There is clearly something in the North East attracting Hollywood stars. If you're not tripping over Harrison Ford filming the new Indiana Jones film in Bamburgh, or bumping into Tom Cruise on the North York Moors Railway, earlier this year you could have witnessed Johnny Depp performing on stage with the legendary guitarist Jeff Beck at Sage Gateshead.
The latest star to appear in the region, Kiefer Sutherland, did so at Newcastle City Hall on Friday as part of his Chasing The Rain tour. The Newcastle date was the third of a twelve date UK visit.
Prior to his set we were treated to a performance by a country-rock band from Cheshire, Fine Lines, an outfit whose music was well received and a good fit for Sutherland's music. The band's frontman Dave Boardman - who shares vocals with Zoe Blythe - was born in Morpeth and he said how honoured he felt to be on the City Hall stage after seeing so many bands play there. The band also included BBC Radio's Mark Radcliffe on drums.
Their latest album Gaslight Roses contributed several songs to their set the pick of which were the catchy Begging You and Stay as well as earlier songs including Forget About You.
Sutherland’s third album Bloor Street came out earlier this year, and is another slice of Americana with but with some additional influences in the mix such as country and R&B. It also reinforces his prowess as a down to earth and engaging storyteller, something apparent throughout the evening as he often introduced songs with a little back story about them.
Sutherland took the stage - which was cosily set up like a living room with rug, table lamp, hat stand, chair and glass of whisky - with a six piece band and opened with a new uptempo song Ole’ Lonely Life which he ended by leaping spectacularly off the drum riser. This was followed by his 2016 single Can’t Stay Away.
Chasing The Rain, a song about life on the road and missing loved ones was very reminiscent of the late, great Tom Petty, which I guess wasn’t too surprising given he did a great job of covering two Petty songs later in his set, Ways To Be Wicked and a rocking version of Honey Bee.
County Jail Gate, a song with its background in Sutherland receiving a 48 day jail sentence some years ago for drunk driving, found him recalling the jail gate closing “Two tons of steel grinding on the wheel is a sound you’ll never mistake”.
On Bloor Street he took us to the aforementioned road in his hometown of Toronto “When this city talks to me / She tells the story of my life” where both good and bad memories were recalled.
Another new song, the aptly titled Friday Night and Agave closed what had been an excellent show confirming that should Sutherland ever quit the day job of acting, he could certainly cut it as a respected musician.
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