KIEFER SUTHERLAND @ DINGWALLS, LONDON

The Hollywood actor turned country musician resumed his European tour dates to promote his latest studio album, ‘Bloor Street’, following postponement due to the pandemic. He performed the new songs alongside selected tracks from his previous two albums, with the explosive experience of a live band accompaniment surprisingly sounding nothing like his more subdued, acoustic records.

Following the slide guitar effects of ‘Can’t Stay Away’ from his debut release, Kiefer Sutherland performed his new single, ‘Chasing The Rain’, written about missing being on tour during the pandemic. It was a little weak for a single when compared to other songs he has written such as ‘Going Home’; about late night whiskey drinking with warped pedal effects, Sutherland joking that those nights in bars were finally paying off. He then revisited his last album, ‘Reckless & Me’, inspired from his lesser known days as a rodeo cowboy and named after his horse, Reckless, playing the slowed down title track.

He also included some covers, such as ‘Blame it on Your Heart’ by Patti Loveless, before doing the title track of his latest album, ‘Bloor Street’; a nostalgic song about where he grew up featuring piano and sweet guitar. After a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers cover of ‘Ways to Be Wicked’, Sutherland described writing new album song ‘So Full of Love’ one morning during the pandemic, which he said had made him “a little less cynical, a little less sarcastic and a lot more hopeful.”

‘This Is How It’s Done’ while lyrically weak contained more bending slide guitar, a swinging tempo and tight, military-style drumming with the band finishing on Sutherland’s debut album, ‘Down in a Hole’, with the track of the same name: heavier, trudging, dirty country blues that sped up at the end. For the encore, Sutherland premiered a new song ‘Friday Night’; again lyrically uncomplicated but with a variety of breakdown guitar riffs, with the band finishing the show on the Latinised twang riffs of ‘Agave’ with its smooth cha cha cha rhythm.

21/08/23: Kiefer Sutherland @ Dingwalls, London.