Please check out Clubhouse (https://clubhouse.io). We've put a lot of time into putting together a tool that is thorough while also being simple to use. We welcome your feedback!
Redmine and gitlab are usually where I reach when jira makes me sad. Redmine has more elaborate workflow possibilities, but gitlab is more light and simple. I actually use all 3 every day depending on what project I am working in.
Love to hear your opinion on where JIRA is too complicated, and what size team you have. We'd appreciate your feedback. scott <at> atlassian.com
You might check out Phabricator. It's got a similar approach to the but database without the bewildering sense that you have to configure EVERYTHING before you can do anything. Downsides are self-hosting and PHP.