The Welsh Ballad of John Evans

• 04/21 Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
• 04/22 Seattle, WA @ Here – After
• 05/07 Belfast, UK – Black Box
• 05/09 Stockport, UK – Savoy Theatre
• 05/10 Wrexham, UK – Focus Wales
• 05/15 London, UK – Rich Mix
• 05/16 Leeds, UK – The Wardrobe
• 06/07 Swansea, UK, Gwyl Tawe Festival
• 06/11 Guildford, UK – The Boileroom
• 06/12 Tunbridge Wells, UK – The Forum
• 06/14 Ipswich, UK – Brighten the Corners Festival
• 08/29 Brighton, UK – Psych Fest

I spilled my cider in the front row. Normally, this might not be that significant at an indie rock show, but this was not a typical indie rock show. This was a seated Gruff Rhys show, with a heavy dose of a Nerd Nite-style history lesson on the 18th century Welsh explorer John Evans, as told through words, music, and staged photos projected on the screen center-stage. So, the crowd was respectfully hushed as Rhys sat down at his keyboard and computer set-up when I spilled my cider. “Oh, hopefully you didn’t lose too much of that,” he said kindly to me, before proceeding.

Rhys created catchy, kooky rock during Britpop’s heyday as the frontman for the Welsh band Super Furry Animals, with fuzzed-out riffs, carefree melodies, and Rhys’ super furry Welsh accent. As a solo artist, Rhys has mellowed out, but he’s still mining new ground. Rhys’ tour this spring, celebrating the tenth anniversary of American Interior, is a hybrid performance cataloging his travels across the American Midwest and South to retrace Evans’ journey. Evans originally set out to find out the truth behind the myth of a 12th-century Welsh prince who supposedly settled among a Native American tribe.

Though a mellower affair than a Super Furries show, it was still pretty kooky. Through the course of the concert, Rhys recounted Evans’ tragic journey through staged photos featuring a John Evans stand-in: a puppet that looked like Sesame Street’s Count Dracula. There’s the Evans puppet getting “arrested” by a modern-day cop cuffing him against his cop car; there’s the Evans puppet pensively sailing down the Missouri River; there’s the Evans puppet stopping during his journey to enjoy an iced latte.

Rhys recounted the entire journey from beginning to end, accompanied by, of course, a full set of musical interludes. He mainly performed solo, with keyboards and guitar, but was joined by opener Chris Forsyth near the end of his set. Rhys played lovely, low-key renditions of his solo work, like “Bad Friend” from his 2024 album, Sadness Sets Me Free, and American Interior tracks like “The Last Conquistador,” “Lost Tribes,” and “100 Unread Messages.”

With the unfolding of story and song, Evans’ journey became our collective journey. Rhys related the Welsh prince myth to our present-day bout of “fake news”—something meant to fit a colonialist narrative. Even with the hilarious slide show, the night’s performance ended up being riveting, tuneful, and melancholy in equal parts. I was fascinated and entertained all night.

The Philadelphia-based Forsyth, who has opened for Super Furry Animals in the past, brought his freeform artrock atmospherics as a complementary, stripped-down prelude.