Sturgill Simpson was working double duty last night in Nashville: face-melting performer and crowd control.
It’s really no surprise that “Johnny Blue Skies” brought the energy for his Nashville stop on his Why Not? Tour. The artist formerly known as Sturgill Simpson (and still known as him, to be frank) has been on a tear so far with what one could call his comeback tour, and he really brought the energy while he was in Music City.
Bridgestone Arena was on its feet for the entirety of Simpson’s 3 hour and 26 minute set. Being there myself, somehow it felt like both a marathon and a sprint. The rocking country artist packed in 36 songs into his show, ranging from classics like “Turtles All The Way Down,” Johnny Blue Skies tracks like the emotional “Jupiter’s Farie,” and raucous covers like the Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider.” It was a 3-plus hour show, but the pacing made it fly by.
His stage set up was simple, and visual supplements to the show were limited. Sturgill clearly wanted to create an environment that magnified and elevated the reason that everyone was there: the music. In his mind, all other distractions and additions to the show be damned – and it was awesome.
The Grammy winner was so busy shredding with his band that he only first addressed the Nashville crowd an hour and a half into the show. It was then when he introduced his band, took a moment to reflect, and then thanked everyone for being there:
“This is pretty cool because there was a time where I wasn’t sure if I’d ever do this again. I’m not going to lie to you… the last couple years have been pretty damn dark. But here we are.
I’m lucky to have the best band I’ve ever played with, and I wanna thank all of you.”
Sturgill, a Kentucky native, also took a moment to mention that he’d be inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame the following day. That got the crowd even more fired up, and everyone would have loved to hear more about it, but Simpson insisted that he get back to playing music before he “said something stupid.”
And not too long after he addressed those in Bridgestone Arena, Sturgill showcased that he was paying close attention to the crowd. When a couple of fans started to get in a scuffle in the pit, he scolded them mid-song (either “Fastest Horse In Town” or the When In Rome cover, “The Promise”) in order to keep the peace and didn’t miss a beat:
“Hey hey hey! We’re here to have a good time. Chill the f**k out.”
Once the song winded down a bit, Simpson gave an incredible quote explaining why he decided to break up the fight. It garnered a cascading laugh throughout the arena, as well as a popping spurt of applause and cheering as “Johnny Blue Skies” got right into the next song on the setlist:
“One a**hole at a time, and right now it’s my turn. So chill out… you don’t wanna see me go all Axl Rose and jump off this stage.”
Brilliant work there by Simpson, and what a rocking reference.
It might be recency bias talking, but Sturgill put on a show that’ll slot in somewhere along my personal “Top 5 Concerts of All Time” list. If you’ve got a chance to see him along his Why Not? Tour, don’t hesitate to do so. Just make sure you don’t get in a altercation within Simpson’s line of sight…
Oh, and here’s that “Midnight Rider” performance I alluded to earlier in case you were interested: