Sturgill Simpson, or should I say “Johnny Blue Skies,” is set to play Bridgestone Arena tonight in Nashville, Tennessee.
Music City residents and those in the surrounding area will flock to Broadway to see the country star on his Why Not? Tour, which is already being regarded as one of his best – if not the best – tours he’s ever been a part of. Everyone that’s seen the artist formerly known as Sturgill Simpson (and still known as Sturgill) has been treated to three straight hours of mind-blowing, hard-rocking live music.
Simpson even got in trouble during a stop in Minnesota for jamming too much and going over his allotted time (likely landing Stu and his band a noise ordinance penalty). But as he said during that concert, he was more than happy to foot whatever bill he had coming:
“Thank you very much! We might have just got fined but f*** it. We love you have a great night.”
I happen to be one of the Nashville residents that’s excited to make the trek downtown to see Sturgill tonight, and I have to imagine that Sturgill is excited to make his return to arena as well. Except last time…. he wasn’t even in the building.
In 2017, Sturgill’s A Sailor’s Guide To Earth project won Best Country Album at the 59th annual Grammy Awards. It was an undeniable winner, and was even nominated for all-genre category for Album of the Year. You’d think with honors like that at the Grammy’s, he’d sweep the comparatively smaller awards shows like the CMA Awards, right? Right?
Funny enough, Simpson wasn’t nominated for any of the CMA Awards, and actually wasn’t even invited to the awards show at all. If you look it up, artists like P!nk and former One Direction member Niall Horan took the stage at the CMA’s, and Sturgill was nowhere to be seen… inside the building.
As a big middle finger to the CMA Awards, Sturgill set up right outside Bridgestone Arena and busked – with his Grammy sitting in his open guitar case. He live streamed the whole thing, and opened up his on-the-street performance with this shot at the CMA’s, and really the country music industry as a whole:
“They were all out of seats, I couldn’t get a ticket. So I thought I’d come down here and play some country music since we’re celebrating it tonight in Nashville, Tennessee.”
Legendary stuff right there. To this day, it’s still regarded as one the greatest CMA Awards moments of all time (well, at least by anyone who appreciates good country music), and it didn’t even happen inside the arena.
Tonight’s show will mark his return to the venue for the first time since that fateful day… well, at least to perform more than one song. Back in 2019, Stu delivered a performance of Merle Haggard’s “Red Headed Rounder” at Bridgestone for a Willie Nelson tribute concert. He was also set to play the Nashville venue in 2020 before COVID canceled his tour with Tyler Childers.
Obviously, he’ll be playing inside Bridgestone Arena tonight in Nashville, but you can still fire up his outdoor, busking concert from 2017 in the video below:
