KIEFER SUTHERLAND @ UNION CHAPEL, LONDON

On his European/UK tour, the British-Canadian actor turned musician Kiefer Sutherland was promoting the forthcoming please of his fourth studio album, ‘Grey’, due to be released later this month and from which he performed seven tracks, opening on new song ‘Down Below’, combed by Chris Hillman’s dark, spinning pedal steel guitar. He included some covers in the set of songs that are personally meaningful to him, picking up the pace with his country blues version of Garbage’s 1995 seminal single, ‘Only Happy When It Rains’; it could have benefitted from more of a guitar solo, but its chorus melody melded well with his vocals that also added something to the original.

He moved onto ‘Goodbye California’, a lead track on his new album: a ballad about leaving California where he’s lived so much of his life, although its golden sunshine guitar melody was unfortunately impaired by the harsh drum sound which was an issue throughout the set. The grungy lullaby of ‘Come Back Down’, one of Sutherland’s self-confessed favourites amongst his catalogue and the first track on his new album, was sung alongside pedal steel guitar which produced a spellbinding, harmonic Chinese oriental folk sound and his Marshall Tucker Band cover of ‘Can You See’ added some purring boogie strut and a rock ‘n’ roll guitar solo to the set.

Sutherland also played from his last studio album, ‘Bloor Street’, with ‘Chasing the Rain’, before returning to his new album to perform ‘American Farmer’: particularly unique amongst the new track list and starting with Sutherland solo on acoustic guitar, it describes the tragic and exhausting plight of American independent farmers and their struggles against the corporations – a feeling which passionately came through his vocals amongst a beautifully paired bridge with his backing guitarist – showing how in touch this famous Hollywood actor can be with the common cause, a feeling further echoed in his new single that followed, ‘Simpler Time’, about growing up in a pre-technological age. Opening on honey-sweet harp sounds, ‘See You On the Other Side’, far from the Ozzy Osbourne song of the same name, is actually an unreleased composition written by the musician that themes on loss signified by mournful pedal steel bends; his father Donald Sutherland having passed away in 2024.

Ever full of creative songwriting, Sutherland performed more new material as he neared the end of his main set with the mellow ‘Love Will Bring You Home’, currently an unreleased track having not been included on his new album. The western swing of his last album tour was revisited in the burnishing vivacity of ‘Two Stepping in Time’, with the band continuing the upbeat feel in the slide blues and artillery drumming of ‘This Is How It’s Done’ from his ‘Reckless & Me’ album and the gritty, hellish depths erupting into frenzied guitar solos of ‘Down in a Hole’ from his debut album. The band finished the main set on the samba percussive shake of ‘Agave’.

The encore contained a surprise cover in the way of Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’, beginning on a proggy guitar instrumental; it was perhaps left wanting on the famous drum part, although like the other covers of the night, was a refreshing change in a set full of country genre. Final song ‘Starlight’, one of the strongest tracks on the new release with its medley of pedal steel and guitar, was spun out into an cosmic web of noise and ascending solos by Sutherland’s incredible band. With both driving country jams and touching sentimentality, Sutherland continues to show his colours and expansive talents as a musical artist, and not just an actor, to be taken seriously in his own right.

12/05/26: Kiefer Sutherland @ Union Chapel, London.