Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds (Sturgill Simpson) Live in Vancouver September 19th 2026

 

 Saturday night in Vancouver and what our trip was booked around was the Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds (aka Sturgill Simpson) concert at Pacific Coliseum. I haven't been to a show at the Coliseum in Vancouver since seeing Page & Plant back in 1995. Nice to see that they still use the old place for concerts.

 It had been ten years since I last saw Sturgill Simpson in concert at Union Hall in Edmonton. That show was amazing and have wanted to see Sturgill again since. It took way too long to see him perform again, hence making the trip to Vancouver for the show with my buddy Buzzard. I've been a fan of Sturgill since hearing his very first album High Top Mountain back in 2013. His follow up albums Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014) and his 2016 album A Sailor's Guide to Earth were excellent country albums with the latter one being a little more rock then previous releases. Then there was the 2019 album Sound & Fury which was a kick ass rock n' roll record. Sturgill being Sturgill he then put out a couple of bluegrass albums. Then in 2024 he dropped the Sturgill solo name and started the band Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds. He released his second album under this moniker this year called Mutiny After Midnight. Again, a very interesting album that sees him not only playing rock, but throwing in a little disco and fun to keep things interesting. So this was going to be a very interesting and fun show.

 The best way to sum up this three hour show was a whole lot of rock n' roll. No opening act just Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds ripping it up. If you were expecting a country show from Sturgill, you would have been disappointed. With Sturgill now going by the Johnny Blue Skies band name this was pure rock n' roll. Opening the show with some solo material, first song of the night was "Call To Arms" from his A Sailor's Guide To Earth album followed up by two more solo songs. His back up band The Dark Clouds were awesome, his guitar player Laur Joamets was incredible. And now I have just learned that he also plays in the band Drivin' N' Cryin' a band I also love.

 I got a Neil Young Crazy Horse/Allman Bros Band vibe from this show. Sturgill's setlist was a good mix of his solo songs and Johnny Blue Skies music. Throwing in a couple covers, like the reggae slash disco song "Party All The Time" which is an Eddie Murphy song and is actually on his latest album. He also did the Bad Company song "Feel Like Makin' Love", I was hoping that maybe Paul Rodgers the lead singer of Bad Company might join him for the song as he does live in Vancouver but to no avail.

 It was nice to hear him do some songs from his Sound & Fury album "Best Clockmaker On Mars", "Fastest Horse In Town" and "Sing Along". I love that album and was very happy to finally hear them songs live. " Life Of Sin" and "Turtles All The Way Down" from the Metamodern Sounds in Country Music album got big applause. Another crowd pleaser was the "Make America Fuk Again" from his latest release Mutiny After Midnight.

 I also thought the light show was pretty damn good too, with a giant disco ball being a big part of it. And the sound was also great, his band is super good and tight.

 At one point in the show Sturgill talked about Vancouver being a big part of his life in his late teens and early twenties mentioning that when he was in the Navy and docking and being stationed in Seattle where he was too young to drink legally that him and a few buddies would get in a car and drive up to Vancouver to party saying they always started their drinking at the Marble Arch which was a downtown bar that once hosted live music and then became a famous stripper bar. I too have had some good times in that bar and even stayed there a few times. It's no longer a bar and is now the Canada Hotel which was it's original name back in 1913. That story brought back some good memories.

 All and all this was an amazing show. My guess for attendance would be around 6000 people, with just the lower bowl used for this show. No encores just three solid hours of rock n' roll. I would certainly go out of my way to see then in concert again. It was well worth the trip to Vancouver. Good times!!!

Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds.

Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds t-shirt front.

Back.

October 7th

 

 The gig poster for the time I saw Orange County, California band the Cadillac Tramps play The Bronx here in Edmonton on October 7th, 1993. It was only a few months before that I saw them open for Pearl Jam and was blown away by them. It was awesome to see them headline not long after. Opening the show was another California band called Overwhelming Coloufast. Great double bill.

October 6th

 

 The ticket stub and reviews from the time I saw Tool play in Edmonton at the Skyreach Centre on October 6th, 2002. Opening the show was Meshuggah.

Night Court and others Live in Vancouver September 18th 2026

 

 A few weeks ago my buddy Buzzard and took a trip to Vancouver to see a few concerts and visit with friends and family. We had no plans for the Friday night, so my brother Citrus suggested seeing this show at a venue called the Green Auto in the industrial area of East Vancouver. Be cause we had no plans this was a great opportunity to hang with my brother and his wife Sherry and their buddy Brad. My brother had told me about this venue for a few years no, so I was looking forward to finally seeing a show there. Apparently if I remember correctly, where we saw this show was what they call the pop up Green Auto venue. I believe there are actually three different venues here, depending on how big the show is, what venue they use. This one was a smaller crowd, and the venue is just a warehouse. Reminded me of the days in Edmonton when we would see shows in basements and warehouses which were illegal venues back in the day.

 This show was a four band show with three local Vancouver bands and a headliner from Montreal. The only band I had heard of for this gig was Night Court. My brother has said a lot of good things about the band so I was looking forward to seeing them.

 The first band of the evening was a three piece pop-punk band called Code-22. I thought they were pretty good, lots of potential and those that were already at the venue seemed to like them as well.

Code-22.

 Next up was a band called Terminal City Rats from Vancouver. They would be best described as a street punk hardcore band. Wasn't my kind of music but I did think the bass player was quite good.

Terminal City Rats.

 The third band of the evening and the band I was most interest in hearing was Night Court also from Vancouver. I had listened to some of their music previously so I knew what I was in for and their power pop punk style of music was quite good. I can see why my brother is a big fan of the band. The trio of musicians in the band are very talented and put on a great short set of pop punk.

Night Court.

 The headliner of the night was a hardcore band out of Montreal called Out Of Order. From what I have read the band has been around for 25 years and originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2001 moving to Montreal in 2005. Again, not my kind of music but I did get a kick out of the energy and antics of lead singer Scott Maracle.

Out Of Order.

 It was a very fun night out seeing and hearing a bunch of bands I had never seen before and hanging with my brother Citrus, his wife Sherry and their friend Brad. Good times!!!

Maverix, Jr. Gone Wild and Morgen Lefae Live in Edmonton September 11th 2026

 

 Last Friday my buddy Buzzard and I went too the Jr. Gone Wild show at the Rocky Mountain Icehouse here in Edmonton. The main reason for going to this show was to see local cow-punkers Jr. Gone Wild. This would be my 18th time seeing Jr. Gone Wild live, so ya, big fan!

 When I first heard about this show and saw the poster, this looked to be a show with bands from all parts of the world, JGW local act with Maverix from Italy and Morgen Le Fae from Paris. 

 First act of the evening was Morgen Le Fae, who is actually from Calgary, so not sure why the poster said Paris. Morgen plays a roots country folk style of music, joining her on stage was Steve Loree of Jr. Gone Wild. They had a rough start to their set with sound issues which after a few minutes got sorted out. The way her set started, I was not liking it much at all, it was slow mellow very country kind of songs, but the set picked up pace. The guys from Maverix joined her and Steve for a song which sounded great. By the end of her set their were even a few people up and dancing. I ended up enjoying her set.

Morgen Le Fae.

 Next up was Edmonton's Jr. Gone Wild. I was surprised to see them not headlining this show, playing the middle slot. I had the chance to talk to a few of the guys from the band, asking them why this was. It was by choice apparently. Jr. Gone Wild have been together in different forms since 1986, so a veteran band of the Edmonton music scene. And to this day they still kick ass playing their style of cow punk.

 The venue was packed by the time they hit the stage playing a rocking 45 minute set. With Mike McDonald on guitar and vocals, Dove on bass and vocals, Steve Loree on guitar and vocals and rounded out by the newest member who has been with the band since 2020 Quinton Herbert on drums. It seems with his younger enthusiasm the band seems to be reinvigorated with JGW sounding loud tight and rocking as hard as they ever have. The last few times I have seen them live they seem to be bringing in a younger audience which is good to see. Hard to believe it has already been five years since the last JGW album Still Got The Jacket, which in my opinion is one of their best albums. An awesome set, just wish they had played a longer set, they really should have headlined this show.

 The band announced at the show that the Jr. Gone Wild documentary that has been I believe 12 years in the making is finally done (More Miles Than Money: The Story of Jr. Gone Wild) premiering on Sunday November 1st at the Metro Cinema (formerly the Garneau Theatre) tickets available by clicking here. I'm really excited about seeing this film.

Jr. Gone Wild.

Setlist from the show.

 Closing out the show was the three piece band from Italy called Maverix. Their music would be best described as cow punk. Their 2023 album is even called Cowpunk! They were a high energy band with a mix of country and punk sound, hence the cow-punk label, Similar in style to JGW with a mix of Social Distortion. They too were joined by Steve Loree of JGW for a few songs, so ya Steve pulled triple duty on this night. Mike from JGW even called Steve a band slut during JGW's set. I enjoyed their set as well, with the band playing a 45 minute set. All and all a good show. Good times!!!

Maverix.