Cardiff 2026

[beau1]

On 04/04/2026 at 13:49, charlierc said:

I'm planning on going to the Castle to see David Byrne in July after a friend who lives in the city said it'd work. What could I expect from it as a venue?

 

Certainly one thing I'll be hoping to avoid this time is getting stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam on the M4 between the Severn Bridge and Newport, as happened when I went to see Foo Fighters at the Millennium/Principality Stadium 2 years ago.

The Castle is far smaller and more intimate than the Principality Stadium. Think capacity is about 8-10k so not that much bigger than a standing gig in the CIA. 

 

I was pleasantly surprised with the Castle as a venue when I went to see James there last summer. There is a good amount of space to chill between acts nearer the 'new' Bute built part of the Castle. 

 

I'd still expect queues leaving Cardiff but that seems to be the nature of the beast now - it will depend on if there is something else going on at the same time but it shouldn't be anywhere near as bad as a Principality gig .

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, beau1 said:

The Castle is far smaller and more intimate than the Principality Stadium. Think capacity is about 8-10k so not that much bigger than a standing gig in the CIA. 

 

I was pleasantly surprised with the Castle as a venue when I went to see James there last summer. There is a good amount of space to chill between acts nearer the 'new' Bute built part of the Castle. 

 

I'd still expect queues leaving Cardiff but that seems to be the nature of the beast now - it will depend on if there is something else going on at the same time but it shouldn't be anywhere near as bad as a Principality gig .

Far as I can tell, nothing of comparable size is going on that evening elsewhere in Cardiff. And yeah - I've been to similarly sized stadiums found leaving those can be difficult, although I will say I actually didn't find leaving the Principality Stadium too bad compared to some others (hello Tottenham Stadium). But thanks for your notes and advice.