Sturgill Simpson Debuts Johnny Blue Skies at Outside Lands

For the first time in three years, Sturgill Simpson took the stage to perform a full set of music. And for the first time in over seven years, he took the stage with guitarist Laur Joamets, Kevin Black on bass, and Miles Miller on drums, a.k.a. the “classic” lineup of his backing band. The occasion was headlining the Outside Lands Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco Sunday night (8-11).

Officially, it was the debut of “Johnny Blue Skies”—Simpson’s new moniker under which he recently released the new album Passage Du Desir. Before Simpson announced the new album, the new name, or the tour behind it, he announced the Outside Lands appearance. Even after all the other revelations, it still was perhaps Sturgill’s most anticipated live appearance since the pandemic.

Many people made the trek to California to partake in the performance live. Others watched via a stream on Amazon Prime as part of Outside Lands coverage. For context, the latter is how this set of eyes and ears experienced it.

Though some have characterized the debut of Johnny Blue Skies as a “jam band” experience, this doesn’t feel exactly correct, though it did start that way in some respects, with Simpson sliding in the guitar melody of The Grateful Dead’s “China Cat Sunflower” into the second song of the set, “Brace For Impact.” It was likely in tribute to a band that was famously from San Francisco themselves. But jam bands don’t fit 19 songs into 90-minute sets.

Though the performance didn’t feel especially “country,” Simpson performed many of his country songs, even if the arrangements were more rock. Then again, a lot of his loud rock songs from his 2019 rock album Sound & Fury weren’t as ferocious as the recorded versions.

Previously when performing with guitarist Laur Joamets, Simpson would mostly play acoustic guitar. In the new Johnny Blue Skies presentation, it’s a two electric guitar attack, with Joamets only letting go of the slide for a song or two. Joamets also stepped behind the steel guitar for a couple of songs. If nothing else, this gave the set some element of a “roots” sound.

It’s also important to understand this wasn’t Under The Big Sky, this was Outside Lands. It’s an indie rock festival, not a country or roots one. Keyboard player Robbie Crowell (not part of the “classic” Simpson lineup) also played saxophone on a couple of songs.

“Get hearty motherf–kers. Rain’s coming,” Simpson said at the start of the set as precipitation plagued the area during the performance. About halfway through the concert, Sturgill also said,

“This is all I’m gonna say tonight, because I don’t like to talk. I’d rather just keep on playing. This is our third time playing Golden Gate Park. We played Hardly Strictly in 2014. We did Hardly Strictly in 2018, and we’re doing Outside Lands in 2024. Some of those shows were some of the greatest gigs we’ve ever been a part of. Thank you very much, San Francisco. You have a bright light inside of you; let it shine.”

Sturgill Simpson also shouted out Post Malone near the end of the set, saying, “I really love that guy … mostly because he always pays for dinner.” Malone had played the set earlier.

Though some moments like the opening song “Railroad of Sin,” “Living The Dream,” or an extended version of “Long White Line” near the end of the set felt like vintage Sturgill Simpson, most of it felt like a more purposeful rock approach. Though in some respects, Simpson can’t escape being that boy from Kentucky. Playing the solo for the final song “A Call To Arms,” he showcased his bluegrass-inspired guitar technique where he plucks rapidly back and forth on a string or two, filling the moments with notes, and power.

A full set list can be found below, with a video while it lasts.


SET LIST:

1. Railroad of Sin
2. Brace For Impact (China Cat Sunflower)
3. A Good Look
4. Right Kind of Dream
5. ???
6. Welcome To Earth (Pollywog)
7. It Ain’t All Flowers
8. The Promise
9. Whiter Shade of Pale
10. Life of Sin
11. Living The Dream
12. If The Sun Never Rises Again
13. All Around You
14. Best Clockmaker on Mars
15. I Don’t Mind
16. Fastest Horse in Town
17. Turtles All The Way Down
18. Long White Line
19. A Call To Arms

Video, (while it lasts):