What to expect at Johnny Blue Skies' Mutiny for the Masses Tour: Setlist, Sturgill Simpson start time and more

Welcome to SeatGeek Front Row, where music writers share their tips for attending the biggest concert tours around the country. For this edition, Seattle resident Olivia Petty breaks down what it’s really like to see Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds' "Mutiny for the Masses" Tour in person, sharing everything from the setlist to the merch situation. Olivia is a freelance features and music writer in the greater Seattle area.

What do you get when one of country music’s most unpredictable artists walks into a sold-out arena under a new name? The answer, evidently, is a little bit of everything. 

Johnny Blue Skies — the musical alias of Grammy award-winning musician and actor Sturgill Simpson — is bringing his “Mutiny for the Masses” tour to arenas across North America through the end of October, joined by his backing brigade the Dark Clouds. They stopped over in Seattle on Friday, September 18th, at Climate Pledge Arena for a three-hour concert of fan favorites, covers, deep cuts and (very) extended jams, covering everything from country and Americana to psychedelic rock, funk and disco — lots and lots of disco. 

This is how the show went, and everything fans should know for future Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds shows.

What a Johnny Blue Skies “Mutiny for the Masses” concert is actually like

Before the doors at Climate Pledge Arena opened at 7 p.m. on Friday, Seattle Center was already swarming with longtime country fans of all ages. Simpson’s name was absent from all major marquees and marketing for the “Mutiny for the Masses” tour, begging the question: who exactly is Johnny Blue Skies?

For the uninitiated, Simpson is a jack of many trades; famous for his wholehearted rejection of conformity and his innumerable contradictions, he has been building a large and deeply devoted following since 2013, putting out critically acclaimed bluegrass and outlaw country records like “High Top Mountain” and “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.” With seven studio albums and several roles in major films and television shows under his belt, from Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon to HBO’s Righteous Gemstones, Simpson was quickly skyrocketing to uncomfortable levels of fame. In 2024, he decided that he wanted to start distancing his music from his celebrity status. 

At the time, he said in an interview with GQ, “I’d hear that name and it was like it didn’t belong to me. It was just a commodity or a brand.”

Thus came the idea for Johnny Blue Skies; not quite a persona or a character, but a pen name under which Simpson has released two more genre-buckling studio albums, the latter of which he is celebrating on tour this fall. However, word spreads quickly — it’s debatable whether or not his plan worked, as Johnny Blue Skies is now selling out arenas across the country. Regardless, Simpson is doing what he wants to, when he wants to and for as long as he wants to.

The band came onstage at 8:03 p.m. and wrapped up just seconds shy of Climate Pledge Arena’s 11 p.m. curfew. There was no opener — just three solid hours of Blue Skies and co., hammering away at their instruments and pumping the arena full of sweet, sweet nostalgia. 

This show was particularly special, as Simpson was a Seattle resident for a significant portion of his young life, where he waited tables at a local IHOP in between stints in the U.S. Navy. Throughout the night, he threw out old anecdotes and name-dropped some beloved city bygones, and even paused at one point to say, “I’ve seen a lot of shows in this room. If you had told 21-year-old Sturgill that he’d be playing this stage, he’d tell you you’re out of your mind.”

What songs did Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds perform in Seattle? What was the setlist?

Time tends to become a watery, muddled thing at a Blue Skies show. With no opener and no encore, the band took all the time they could to perform a total of 26 songs. Some songs were 10- to 15-minute extended jams and some forwent starts and ends altogether, blending into undefinable and ceaseless whirlpools of sound. Marrying heavy psychedelia with Johnny Cash-esque lyrics and vocals, laced through with funky synths and keyboard, there were so many shifts in genre that it was, by design, hard to hold onto anything too concretely.

Some of the best songs of the night were, unsurprisingly, the band’s nostalgic and sometimes subversive covers, including a foot-tapping rendition of Moore and Napier’s “Pinball Blues,” a trippy take on “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS, a wholly cathartic ode to Prince’s “Purple Rain” (always guaranteed to be a hit, no matter the context) and a deep-digging performance of Nirvana’s “In Bloom.” 

As for non-covers, most songs of the night were from the two Johnny Blue Skies albums, Mutiny After Midnight and Passage Du Desir, though plenty of Simpson’s old material made the cut, including “Turtles All The Way Down” and “Best Clockmaker on Mars.”

Here’s the full setlist, in order, of what they played in Seattle:

1. Ronin (Sturgill Simpson song)

2. Turtles All the Way Down (Sturgill Simpson song)

3. One for the Road 

4. If the Sun Never Rises Again 

5. Right Kind of Dream 

6. Excited Delirium 

7. I Don't Mind (Sturgill Simpson song)

8. Never Tear Us Apart (INXS cover)

9. Brace for Impact (Live a Little)

10. Pinball Blues (Moore & Napier cover)

11. Viridescent 

12. Make Art Not Friends (Sturgill Simpson song)

13. Fastest Horse in Town (Sturgill Simpson song)

14. Mint Tea

15. Situation 

16. Jupiter's Faerie 

17. Purple Rain (Prince cover)

18. Make America Fuk Again 

19. Stay On That 

20. Scooter Blues 

21. Welcome to Earth (Pollywog) (Sturgill Simpson song)

22. Everyone Is Welcome 

23. Venus 

24. Best Clockmaker on Mars (Sturgill Simpson song)

25. In Bloom (Nirvana cover)

26. A Good Look (Sturgill Simpson song)

What did the stage and production look like?

The stage was a simple, single level rectangle flanked by two large sheer banners that boasted cartoony skeletal figures wielding a trident and a spear, respectively. A large screen was positioned behind the banners displaying a vaguely earthy texture and frequently changing color. There were some elaborate strobe and spotlight maneuvers synced with the music, showcasing a kaleidoscope of color throughout the night and keeping fans visually engaged as the band jammed on and on. But the star of the show was the gigantic disco ball that lowered from the ceiling about halfway through their set and scattered mesmerizing light across the entire arena for nearly the entire back half of their performance. 

What were fans wearing?

There was a mixture of outfits and decades throughout the crowd; lots of fans dressed in tie-dye, flannel, camouflage and leather jackets. Some went full outlaw with cowboy hats and bandanas, while others went the discotheque route, complete with sparkles and sweeping bell-bottom flares. But Simpson generally doesn’t condone conformity, so don’t worry too much about fitting in.  

What’s the merch situation?

A large merch table was located on the ground floor of Climate Pledge Arena, offering fans a wide variety of options. There were eight different styles of t-shirts ($40), a long-sleeve crewneck ($65), a hoodie ($70), as well as hats ($40), tote bags ($25), posters ($50) and smaller accessories, like keychains and beer koozies ($5-$10). 

The line for merch was very long between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., though there was an option for putting in a mobile order ahead of time and picking it up at the merch table. Unless you were among the first waves of fans to get inside, the estimated wait time for merch was around 25 minutes ahead of the show. During the show, merch lines were much shorter — and luckily, given Simpson's penchant for jamming, there’s a chance you’ll be able to leave your seat to grab merch and come back during the same song.

Is the show family-friendly?

Johnny Blue Skies deals lyrically with some heavy themes and contains profanity, and Simpson tends to curse during his anecdotes. While not overly explicit, there weren’t many young kids present at the Seattle show. Consider these shows PG-13.

What attending a Johnny Blue Skies concert at Climate Pledge Arena was like

Doors at Climate Pledge Arena opened at 7 p.m. on the dot. There are a variety of ways to get into the arena, with 11 separate entrances, though not all of them were used. The main entrance is the Alaska Airlines Entrance 1, which is located near the accessible and press entrances. Each door had regular lines and a separate line for people with bags. All attendees are required to go through metal detectors and abide by Climate Pledge’s strict bag policy, which allows one clear or non-clear bag up to 14″ x 14″ x 6″ OR one small clutch, purse or wallet up to 4″ x 6″ x 1.5″.

At Entrance 1, security was a well-oiled machine and took only 5 minutes to get through right after 7 p.m. Once inside, plenty of event staff were available to point fans to the right floor and section. Some sections required you to scan your ticket multiple times. Plenty of food vendors were scattered throughout the arena, from pretzel carts to private club sections with full bars. 

What was seating at Climate Pledge Arena like?

For concerts, Climate Pledge Arena sets up a stage on one side of the arena and uses a portion of the floor for General Admission, with the back portion made up of reserved folding seats. Floor seats and sections 20, 21, 220 and 221 have the most straight-on view of the stage; all other sections are at a slight angle. Most photos of the stage in this article, unless otherwise specified, were taken from Section 14 in row BB, the second row back from the floor. The view is unobstructed, but keep in mind that you’ll need to turn to face the stage or crane your neck. 

The sections with the most obstructed view of the stage are 3, 12, 102, 202, 113 and 213 — however, on the lower levels, they’ll put you nice and close to the artists themselves. For Johnny Blue Skies, there were no screens projecting close-ups of the band, so fans in the upper levels may have needed to squint or bring binoculars. 

(View from Section 14, row BB)

(Alternate view from Section 3, back row)

How should I get to Climate Pledge Arena?

There are plenty of ways to get to Climate Pledge Arena, which is located on the Seattle Center Campus near the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center. For public transit, take the Link light rail to Westlake Station where you can transfer directly to the Seattle Center Monorail for a direct (and scenic) ride to Seattle Center. The Monorail runs for at least 60 minutes after events conclude. There are plenty of King County Metro routes, including 1, 2, 8, 13, 32 and the RapidRide D Line, that stop directly near the west side of Seattle Center and the arena.

If you need to drive and park, there are three primary garages on the campus, including the underground Climate Pledge Arena Garage (accessed via underground entry), the 1st Ave N Garage and the 5th Ave Garage. However, parking close to the venue is expensive, and the streets tend to clog with traffic after a show ends. 

How can I get tickets for an upcoming Johnny Blue Skies concert on SeatGeek?

Start by heading over to Johnny Blue Skies’ ticket page on SeatGeek and put in your location to see if there are any upcoming shows near you. Once you’ve found a show date, pick how many tickets you’re looking to buy and choose a seat using the interactive venue map. Once you’re happy with your choices, hit “checkout,” and get ready to kick back, relax and listen to some good old-fashioned jamming.