Father John Misty sounded smooth at Palace Theatre in St. Paul

Father John Misty crooned out the smoothest show I have ever seen him play. On tour to support his fifth album Chloë and the Next 20th Century that was released in April of 2022, Father John Misty (Josh Tillman) played what felt like an effortless performance at times to the two-thirds sold out Palace Theatre in St. Paul on night one of his two-night run.

Chloë and the Next 20th Century is certainly a change in style for Tillman, with the songs taking on an old Hollywood cinematic feel with touches of jazz and big band. This smooth sound transcended through not just these new songs, but it infiltrated the songs from the rest of his catalog during this show as well. Four songs in Father John Misty played “Chloë” showing off the purity of his voice. As the show went on, the ease in his voice set the tone of the show and older songs like “When You Are Smiling And Astride Me” from the 2015 album I Love You, Honeybear were goosebump-inducing.

At times throughout the night, there were nine musicians on stage and the horn section took “Hangout at the Gallows” from the 2018 album God’s Favorite Customer to new heights. It sounded wonderful, as did the new song “Goodbye Mr. Blue” that was played earlier in the night. “Buddy’s Rendezvous” was also absolutely gorgeous. The most rocking song of the evening was “Ideal Husband” from I Love You, Honeybear which was incredibly dialed-in and strong and I appreciated the energy.

For the encore, Tillman came out alone and called on a guy in the crowd who requested “I Went to the Store One Day”. After explaining that he screwed the song up the last time he played it, Tillman worked through it to a silent crowd and it was lovely and a major highlight of the show. The night ended with “I’m Writing a Novel” from his debut Fear Fun and the entire crowd on the floor was boogying. With a steady pace and lack of major peaks and valleys, it took a while for me to warm up to this performance. But by the end I was all-in and Josh Tillman proved to me once again that he is a great artist with many layers.

Night one of Father John Misty at the Palace Theatre was a great concert and showed off a more mature and smooth sounding Josh Tillman.