So, I was all ready to go into a passionate rant about my love of the Belfast Empire as a venue as I attend Kiefer Sutherland tonight as he makes his debut in my home city, but alas, at 5 pm, my friend tags me in a post on FB to announce a last-minute venue change! The Limelight now plays host to tonight’s festivities, and all those dedicated fans are scrambling from up the road to the heart of Belfast’s city centre.
As it is, traffic is quiet, and I make my way in hassle-free and land at the venue 10 mins before support act Colin Andrew takes to the stage. Colin is a Kerryman and has had the pleasure of playing across the tour with Kiefer. As soon as he starts singing, you can understand why; he has a glorious rock voice that fills the room and captivates the audience. He plays with the audience, his Irish charm in full flow, tossing out heartbreaking songs at ease, one after another as the audience warms to his highly addictive melodies. A short but sweet set introduced Colin to Belfast and Belfast to Colin, but let’s be honest, this packed-out crowd are here for one man only, Kiefer Sutherland!
Photography: Mark McGrogan
An earlier-than-expected start at 8:15, and the band takes to the stage, bursting into song before the man of the hour walks out to rapturous applause. The vibe, rockier than I had anticipated, Kiefer knows how to make an entrance! The venue is pretty rammed. I was slightly concerned that the venue change might have affected the numbers by the time the band took the stage, but my fears were unfounded. The room is full from front to back of adoring fans, all ready for a night of quality music.
We are just over a week out from Kiefer releasing his new album ‘Grey’. The room is hot tonight with a stormy day in Belfast; you can feel the air thick as soup. Kiefer doesn’t delay in turning the temperature right up, regardless! Teasing us with new material from the new album, as well as treating us to a collection of tunes by various artists that speak to him too. The band he has assembled around him is stellar, as always with any Country and Americana band. These guys are always next level, bathed in glorious light, with the limelight buzzing for their midweek show. There’s no such thing as a school night in Belfast; we love our gigs any day of the week! And by the looks of it there will be a few sore heads in work tomorrow as the party has truly started. The light is beautiful, and the band glows up there as they treat the Belfast audience to a collection of songs that takes them on a journey of melancholy, emotive song writing and all out rockers when called for a burst of energy, the band individually are a solid as you’ll see with glorious guitar work in every track, the lead guitarists stepping up for blistering solos mid way through each track as Kiefer bounces off their energy, his pedal steel guitarist steps out with a Flying-V to lay down the law along with his lead player and they create some magical sounds all against a backdrop of beautifully constructed songs from the off. Kiefer talks of his songs being like his children and the guilt of having a favourite, but he does, and he treats us to many of his favourites as the Belfast audience gets lost in the moment, that short fleeting time we as an audience have with these global music makers as they sprinkle their pixie dust into the air before disappearing off into the night and onto the next city.
For many like myself, this would have been their first encounter with the man himself, and it would be easy to walk into a venue with a preconception of how this would have all played out, but Kiefer came, he saw, he conquered and left Belfast with an evening packed with memories that many will carry with them until they meet again. Everyone will have their own version of the perfect setlist; we all love the singles, but we’ll also have personal favourites from his previous three studio albums and ‘Grey’, which will no doubt win over an army of fans. Tonight was one of those gigs that was good for the soul, a collection of heartfelt songs in a packed-out room all gathered together in need of a distraction from the lunacy that is 2026, and we got that and more.
