Anniversary appeal

The charity Missing People has released a statement in collaboration with Edwards’ sister Rachel, asking the public to remember the case.

In a social media post, the organisation said: “It is 31 years since Richard went missing, please keep his family in your thoughts.”

They also repeated key identifying details from the time he vanished. Edwards was described as white, around 5ft 7in tall, slim, with brown eyes and a shaved head. He had several distinctive tattoos, including a rose with the words ‘Useless Generation’, the phrase ‘I’ll surf this beach’, and a scar on his lower left arm where he had scratched the words ‘4 REAL’.

Unanswered questions

His car was later found near the Severn Bridge services, close to the Welsh border, prompting widespread searches but yielding no firm clues about what happened next.

At the time of his disappearance, the band were on the brink of international success. Edwards’ intense, literate songwriting and striking image had already made him a defining figure in Welsh rock music. More than three decades later, fans still hold vigils, create murals and share tributes across Wales and beyond.

Police say the case remains open.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Metropolitan Police Service on 101 or use their online reporting service, quoting reference CONNECT REF 01/764429/24. Missing People also operates a free, confidential helpline on 116 000.

Entertainment

Turner and Constable brought to life on the big screen at the Torch Theatre

Published

6 days ago

January 30, 2026

Tom Sinclair

ART lovers in Pembrokeshire will have the chance to experience the lives and rivalries of two of Britain’s greatest painters when a new documentary, EOS: Turner & Constable, arrives at the Torch Theatre this March.

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of their births, the film explores the intertwined stories and enduring legacies of J.M.W. Turner and John Constable alongside Tate Britain’s major new exhibition. Exhibition on Screen has been granted exclusive behind-the-scenes access, bringing their extraordinary art and personal histories vividly to the cinema screen.

Born just a year apart, Turner and Constable helped redefine landscape painting in Britain – and were fierce competitors. Both captured a nation in transition, yet their styles could not have been more different. Turner’s dramatic skies, blazing sunsets and atmospheric scenes from his travels contrasted sharply with Constable’s gentle, nostalgic portrayals of the English countryside and familiar rural life.

Their opposing visions divided critics and audiences alike, famously described at the time as a clash of “fire and water”.

The documentary offers rare, intimate access to sketchbooks, letters and personal artefacts, alongside insights from leading curators and art historians. It also ties in with Tate Britain’s landmark exhibition, running in London from November 2025 to April 2026, which reunites the two masters’ works side-by-side.

This cinematic event gives audiences the chance to see their masterpieces in stunning detail and discover unexpected sides to two artists whose rivalry shaped British art history.

Turner and Constable will be screened at the Torch Theatre on Sunday, March 15 at 4:30pm.

Tickets are £13. For bookings, visit www.torchtheatre.co.uk or call the Box Office on 01646 695267.