It would be easy to assume that Kiefer sold out the 1,000-capacity Tramshed purely on the strength of his Hollywood pedigree. After all, A-list royalty rarely graces this corner of south Wales. He was the Lost Boy, starred alongside Jack Nicholson, and fronted one of the most explosive and original television series of the 2000s. You’d have been hard-pressed to find anyone in the audience who wasn’t a fan of at least one of those achievements.

So why, whenever Kiefer announced the next song, was it met with ecstatic applause and enthusiastic singalongs?

Because he has cultivated a fan base founded not on celebrity, but on artistic merit. Through his work as a songwriter and performer, he has earned the kind of loyalty that cannot be inherited from Hollywood fame alone.

Dressed to the nines in a sharp suit and matching cowboy hat, Kiefer took to the stage with guitar already in hand. Striking the opening riff to Down the Line as he strode towards centre stage, he immediately commanded the room. A spirited cover of Garbage’s Only Happy When It Rains provided a more than welcome counterpoint to the heavy Americana that characterised the opening stretch of the set.

Introducing Goodbye California as his love letter to the state that helped shape him, Kiefer reflected on swapping the bright lights of the West Coast for life on a ranch in the American Midwest. Before launching into Come Back Down, he quipped that “you really shouldn’t have favourite kids”, before admitting that the next song held a special place in his heart.

In a recent interview with Alan Carr, Kiefer revealed that the simple but effective melodic approach of Oasis had informed his latest record, Grey. Nowhere is that influence more apparent than on the album standout Come Back Down.

One of the evening’s highlights came with a surprise rendition of the Marshall Tucker Band classic Can’t You See. A bona fide slice of Southern rock, the song was perfromed with confidence and conviction by Kiefer and his band, who delivered the 1974 favourite with prowess.

Before ‘American Farmer’ Kiefer used the platform to highlight the struggle experienced by those who agriculture both and home and across the pond, in saying that “the difficulty in my community is for the local farmer, the family-owned farmer”.  Introducing Simpler Times, he reflected: “I was watching my kids and then I was watching my grandkids and I was just so grateful not to be raised with a cellphone or a computer.” With scarcely a phone in sight and the crowd hanging on his every word, it was clear that Kiefer had the audience firmly in the palm of his hand as he eased into one of the evening’s most heartfelt moments.

As we entered the second phase of the evening, Keifer throws his guitar behind has back to take centre stage as a true front man for ‘Love will bring you home’ a rock stomper with an outro that echoes Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’. Front and centre, Kiefer proved he could command this position and was very comfortable in it.

The crowd were thrilled to finally hear ‘Friday Night’ and ‘Agarve’ to round off proceedings. The encore lasted less than two minutes however, with Kiefer and the band returning to the stage to perform a stunning and unique rendition of ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins. Imagine David Gilmour’s 95’ division bell era mixed with an Americana twang. The result is an extremely confident and assured cover of the 80s classic.

‘Starlight’ beautifully resonated through the venue with the introduction of a dreamy-bluesy slide guitar. The band took a well-deserved bow, only for Kiefer to take to the stage for the second encore of the night. The Springsteen inspired ‘2AM’ couldn’t have been a more perfect and appropriate round off to the evening.

Leaving the stage for a final time, Kiefer’s parting words to his Welsh audience were a simple “nos da.” A small but meaningful gesture from a man who now lives on the other side of the world, both geographically and in a literal sense.

Generally speaking, there’s nothing more cringy than a middle-aged actor trying to explore new pasters in the form of music. They are usually put into the mid-life crisis category and struggle to find their way out. Kiefer Sutherland then, has no intention of staying put and if his tour has proved anything it’s the pure dedication that has to his craft, regardless of the medium.  Pun aside, he certainly wasn’t a lost boy on this night.

REVIEW by Luke Stanley for The Songbird HQ

All photography By THISISGARY.PHOTOGRAPHY