Sturgill Simpson at The Forum

Sturgill Simpson

The Forum, 28 January 2020

It's been a while since I last saw Sturgill Simpson live. Last time was back in 2015 and I remember it being rather refreshing seeing such a rootsy unpretentious show with such a pure unashamed love of traditional country music. With his last album, Sound & Fury, Simpson made a surprising and striking left turn musically, releasing a pretty amazing mix of country, southern rock, heavy rock and even a little techno. Crazily the mix really works but would the trick also work live?

Given that Simpson has always appeared to stand outside of the country mainstream, it was a surprise that an anime film that cost over $1 million was produced to accompany and promote the record on Netflix. I mean, if country, hard rock and techno isn't enough of a weird-ass mix add Japanese anime visuals to that stew and you have to commend Simpson for his originality. It was certainly a memorable way for me to first experience the album. It seemed a strange decision then that the film was completely omitted from the show itself. Instead Simpson emerged with just a minimal band, that, in addition to himself on guitar, just included drums, bass and a keyboard player. What a missed opportunity!

Simpson himself looked pretty cool in a t-shirt that said "Long Live Soul" and a short, trendy haircut: a lot less down to earth country singer than last time, which was a good indicator of the night ahead. I assumed, because the new album is so different, the show would concentrate on this new rock sound, instead he eased us into it starting with one of his more rocky but still country-sounding songs from his previous record, A Sailor's Guide To Earth, and then continuing with a rather ill-judged cover of Eric Clapton's Bell Bottom Blues.

A cover so early on in a show is always a bad idea but it's even worse when it happens to be one of the most boring men in rock, Clapton. It really interrupted the flow but at the very least it did seem to give the sound guys a chance to work out the terrible muddy mix (the Forum always seems to have a problem with this and the show reminded me why it's one of my least favourite venues in London).

Simpson finally got to the new record by the third track with the ZZ Top-esque dance-rock of A Good Look and suddenly there seemed to be some much needed energy to the show. But then bizarrely, he then went back to the pure country of Willie Nelson's I'd Have To Be Crazy and his own Some Days, from his first album High Top Mountain. Those are great songs but the mix of styles was confusing and the flow didn't work at all, maybe due to Simpson's boast that he never uses set lists.

By the excellent Turtles All The Way Down, I had made my way to the front where the sound was much more promising (it was truly terrible nearer the back) and he finally delved into the new record and tracks like Ronin, Remember To Breathe, Sing Along and Best Clockmaker On Mars, did indeed sound great, filled with heavy riffs, groovy electronic piano and great guitar work from Simpson. Surely it would have made more sense to have played the new record all the way through and keep up this vibe and then give us some lovely older country tunes at the end?

Instead whenever he wanted to play an earlier country tune, particularly a ballad, he would tell us "this one is for the ladies." While it was lovely to hear stuff like It Ain't All Flowers and Oh Sarah, they just didn't work in the middle of all the heavier stuff. I just wish he had given us an acoustic section at the end of the show rather than a mish-mash of all his different styles, it would have had us rocking and dancing throughout the gig and then ended the night with a tear in our beers.

There were a couple of other ill-advised covers too, When In Rome's The Promise and William Bell's You Don't Miss Your Water. The show was long enough as it was without four cover tunes and really it didn't need any of them.

The whole thing ended with an extended version of Call To Arms, with a little bit of T. Rex's The Motivator thrown in (he played the whole of this tune the last time I saw him live) and although there had been some great moments (as well as some not some great ones), I was relieved it was all over, it was a long show with no support. 

At the beginning Simpson told us he had been so long coming back because he had been away "making babies with my wife" but now the nappies need changing he was off on tour. The last time he was over apparently he toured with a horn section and they were brilliant shows. When I saw him it was pure country heaven with a hint of his rock influences. This time it felt like there wasn't as much thought into the overall show, perhaps because he's been naturally distracted by his new baby. 

Still Simpson is a fantastic songwriter and performer and when he gets it right, he really, really gets it right. That's why this show was a bit of a disappointment because I know Simpson really can be truly great when he wants to.