MAVS: Mavs in Cardiff

September 24, 1998

From: Shaw, Phillip \(Bass PLC\)
Date: Tue Sep 22 01:52:24 98

Saturday night saw the Mavs play the Cardiff International Arena which is a relatively new hall in the principality's capital. I would guess it seats around 2500. Playing the same set as in London last Wednesday (and Friday apparently) but without an intermission the show seemed much more like a party than in London. Once again it took the audience a long time to party, in fact it took until DTNA for people to get up and dance much to security's displeasure. The difference was the audience was much more receptive to the show prior to DTNA. But once the audience were up and dancing the atmosphere changed as everyone seemed to be having a good time and the band certainly looked as if they were having a whale of a time. I certainly felt it was a better show than Wednesday's, the sound was sharp and I overheard some people leaving saying it was the best show they had ever seen. In a sense I really do think this is true as I defy anyone to go to a Mavs show at the moment and not come out smiling, it is one big fun event. The one thing I would say is that the show should be played to a standing audience not a seated one as this music is made for dancing.

After the show the band came out and met the few of us who were hanging around. Raul was non committal on putting any extra 'Trampoline' material in the show but appreciated the fact that I liked 'She Does'. Robert was much more receptive to the idea of working one or two of the missing songs in. This after he'd checked the set list and said they were playing two thirds of the album how much more did I want (actually Robert all of it please). He also said he would speak to the record company about the possibility of pressing 'Trampoline' on vinyl after I'd pointing out that all the hip and happening bands in the UK release their records on vinyl. And the big news from Robert was that the tour will return to Europe next spring.

Robert was also asked why the fan club meet and greets had been stopped. He said that an issue had been building over time and it reached its head whilst supporting Tim McGraw in Canada earlier this year and that it meant they were not focusing on the music as much as they should. Thus the decision to stop them. He did not, though, discount the possibility of their resumption at some time in the future. All in all a great night out in Cardiff.