For the past two years, Sturgill Simpson has been one of the most widely praised acts in the live rock+ spectrum since returning to the stage. In a world of skyrocketing ticket prices, the post-country singer-songwriter—who took up the name Johnny Blue Skies upon his return—gives fans their money’s worth by regularly turning in three-hour concerts. Often taking the stage at the exact posted showtime, he and his stud backing band play right to the venue’s curfew. No intermission, no encore break. Just one song after another for setlists that usually tally songs in the high 20s and lower 30s.
Even with that sterling live reputation preceding him, Simpson Johnny Blue Skies outdid himself for his Who the F–k is Johnny Blue Skies world tour closer on Wednesday at Red Rocks, reportedly playing for three hours and 43 minutes straight, according to a fan in his Facebook group. The 37-song setlist supports this claim. If true, Wednesday would have marked the longest show under the Johnny Blue Skies banner.
Speaking of Johnny Blue Skies, the singer-songwriter shed further light on his adopted monicker in a heartfelt monologue partway through the marathon concert.
This is the most fun I’ve ever had onstage. This is the best band I’ve ever played with, ever will play with. That’s why I don’t wanna be me no more. I just wanna be a dude in a band, so we are Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds. Tell your friends, ’cause all the promoters think you’re too stupid to figure out that he’s me. They won’t let me take Sturgill off the goddam billing and I’m getting really tired of it. Sold a bunch of t-shirts last year, none of them had my name on it. Sold out a goddam tour, that didn’t have my name on it either. So I don’t know what’s so hard to figure out. This is the path forward.
Immediately following that diatribe—with a hearty, “F–k it, I’ll tell ya”—JBS revealed that his next album is already finished. “In the can,” as he put it, before calling out “all the record labels out there acting like record labels that wanna f–k around. F–k around. Find out. I just wanna make America f–k again.”
Between laying out a litany of choice soundbites, that guy on guitar and vocals and his bandmates, Laur Joamets (guitars), Miles Miller (drums), Kevin Black (bass), and Robbie Crowell (keyboards, saxophone), delivered a set that fittingly defied classification as much as the headliner himself. The blistering psychedelia of “Ronin” opened the show as it did the artist then known as Sturgill Simpson’s 2019 apocalyptic psych-rock masterpiece SOUND & FURY, immediately countered by the tenderness of “If the Sun Never Rises Again” from Johnny Blue Skies’ beautifully fragile 2024 debut, Passage du Desir.
Throughout the show, covers of Little Feat, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix rubbed elbows with classic country from Moore & Napier, Eddie Murphy party-pop, and—perhaps most surprisingly of all—”Under the Sea” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Many of these nods to a wide variety of influences—some of them just a brief snippet in the middle of a larger jam on a Sturgill Simpson original—have been setlist regulars, but for the Red Rocks faithful, Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds added a full cover of Joe Walsh‘s “Rocky Mountain Way”, a song they debuted five months prior some 18 miles away at Denver’s Mission Ballroom.
Sturgill Simpson — “Under The Sea” (Alan Menken) — 9/17/25
[Video: Royce Witherspoon]
Between classic covers and originals from the Sturgill and JBS catalogs, the bandleader also nodded to his first major band, Sunday Valley, with seldom-seen songs “Sometimes Wine” and “I Wonder”. As the show inched toward its conclusion, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth epic “Call to Arms” set up what the jam folks who have flocked to Johnny Blue Skies would call a “sandwich” that began with “Call to Arms”, wound its way through Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way”, an explosive section of Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun”, and finally back to “Call to Arms” to give a properly incendiary ending to one of the greatest musical comeback stories of the past few years.
Sturgill Simpson — “I Wonder” — 9/17/25
[Video: Royce Witherspoon]
Check out some videos from Sturgill Simpson/Johnny Blue Skies’ tour closer at Red Rocks. Stay tuned for news on the upcoming album, possibly coming from the newly launched, official @johnnyblueskies Instagram which recently posted the cryptic message “hold yer horses.”
Sturgill Simpson — “Red Red Wine” (Neil Diamond) — 9/17/25
[Video: Royce Witherspoon]
Sturgill Simpson — “Welcome To Earth (Pollywog)”, “Best Clockmaker On Mars” > “Under The Sea Reprise” > “Breakers Roar” — 9/17/25
[Video: Royce Witherspoon]
Sturgill Simpson — “Brace For Impact (Live A Little)” — 9/17/25
[Video: Royce Witherspoon]
Setlist: Sturgill Simpson | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO | 9/17/25
Set: Ronin, If the Sun Never Rises Again, Spanish Moon (Little Feat), Pinball Blues (Moore & Napier), Long White Line (Moore & Napier), Sitting Here Without You, Red Red Wine (Neil Diamond), The Storm, Under the Sea (Alan Menken), Juanita, Sing Along, All Around You, A Little Light, One for the Road, Purple Rain (Prince), It Ain’t All Flowers > Party All The Time (Eddie Murphy) > It Ain’t All Flowers, Water in a Well, Sometimes Wine (Sunday Valley), Voices, Welcome to Earth (Pollywog), Best Clockmaker on Mars > Under the Sea Reprise, Breakers Roar, In Bloom (Nirvana), A Good Look > La Grange (ZZ Top) > Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman) (Led Zeppelin) > A Good Look, You Can Have the Crown, I Wonder (Sunday Valley), All the Pretty Colors, Turtles All the Way Down, Fastest Horse in Town, Brace For Impact (Live A Little) [1], Call to Arms > Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh) > Machine Gun (Jimi Hendrix) > Call to Arms
[1] “China Cat Sunflower” (Grateful Dead) interpolation