91Èȱ¬

Tomorrow sees Stereophonics play the first gig at the Cardiff City Stadium tomorrow, supported by Kids In Glass Houses.

Fourteen years since the release of their debut album, Word Gets Around, they're one of the UK's most perennially successful rock bands, with millions of records sold and the majority of their albums reaching number one in the UK charts.

Their appeal is . They are criticised for what some see as their 'dad-rock' approach to plodding rhythms and basic melodies. Their lyrics are lambasted and their unreconstructed worship of old-school stadium rockers is mocked. Heck, check out the leathers.

But none of this matters a jot to the 30,000 people who'll be packing out the stadium, nor the millions of people who carry on buying their records. Keep Calm And Carry On is the title of their latest album and that's what they've been doing for over a decade.

By not caring about changing fashions or, in the main, the nuances of critical opinion (best forget though) Stereophonics simply keep knocking out songs which work.

Songs which work - they get the commercial stations listened to by millions; they connect with people like to shout choruses; they have melodies which lie like mac-wearing weirdos in hedges, ready to jump out and expose themselves at a moment's notice; and they sell albums and tickets.

So tomorrow night as I sit in my garden, barbecuing a banana (very nice, I recommend it) and avoiding marches, I'll be able to hear the sound of a mass bellow to Have A Nice Day, Dakota, Pick A Part That's New, The Bartender And The Thief, Maybe Tomorrow and a dozen other chart-bothering tunes.

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