By Ted Peskett

Copyright walesonline

There has been a mixed reaction to an announcement that a major new music series in Cardiff will go ahead again next year. Cardiff Council announced on Monday, September 15, that Blackweir Live will take place at Blackweir Fields again in 2026 not long after it published a survey on this year’s series.

The gig series saw big names like Stevie Wonder, Alanis Morissette, Noah Kahan, and Slayer perform at the city park on select days in June and July.

It was hailed as a major success by organisers Depot Live and Cuffe and Taylor. Never miss a Cardiff story and sign up to our newsletter here.

Cardiff Council, who applied for a licence for the gigs to take place on Blackweir Fields, also claimed the series was a success, adding that it brought in extra money for the city’s economy.

However others have raised concerns about the impact Blackweir Live had on traffic, noise pollution, and access to public space at Bute Park.

Friends of Bute Park said: “While Cardiff Council and event organisers claim a £35m economic return and increased cultural capital these benefits are shadowed by significant environmental, residential, and infrastructure impacts.

“This event model has failed to align with core sustainability principles and community confidence in Cardiff Council’s ability to manage high-impact events in public parks has been seriously eroded.”

The friends group has been highly critical of the way Cardiff Council went about facilitating Blackweir Live and raised a number of points of concern regarding this year’s series, adding that it had a “significant and negative impact on the wellbeing” of park users.

In a response to the council’s survey on Blackweir Live Friends of Bute Park mentioned the removal of trees by the council to create entrances for the event site; the impact on traffic, with gigs seeing dozens of drivers stuck in gridlocks for more than an hour; noise pollution, which resulted in 100 complaints to the council; and the impact on sports pitches.

The Chairman of Bay Dragons Cricket Club, Syed Abbas, said: “The pitch degradation that was feared did happen.

“We had no problem with Blackweir Live. They were very accommodating and they held to their contract.

“In terms of the future for cricket in Blackweir or at least for Bay Dragons if Blackweir Live has to exist then we need to learn to coexist but we would like some support from the council and Blackweir Live.

“If we are having to suffer some damage perhaps they can mitigate these risks by putting in some small funding.”

In a statement published by the council in July it said the protective measures put in place during the Blackweir Live events worked well and the grass, including cricket pitches, were “generally in very good condition”.

Cardiff Council also said engagement has taken place with all sports clubs who use the park.

However chairman of the Cardiff Midweek Cricket League (CMCL), Khawaja Ali Ajmal, said he wasn’t made aware of the decision by Cardiff Council to go ahead with Blackweir Live in 2026.

He said: “It seems the council is taking full financial benefit from the event without any visible reinvestment into cricket whether that’s through developing more cricket squares, improving facilities, or supporting the sport locally in any way.

“It’s disappointing that there’s no dialogue with us as key stakeholders in the area.”

Cardiff council has maintained throughout that it’s been in discussion with sports teams about the use of Blackweir Fields for live music events.

Ahead of the 2025 events Cardiff council said it met with Cricket Wales and had attempted to liaise with clubs through the leagues.

Questions were also raised this year over the lawful basis for Blackweir Live on planning grounds after a High Court ruling quashed a certificate of lawfulness by Lambeth Council in May 2025 to allow the use of Brockwell Park in London for a similar series of gigs for more than 28 days.

The Blackweir Live site was brought down by July 18 but the council has said it will seek planning permission for the 2026 series – something it didn’t do this year.

Community campaigner Jeremy Sparkes said: “The need to follow the correct legal process is paramount – we can’t have the commercial partners of the council just doing what they want, when they want, where they want, and how they want.

“No-one is above the need to act only with lawful permission.”

Cardiff council’s main argument in favour of Blackweir Live is the money it brings in for the city’s economy and the income that the local authority can put back into grassroots music and parks.

In a recent statement Cardiff Council said 49% of Blackweir Live attendees travelled from outside of Wales and 2.6% came from outside the UK.

They also said the events employed 3,118 people and 95% of these jobs were in Welsh-based businesses.

General manager of the Blue Bell pub in St Mary Street, Nick Newman, said Blackweir Live was “terrific” from a business perspective and he didn’t know a single business in the city centre that didn’t welcome the gig series.

According to high street data company Beauclair city centre sales in the month Blackweir Live concerts took place increased 15.6% compared to the same period in 2024.

“It’s what we’ve got to do as a capital city to promote ourselves,” said Mr Newman, who is also chair of the Cardiff Licensees Forum and a member of the FOR Cardiff board.

“For pubs, bars, and clubs the more events we have in the city centre the better.

“Of course Cardiff is a proper destination city and that reputation grows I would say year on year.

“Therefore we were supportive of the Blackweir events alongside the Castle events and the events we have at the [Principality] stadium throughout the year.”

Cardiff Council published a survey earlier this month on its website asking people for their thoughts on Blackweir Live 2025 and the idea of it taking place again in 2026.

The survey, which asked people how they were affected by gigs, was part of a review being conducted by the council to decide whether or not Blackweir Live should take place again.

It has already been reported that Lewis Capaldi will be one of the acts performing at Blackweir Live in 2026.

Reacting to the announcement that the series will take place again Mr Newman added: “I thought [the gigs] were extremely well-run, highly professional.

“The facilities I thought were terrific and [as] somebody who’s lucky enough to cycle back and forth to work every day and go through Bute Park, Pontcanna, and Blackweir, I did of course notice the landscape had changed for a while but really quickly everything is taken down and it reverts to its normal beautiful state.”

The leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, said in an interview this year that income from Blackweir Live will help the council avoid difficult budget decisions in the future.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked Cardiff council how much money it made from Blackweir Live but the local authority refused to say.

Cardiff council said it wouldn’t disclose the information because it was commercially sensitive but it did not specify why it would prejudice or likely cause prejudice to its commercial interests.

In its recent statement the council again said income generated from this summer’s concert series will contribute to park improvements and a further round of grassroots venues funding.

A recent scheme saw £200,000 in capital funding granted to independent venues in the city.

One of the venues that benefited from this was The Moon in Womanby Street, which was able to re-open early in 2025 after months of being closed.

Matt Cutrupi, who runs the venue, said he was in support of Blackweir Live and seemed pleased that it was returning for 2026.

However he said the venue didn’t notice any noticeable increase in sales as a result of the gig series.

“I think it’s cool. In terms of grassroots venues it doesn’t do much for us but there’s also not a complaint,” said Mr Cutrupi.

“People don’t have the additional revenue. Between transport and the ticket price and then drinks inside the event they’re not going to go spending more money before and after.

“They just leg it through the city to get back on the train.”

Mr Cutrupi was positive about the support Cardiff Council has given grass roots music venues over the past year, adding that help has been “very readily available”.

However he said he’d like to see more support given to other businesses that are not live music venues but do promote artists who are trying to establish themselves.

Reacting to the news Blackweir Live will take place in 2026 Mr Cutrupi said: “It’s a hard thing to figure out but doing these events can’t be a bad thing.

“Bringing people down to Cardiff, getting it on the map, doing some wicked events, representing the city, promoting… a varied amount of music.

“We just need to connect the dots a bit better.”