Who the f*ck is Johnny Blue Skies?

He's Sturgill Simpson, and his concert is a must-see show. Here's my review

Sturgill Simpson, AKA Johnny Blue Skies, and his band perform at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. Photo credit: Mike Provine

When Sturgill Simpson announced his first tour since 2001, I was excited — I’m a recently converted fan thanks to his new album (under his alias, Johnny Blue Skies), Passage du Desir, and couldn’t wait to see him.

Then I saw the ticket prices at the Fox Theater in St. Louis.

At $150-plus for the cheapest ticket, I figured maybe this was a show I could miss. But then the tour kicked off and reports began coming in — a tight, five-piece band doing three-hour shows with cool covers mixed with Simpson’s new album and other songs from his catalog.

I read author and music critic Steven Hyden’s great review just as prices eased a little on the secondary market and I nabbed an aisle seat in the balcony. It turned out to be a great buy. I’m calling it now — this was the Concert of the Year.

I had never listened to Simpson before Passage du Desir, and found he had a deep back catalog that went into a lot of different directions — from more traditional country to rock and other influences. I found myself most drawn to the new album and Metamodern Sound in Country Music, though I found gems throughout all his albums.

This was my second time at the Fabulous Fox, and this was a much better experience than the first show in August when I saw Tedeschi Trucks Band there and the sound — particularly the vocals — were muffled. And while the vocals still could’ve been clearer — I think the vastness of the venue and volume of the crowd is a lot to overcome — it was a huge improvement.

The Fox Theater from the balcony.

The balcony view is outstanding at the Fox. Unless you’re in the first 25 rows or so on the floor in the middle, I’d go with the balcony. I also brought binoculars — if you’re not close, I can’t recommend this enough.

The Fox was sold out and the crowd was way into the show. The people sitting near me were mostly quiet — a nice change of pace.

It didn’t take long to realize it was going to be a special show. Simpson’s band brought energy from the first song, “Best Clockmaker on Mars,” and it never let up.

There were so many ‘wow’ moments. Their cover of “You Don’t Miss Your Water” was powerful. It’s one of the songs on which Robbie Crowell picked up a saxophone and ripped a solo that the crowd erupted for when it finished. From Crowell’s sax solo it went into a blistering guitar solo from Laur Joamets (they call him Joe) — an exceptional lead player who has a chemistry with Simpson (also a kickass guitar player). They ranked among the top guitar duos I’ve seen perform the last couple years.

It was over an hour into the show before Simpson said anything. He asked, “How y’all doin’?” Someone in the crowd asked him how he was doing, and he said, “Me? Pretty good. Not bad. I can’t complain.”

“Scooter Blues” is one of my favorite songs from the new record, but Simpson slowed it down live and it was even better — drummer Miles Miller provided some sweet harmonies on that one, along with many others.

There was this really cool moment when there seemed to be some confusion about what he was going to play next.

“Wooo, we’re going to play … uh … we don’t know what this is. We don’t know what we want to do,” he said. “It’s that point of the evening where it could go like one of eight ways.”

Then he said, “I got it,” strummed a chord and said: “C is feeling pretty good. Let’s stay right there,” then went into “Mercury in Retrograde.”

The finish brought it all together. “Fastest Horse in Town” is great on SOUND & FURY, but this version … I thought that huge chandelier that hangs way up high in the Fox Theater was going to come crashing down as the band chugged relentlessly on the groove. On the second night, they did the song again (but not as the closer). Three minutes into the smoldering opening of the song, he said:

“I don’t go near the internet, but somebody showed me a Reddit post the other day from a guy who said he’s coming tonight, and he wanted to hear this song played heavier than his mom. And he said his mom was pretty fucking heavy. So this is for you, brother.”

I can’t decide which version is heavier — night one or two.

When the night one show was over, he said they’d be back the next night, then the lights came up and I stood motionless as the crowd began to file past me — not wanting it be over, despite a three-hour show. As I made my way down the stairs, there was a buzz in the crowd — an acknowledgement we’d just witnessed something special.

I listened to this show and the one from the next night on nugs.net (well worth the subscription), and they’re both unbelievable shows. The second show has the better setlist, with covers of “Spanish Moon” and “Purple Rain,” plus two of my favorites in “Mint Tea” and “Turtles All the Way Down.” The second night was also a little more ragged — with restarts on “If the Sun Never Rises” and “Jupiter Faerie” and a blown lyric in “Turtles” — but he talked more and had some interesting and noteworthy things to say.

The energy and the quality of the band was the same both nights — it’s tough to pick a favorite. I wish I could have been at both. (Here are the setlists for night one and night two. What do you think?)

Here were the highlights of what he said on night two:

• Following a nearly nine minute “Best Clockmaker on Mars,” Simpson said: “I just want to say I’m so sorry to anyone who hasn’t been paying too close of attention these last four or five years and showed up for a big ol’ shit-kickin’ country concert. I’m sorry. I promise we’re going to make you happy, too. We got about three hours tonight. We’re basically going to try to cover the entire American musical spectrum — a little something for everyone. Back in the day they used to call that rock n’ roll. Now they don’t know what to call it. And … I’m going to shut up now.”

• After “Fastest Horse in Town,” he said: “We’ve been on the road for about a month now … starting to get our legs. But when we come back in the spring, I promise we’ll know what we’re doing by then.” Coming back? I’m there.

• After “All is Said and Done,” and before “Right Kind of Dream,” there was a pause and Simpson said: “The changing of the snare … .” A song later, he said, “Miles has a different snare for every song. Me and Joe play the same guitars all night but it’s all about the snare sound … .” Then Simpson paused and there was some laughter, and he said, “Turns out he just beat the shit out of it and broke the head. My bad. That’s happens sometimes when you play … rock n’ roll.”

Here’s a bunch of videos/photos from Friday night. Thanks to one of my best friends Mike (who had a great seat!) for use of his photos/videos.

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