Okay, so the sun is FINALLY out, hopefully everyone’s bank accounts have recovered slightly from the Christmas mash up, and you’re all revved up and you want to go out! Also, in case you’re visiting Cardiff for the Joshua fight and looking for something else to do around watching grown men slowly beat each other to a bloody pulp, LOOK! There’s loads on!
Or maybe you’re a local, suffering from event overload – after all – maybe there is TOO much on, and you’re having trouble deciding what to do? Don’t fear, the We Are Cardiff What’s On – Easter Special Guide is here to haaaaalp!
There are two music festivals taking place across the whole of the weekend – Wales Goes Pop! at The Gate in Roath, and The Moon’s Easter Bank Holiday Weekend (which is F R E E!), which explains why you’ll see multiple entries for those. Other than that, we’ve got art exhibitions, yoga for runners, litter picks, as well as ALL SORTS of live music you can enjoy at gigs and club nights.
So don’t delay – read on and book your tickets where you can, a bunch of these are approaching BEING SOLD OUT!
What’s on in Cardiff – Thursday 29 March
STAR PICK! Cardiff Music Awards 2018
Thurs, 29 Mar · Tramshed Cardiff, 6pm – 11.30pm
YES YES! The Cardiff Music Awards are bringing the noise (and the party) with this rather smashing line up at the Tramshed. The event celebrates the BEST of our city’s musical talents, from bands to producers to promoters. The line up includes some of our fav Cardiff acts – Afro Cluster, HMS Morris, Rainbow Maniac, and DJs GRL TLK. TUNE IN TO SEE WHO GONNA WIN! Yagetme. Etc.
Cardiff Music Awards – tickets / Cardiff Music Awards – website
OTHER EVENTS IN CARDIFF ON THURSDAY 29 MARCH:
Kicking off the Moon’s weekend of epic tunes is Blowout Presents – No Violet + Support, Esuna, Cult of Hands and DJs til late. Grunge / Alt-Rock / Fuzz – FREE ENTRY!
Cardiff’s longest running club night (we’re nearly at its 19th birthday, people!!!) returns with its standard mix of twisted rock, indie, Britpop and all manner of things in between. Free entry til 11pm, get your shuffle on.
If you want to shake your thing to a wild cocktail of UK Funky, Bass, House and Afro Disco, we suggest you take yourselves down the steps to Undertone for this Rough’n’Tumble. Buy Rough n Tumble tickets
What’s on in Cardiff – Friday 30 March
Star pick! Astroid Boys | Y Plas, Cardiff Students’ Union
Fri, 30 Mar · Y PLAS, 7.30pm – 10.30pm
Our very own local grime punks are bringing their super lively style to the big stage! Astroid Boys have been all over your doink recently, with superstyle collabs with Adidas, and having their track Dusted chosen as the theme song for the WWE UK Championship Tournament. And DON’T MISS THE AFTERPARTY AT METROS!
Astroid Boys – website / Astroid Boys at Y Plas – buy tickets / Astroid Boys afterparty
OTHER EVENTS IN CARDIFF ON FRIDAY 30 MARCH:
It’s the first day of Wales Goes Pop! Celebrate with the best indie pop around: Sweet Baboo + Jeffrey Lewis + Peaness + Drahla +Charmpit + PURS + The Echo and The Always / cafe sets: Jemma Roper +Thee Manatees + Private World / DJs til 1am
Wales Goes Pop! website / Buy Wales Goes Pop! tickets
If you happen to be in town for cheeky drinks before you go out, make time to head into Queens Arcade to visit the Three Doors Up gallery with their latest exhibition, ‘Lomography’. Free entry plus culturally induced smugness.
If you’re an old raver (like I am), then let me let YOU into a little secret: Tramshed host all sorts of wicked house music nights that START EARLY AND END EARLY. So you can party like it’s your birthday until midnight, and then leave all the kids to go on to the afterparty. Anyway, this is one of those events – with Knee Deep In Sound head honcho, Hot Since 82. Expect house music all night long! (until midnight). Also there’s the Hot Since 82 afterparty, with Mella Dee headlining at infamous Cardiff venue, The Vaults!
If you’re indie, indie, all night long, then you’ll probably appreciate everything on the Nice Swan roster. Supported by Cardiff band, Sock! Buy Nice Swan tickets
The Moon continue their free music festival with headliners The Audio Pirates
& support! There will also be DJs playing alt rock indie punk psych til 4am. Head to Womanby Street and feel the beating pulse of Cardiff’s alternative music scene!
For those ragga enthusiasts in the building, make sure you grab tickets now for General Levy! We’ll be skanking by the left speaker at this one, make sure you come and say hi! Buy General Levy tickets
What’s on in Cardiff – Saturday 31 March
If by some miracle your hangover’s not that bad on Saturday, there are a bunch of great daytime events happening this Easter Saturday. To get your shop on, head for the Vintage Kilo Sale (10am, Canton) or the Boutique Gift Market at the Norwegian Church (10.30am, Cardiff Bay). For those of you that need to move, you could try the Welsh Hula Hoop Convention (10.30am, Cardiff Bay), Yoga for Runners (10.45am, Pontcanna), B-Girl Dance Workshop (2.30pm, Cardiff Bay), or an Adults Roller Skating Session at Cardiff House of Sport (5pm, Leckwith).
Oh, and if you’ve been naughty, you can always attempt to atone by attending the Keep Splott Tidy litterpick (10am, Adamsdown), and if you’re hungry, head to the third in the Wasteless Supper series (7.30pm, city centre), where you can get fed and feel smug at the same time.
Don’t forget, Saturday is the day of the Joshua vs Parker fight in Cardiff, so town is likely to be a carnival of epic proportions!
Now, onto the main events …
Star pick! Wales Goes Pop! 2018, 1.30pm – midnight
Sat, 31 Mar · The Gate, 1.30pm – late
Although Wales Goes Pop! is carrying on all weekend, for us the Saturday line up is The One: just check this out …
Dream Wife + Kero Kero Bonito + Desperate Journalist + Personal Best + Axolotes Mexicanos + She Makes War + The School / cafe sets: Buzzard + The Yearning + Rafa Skam (THE YELLOW MELODIES) / plus DJs til 1am.
Wales Goes Pop! website / Buy Wales Goes Pop! tickets
OTHER EVENTS IN CARDIFF ON SATURDAY 31 MARCH:
If normal clubs melt your mind and you yearn for something a bit less beaty, how about checking this – the first Ambient Afternoon, which aims to create a relaxed listening environment where anyone can have a cup of tea and wind down. The music will be non invasive, cross many genres and will soothe your soul. How good does that sound? In case you have no idea what we’re talking about, listen to this: Aquarium – Rainy Night in Shibuya. Vibes.
If you like your beats reggae based and dubby, head to the Moon for The Barefoot Bandit & support! Reggae / Dub all night long, plus DJs playing reggae funk soul dub punk hip-hop til 4am!
Our favourite night cafe bring the noise with Studio 89 -New Beat | EBM | Italo | HiNRG | Industrial. Come prepared to dance (and also potentially eat some of the amazing food they make at this place…)
Signor Funk does what he says on the tin – expect to hear from the likes of Northern Soul favourites Dobie Gray, Al Wilson, Jimmy Radcliffe and Epitome of Sound to more obscure rarities, all mixed in with cool dirty disco tunes. Also there’s 50 per cent OFF ALL DRINKS between 9-10pm! Get the party STARTED already!
If your idea of a good night starts late and finishes when most people are still fast asleep – oh, and takes place in a bank vault – then grab your dancing daps and head to The Vaults for the biggest d’n’b lineup to hit the city so far this year. Basslayerz, MC Fatman D, Grime Minister, MC Juiceman, AAA Badboy and MC Comma Dee will be performing for your pleasure (and no, we didn’t make up any of those names). Buy tickets for Concept vs Circle 8
What’s on in Cardiff – Sunday 1 April
Seriously?? You’re still looking for things to do? You’re not tired yet? For those of you with the stamina to keep going, you’re in luck! Daytime events taking place on Easter Sunday include an Easter Egg hunt on Flatholm Island (6.30am, Flatholm), a circus convention with workshops at Up Side Down Circus (10am, Tremorfa), you can watch Donnie Darko in a Victorian arcade (6pm, city centre), or join Cardiff’s unicycle club (8pm, Leckwith).
If it’s music you’re after, then read on for other events …
Star pick! Blue Honey Bank Holiday w/ Awesome Tapes From Africa
Sun 1 April · Gwdihŵ Café Bar, 3pm – 2am
Yes yes! It’s Blue Honey’s fourth annual day/night party at Gwdihŵ Café Bar car park. And they’ve got a pucker headliner – AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA making his Cardiff debut! Support comes from the untouchable Darkhouse Family, Esther, Rotary Club and Blue Honey DJs.
Blue Honey event page / Buy tickets for Blue Honey present Awesome Tapes from Africa
OTHER EVENTS IN CARDIFF ON SUNDAY 1 APRIL:
Wales Goes Pop! brings out the big guns for the Sunday line up – Shonen Knife + Brix & The Extricated + Goat Girl + Colour Me Wednesday + Bad Parents + El Goodo / cafe sets: Adwaith + Perfect Body + Think Pretty. Plus DJs til 11pm!
If house music all night long in a secret warehouse is your thing, be sure to grab your tickets NOW for the Delete Warehouse residents party – featuring Matt Owen, Marc Parsons, Lee Graves, Kofi Tarris, Owain Kimber, Gerrard and Aled Wynne. Location TBC direct to each ticket buyer! Buy Delete Warehouse Party tickets
On Sunday, the Moon wrap up their weekend festivities with CVC, Mike Dennis, Hash-Hann (Beatbox Hann), Papa Jupe’s Taurus Club, Anonymous Iconoclasts, Luke Bennett Music + DJs playing alt rock punk reggae funk soul dub hip-hop til 4am!
We don’t talk much about metal on this blog. Which is a shame, because in terms of subgenre descriptions, metal is probably the most inventive genre out there. Don’t believe me? Well, this line up that contains the following: Dutch grind / death / sludge / crust / black metal; Swedish death metal fused with UK hardcore; Scouse hardcore; London grind / powerviolence / mathcore; and finally, my favourite of all, London nutella grind.
No I didn’t know they were still going EITHER. Buy Embrace tickets
If you’re in need of a lovely sit down jazz gig, make sure you get your tickets to this – she’s hotly tipped by Jamie Cullen and Michael Ball. More jazz please vicar! Buy Sarah Munro tickets.
I hope they’ve got decent cleaning staff in the Vaults for this mega bonanza heavy tuneage weekend. Sunday’s party brings you techno – in a bank vault – all night long! Buy High-Fi 002 tickets
If you’re gagging for some d’n’b, then back down the stairs you go to the warm, sweaty embrace of Undertone. Rising stars on this line up – Apollo, Hoodfellaz Hoodfella development, Shanny Shan and Obsidian, with the night hosted by Hoodfellaz, Slim Teng, MC XL. Buy XL Invites – Critical Impact tickets
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Well I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely exhausted just going through those. Might invoke the concept of JOMO and lock myself in my house …
Nah! We’ll be out all weekend, and we can’t wait. See you on the dancefloor (or, potentially, at a litter pick or in an art gallery)
Peas
WAC
x
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We Are Cardiff 