20/10/2026
It’s been 3 years since Orchard Live put on their last shows in the Castle. It felt like Orchard Live walked so Live Nation could run. The office was chaotic but gratifying - we were all just a bunch of music nerds that cared too much.
Still value that short time at Orchard Live more than any other office job. Road trips to North Wales and questionable “hotels”, the daft conversations in an open office, enduring Welsh weather on site, ridiculous rider requests, more Welsh weather and our lunch time darts. Still grateful to part of those rock ’n roll outdoor shows that happened across North and South Wales.
The serious local music industry question and issue (and probably one that’ll get me blacklisted) - Live Nation now run Cardiff Castle, Blackweir, the arenas, and now Swansea Singleton.
LN have brought some surreal acts to Cardiff over last couple years but they have the money to throw at it and stop others competing (as they did to OL).
Cardiff Council allowed their monopoly over South Wales to happen. What’s worse is seeing local media praise this and not questioning why.
I’m not calling for LN to be ousted. I have friends that work on both sides (who all work too much). Just for better communication from the Council and their plans.
There are other independent promoters competent enough to co-op/share the sites with, so why don’t they? The issue again is LN have saturated the market. I have multiple stories I could share from around the south from various promoters either being shafted by LN deals or pushed out.
What needs to happen to allow independent promoters to have access to the Castle, to Blackweir, to level the playing field? To allow indie promoters to be able to continue working with artists they’ve built up from grassroots? To be able to use other sites like Swansea without fear of saturation?
What’s been disappointing to see is how much support, easy access and coverage Cardiff Council and local press have given LN compared to that of independents past and present.
Do the public care? Probably not. Also, where are Cardiff Music Board? What do they do?
Anyway, go support Crosstown, Kilimanjaro, Blowout, Effigy, your friends.
