Super Furry Animals offshoot to open Cardiff Music City Festival

Nation.Cymru staff

Cardiff Music City Festival will get underway in spectacular fashion this autumn when cult Welsh favourites Acid Casuals take to the stage at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama for a special opening night performance celebrating 20 years of their acclaimed album Omni.

Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow (Friday, August 14) via https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/acid-casuals-celebrate-20-years-of-omni

The band, featuring Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciarán and Kev Tame, who now heads up Sain Records and was a member of Welsh indie pop group Big Leaves, will perform Omni from beginning to end for the first time ever, giving audiences a rare opportunity to experience the album in its entirety as it was originally conceived.

The unique show marks the opening night of Cardiff Music City Festival, which runs from Friday 2 October to Saturday 17 October.

Returning for its third year, Cardiff Music City Festival incorporates Sŵn Festival, Llais and the Welsh Music Prize as part of a wider programme celebrating the power of music to unite and inspire.

Over the past two years the festival has welcomed international stars, groundbreaking Welsh artists and emerging talent to venues across the Welsh capital while championing the city’s local scene and strengthening Cardiff’s reputation as one the UK’s most exciting music cities.

For Acid Casuals fans, however, the spotlight this year will firmly be on Omni. Described on its release in 2006, as “one enormously satisfying listen” by Pitchfork and “diverse and intriguing” by The Times, the album ranges from techno to dreamy Beach Boys-esque pop.

Opening with the memorably titled ‘If I’m a Selt you’re a Sunt’ and closing with the woozy doo-wop romance of ‘Bowl Me Over,’ it earned a devoted following in Wales and beyond. Twenty years on, the anniversary performance promises to be both a celebration of the record’s legacy and a unique live experience for longtime fans and new listeners alike.

Cardiff Music City Festival Curator, Ruth Cayford, said: “We’re thrilled to open this year’s festival with an artist and album that hold such a special place in Welsh culture. Acid Casuals performing Omni in full for the first time is exactly the kind of unique experience we want the festival to offer audiences. It’s going to be unforgettable.”

The concert will take place in the Dora Stoutzker Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama on Friday 2nd October and forms part of the wider Cardiff Music City Festival programme.

Further Cardiff Music City festival 2026 programme announcements will follow in the coming weeks.

For more information visit the Cardiff Music City Festival website: https://cardiffmusiccity.wales/

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