Billy Strings Loads Tampa Concert With 2023 Debuts

Billy Strings began the Florida portion of his 2023 Spring Tour on Tuesday with a concert at Tampa’s Yuengling Center. The 26-song performance saw Strings dig deep into his massive repertoire in presenting six tunes he had yet to play this year, including one that came within a solo sequence during last night’s first set.

The guitarist took the stage alone to start the show by weaving together fretboard fireworks. Fiddler Alex Hargreaves, bassist Royal Masat, mandolinist Jarrod Walker and banjoist Billy Failing — aka Billy’s band — emerged while Strings was picking and joined in when the guitarist kicked into Keith Allison’s “Freeborn Man.” Strings then led the ensemble through a version of “Watch It Fall” from 2019’s Home that flowed into Hot Rize’s “Nellie Kane.” The Tim O’Brien-penned tune was the first 2023 debut of the evening as Strings last performed “Nellie Kane” on August 3, 2021 in Essex Junction, Vermont.

Last night’s show moved on with an improvisational highlight as the quintet spent nearly 20 minutes impressively jamming on “Highway Hypnosis.” The five-piece then offered a coupling of John Hartford’s “With A Vamp In The Middle” and Béla Fleck’s “Tentacle Dragon (Revenge Of The).” Next, Strings called upon area native Jarrod Walker to lead the band through “Noboby’s Love Is Like Mine” by The Stanley Brothers and The Clinch Mountain Boys.

Billy went solo in continuing the set with his recently debuted originals “Catch & Release” and “Mackinac Rag.” The guitarist then treated fans to his first cover of Pearl Jam’s “Soon Forget” since April 10, 2022 — a span of 110 shows. Walker, Masat, Hargreaves and Failing returned for a sequence linking Billy’s “The Fire On My Tongue” and “Must Be Seven” with the J.J. Cale classic “Ride Me High” to close the set.

Billy Strings and his band launched Tuesday’s second set with a cover of The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Dig A Little Deeper In The Well.” Next, Renewal standout “Fire Line” bled into “Reuben’s Train” before the group returned to the 2021 LP for “Hellbender.” From there, Renewal’s “Secrets” was fit between 2023 debuts of Bob Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” and The Seldom Scene’s “Old Train.” The latter prefaced a well-jammed “Turmoil & Tinfoil” that saw Strings expertly use a distorted tone as he reeled off one angular lick after another.

The 16-minute “Turmoil & Tinfoil” was followed by a gorgeous rendition of Jimmy Cliff’s “Sitting In Limbo” — last played 101 shows prior in St. Augustine, Florida on May 1, 2022. Billy then helmed the Greensky Bluegrass classic “Reverend” and the evening’s final 2023 debut, Don Reno’s “I’m Gone, Long Gone.” The five musicians ran out the clock and went sans encore in ending the night by assembling around a single mic to perform the Billy Strings/Lindsay Lou co-write “Freedom.”

Billy Strings kicks off a three-night stand at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Thursday. Watch the livestream free with a nugs.net subscription.

View pro-shot video of the first three songs from last night’s show below:

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CrOXXwiuh_n/?hl=en

Official Audio (via nugs.net)

Audience Recording (Taped by mccordo)

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set One: Freeborn Man [1], Watch It Fall > Nellie Kane, Highway Hypnosis, With A Vamp In The Middle > Tentacle Dragon (Revenge Of The), Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine [2], Catch and Release [3], Mackinac Rag [3], Soon Forget [3], The Fire On My Tongue > Must Be Seven > Ride Me High

Set Two: Dig A Little Deeper In The Well, Fire Line > Reuben’s Train, Hellbender, I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, Secrets, Old Train > Turmoil & Tinfoil, Sitting in Limbo, Reverend, I’m Gone, Long Gone, Freedom [4]

• [1] – Billy Strings solo intro
• [2] – Jarrod Walker on lead vocals
• [3] – Billy Strings solo
• [4] – Single mic

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Source: JamBase.com