Are you ready to Tuuuuuuuttle? Molly Tuttle, that is, who is just one of many special guests set to join Billy Strings at his wrestling-themed 2023 Halloween show in Michigan.
Dubbed the Van Andel Scramble, Strings shed a few details about his one-night-only Halloween celebration at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Among the guests set to join the bluegrass phenom are Tuttle, rising mandolinist Sierra Hull, singer/guitarist Bill Nershi (The String Cheese Incident), drummer Duane Trucks (Widespread Panic), Billy’s former fiddle collaborator John Mailander, banjoist Chris Pandolfi (The Infamous Stringdusters), and slide guitarist Mark Lavengood.
In a promotional clip mimicking retro wrestling promos, Strings teased the theme for this year’s Halloween celebration, set for October 31st about 50 miles from where the guitarist born William Apostol grew up in Muir, MI. The clip incorporates footage from this past Friday’s show in Portland, OR, where Strings came out for the encore wearing a muscle-armed body suit. That, combined with the use of Macho Man Randy Savage‘s diss track “Be A Man” (aimed at Hulk Hogan) as the set break PA music, spurred widespread speculation of what this year’s Halloween theme might be.
Strings has long held Halloween sacred, with the guitarist staging holiday shows in Asheville, NC three of the past four years (skipping 2020 due to COVID). After returning from the concert shutdown, Strings’ Halloween shows ballooned into elaborate, multi-night engagements centered around movies.
In 2021, he followed the yellow brick road to the ExploreAshville.com Arena for a Wizard of Oz–themed run. The following year, he returned to the same downtown arena to tell the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy across three nights, with special guests and over a dozen debuts in his most ambitious Halloween spectacle yet. For 2023, however, Billy Strings will distill the entire Halloween hullabaloo into a one-night all-out bluegrass brawl in his home state of Michigan. Tickets for the show are on sale here.
Introducing the VAN ANDEL SCRAMBLE!
For one night only, join us in Grand Rapids for the bluegrass brouhaha featuring @sierrahull, @marklavengood, John Mailander, @BNershi, @chrispandolfi, @mollytuttle, and the formidable @duanetrucks.
Limited tickets remain:… pic.twitter.com/bkKuu7Ejcr
— Billy Strings (@BillyStrings) October 2, 2023
For one night only, join us in Grand Rapids for the bluegrass brouhaha featuring The post Billy Strings Teases Wrestling-Themed Halloween Show With Special Guests [Video] appeared first on L4LM.
