Review: One of the year’s best concerts wasn’t spoiled by one of Minnesota’s worst venues

In the eight years since his last Twin Cities concert, Sturgill Simpson has made two traditional bluegrass albums, an electronic hard-rock record and a cowboy storyteller concept LP. His newest release is a Deadheaded country collection under the pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies.

So which of those versions of Simpson showed up Wednesday night at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul? All of them. And more.

Making up for lost time — and for his promoters’ poor choice of venues — the 46-year-old Kentucky twanger put on a playful, varied, at times madcap performance that clocked in just under three hours. Its long duration allowed him time to show off his many sides. It also left many of the 5,000 attendees holding their sides, since they were discernibly exhausted and thrilled by it.

Whatever musical hat Simpson was wearing Wednesday — and he didn’t actually wear a hat, by the way — the innovative country singer’s instantly sold-out St. Paul concert underlined two traits that haven’t changed or faltered throughout his many guises: He’s one of the most heart-punchingly poetic and evocative songwriters of the modern era and a mighty impressive bandleader, too.

He’s also still a strong singer. It was a relief hearing his Waylon Jennings-like voice boom through the din of the Wilkins during the elegant opening tear-jerker “Juanita.” Vocal cord injuries were one of the reasons Simpson hasn’t been to town since a First Ave gig in 2016. Another was COVID-19, which forced him to cancel a pair of Armory gigs in 2020.

With the Armory already booked up Wednesday by rising pop star Gracie Abrams, Simpson got stuck at the Wilkins Auditorium for his long-awaited comeback. Cue the sad pedal steel notes. The 92-year-old exhibition hall hasn’t hosted concerts since 2017 because it has looked, sounded and smelled outdated since about 1977.

The Wilkins worked out fine in this case, though — really a testament to just how good Simpson and his band were. His vocals sounded just a tad muddied at times, but his and longtime sideman Laur Joamets’ guitar tones came through loud and clear and really quite gorgeously.

After “Juanita” (from the cowboy concept LP), Simpson showed off his voice’s resilient resonance even further with a couple more slow, impassioned pieces early in the set, including “Turtles All the Way Down” and his well-known cover of When in Rome’s ‘80s synth-pop classic “The Promise.”

He didn’t offer a tune off his newest and now one of his best-reviewed albums, “Passage du Desir,” until a half-hour into the set, starting with the makeup song “Right Kind of Dream.” A sample of its beseeching lyrics: “I’ll leave my heart so blue out on your doorstep / So when you come home you can wipe your feet.”

Other songs off the new album came later, ostensibly saved to be some of the night’s dramatic centerpieces. Foremost among those was “Jupiter’s Faerie,” an epic about a newly lost old friend that boasted Simpson’s most emotional singing of the night.

“I cried an ocean of tears hoping it’d wash the pain away,” he sang with chills-inducing conviction.

Another elegantly heartbreaking new one, “One for the Road,” turned even more climactic as Simpson added a long and unabashedly Jerry Garcia-ized guitar solo. That stretch got even more beautiful as “One for the Road” bled straight into a reverential and potent cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” which Simpson is playing in every city on tour. Obviously, another soaring guitar solo followed.

Around those peak moments, Simpson bounced around to different montages/styles. He played a couple bluegrass-baked tunes early in the set, “Railroad of Sin” and “Long White Line.” A little over an hour into the show, Simpson and his band kicked into jammy-rock band mode starting with a bluesy medley featuring his grinder “A Good Look” blended with the Doors’ “L.A. Woman,” which lasted an exuberant 15 minutes.

The show ended with another lengthy, hard-rocking extended jam built off his seething anti-war diatribe “Call to Arms.” If Simpson is trying to get booked into hard rock festivals next summer, he passed the test.

Amid the noisy stretches came plenty of quieter moments, including a soulful montage that paired “I Don’t Mind” with an organ-laced cover of William Bell’s “You Don’t Miss Your Water.” Maybe look for classic soul festivals on Simpson’s 2025 itinerary, too.

Somehow, all those musical styles fit together rather seamlessly. Somehow, it all made Wilkins Auditorium sound decently. Somehow, a highly anticipated concert that could have been a big letdown because of the location soared above a lot of other concerts of late in much more refined venues. Call it a miracle? No, chalk it up to mega talent and serious know-how. Unlike the auditorium he played, Simpson is clearly one for the ages.