That's Entertainment
Have you seen a great show recently? Or been out to a fantastic live music gig? What about live music and entertainment venues in the South West - are there enough good ones or are we underserved? Have Your Say!
Paul from Llanelli says:
"In reply to Ian from Llanelli 'Llanelli is a dessert', I run the town centre Metbar. We have had all sorts of live music over the last three years, including Micky Jones (MAN). As for the poor local bands not having an opportunity to play, we have been running a live and local night on the first Sunday of the month with good bands The Mams, Ameloia Duke and the New Tea Party. We have advertised in the local paper, on chalkboards, and internally for any new local band to contact the venue with a view to playing. Thus far the response has been.....zero. Local music is about local people playing and local people supporting, neither can survive without the other."
Peter from Pembs says:
"Living right off the left side of the Welsh map here in Pembs, we do well for live music, including the occasional big name. But what we get tends to come from our own efforts. There's no 'Why Don't They get X Y or Z' Coz there aint no 'they's' around: just 'us'. So we have a good grass roots live music scene and this forms the foundation for getting the support for decent names. Down here, if we want good bands, it has to be a do-it-yourself job. And maybe that's not a bad thing in some ways."
Mind you, the misprint that once said Santana was playing in a small pub in Broad Haven will go down in History as one of the great legends of all time."
Richard Evans from Swansea says:
"I totally agree with Iain. It is absolutely shocking the number of Semi-big acts that play Swansea and the surrounding area. With the exception of the club Escape (which has just opened up its downstairs for live acts on a friday night-superb!), there are precious little venues that bring touring bands that extra 40 miles down the M4! Swansea's Liesure department- Stop thinking about 70's tribute acts, or building new football stadiums (white rock) for Tom Jones to play in once a year, simply encourage touring bands to spend an extra hour on their tour bus, and come here!"
Mark from Neath:
"Iain and Ian I agree that big names are not attracted to our area of Wales and that is why we should be thankful for the up and coming acts which our area is producing, such as Lethargy, Kardomah, the Strugglers, 21 Against and Kingsway Cowboys, to name but a few.""There are also many organisations which are trying to influence and develop music around the area such as sound scape (www.soundscape.org.uk) and Tune Town (www.tunetown.co.uk).
Maybe soon we will have big acts playing in our musical venues such as the Patti Pavilion, The Swansea Grand and the Gwyn Hall, which are hopefully from our area such as Lost Prophets and Funeral For A Friend. I hope it happens as it sets the standard for our local bands to develop and to influence them to take that step and pay Neath / Port Talbot / Swansea / Llanelli back for everything that we have done for them. P.S The Penetrators (Man) were absolutely brilliant.
To read more about local bands and organisations who can help, visit our Music section.
Ian, Llanelli
"To Iain of Swansea. If you think Swansea's bad for music, you want to try Llanelli! The area is a musical desert, devoid of practically any decent live music. Of course. you get the truly awful karaoke style acts playing in the social clubs, but apart from the great 'MAN' appearing here in a charity concert a few months ago, this is a no-go area for decent bands. Even the young bands trying to start up have to go further afield to find anyone willing to give them a chance (The Venue and The Masons excepted)."
Iain from Swansea is unhappy about the state of live music in his city:
"Considering Swansea is the second largest city in Wales, it's terrible how little music there is here when compared to Cardiff. They get all the top names, even five consecutive nights of Westlife! Yet Swansea gets an Eagles tribute band. Shame on whoever is responsible for this shocking state of affairs."
Here is a vote of thanks to Cwmtawe Compreshensive School:
"I would like to congratulate Cwmtawe Comprehensive School on their recent production; Bugsy Malone, which really showed the genuine talent of the young actors. The production was comical, amusing, gripping and very entertaining throughout. The pupils put masses of time into contributing to the play and their hard work really shone through on the night. The songs were beautifully sung by some very talented singers and dancers who took the spotlight. I was smiling throughout as the production was not only a sucess but a compliment to our local community and showed just how talented these young stars are in the making were."
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