Billy Strings returned to the DCU Center in Worcester on Wednesday to finish off his midweek stopover in central Massachusetts. The concert saw plenty of highlights including the debut of a new cover, a couple rarities, and a nod or two to the Grateful Dead and its extended universe.
Skipping the foreplay, Billy Strings dove straight in with the opening “Pyramid Country”, launching into psychedelic-infused bluegrass runs up and down his guitar. Fiddler Alex Hargreaves‘ slices with his bow kept time as Strings kicked on his overdrive pedal and bridged his bluegrass pedigree with the heavy metal playing of his youth. After hitting an early apex, Strings, Hargreaves, Billy Failing, Jarrod Walker, and Royal Masat wafted in tranquility with the ease of a group with nothing but time on their hands. This relaxed improvisation put Failing out front as he took over the lead on banjo, Strings looking on with the same expression of awe as the thousands gathered at the 14,800-capacity DCU Center. After nearly 15 minutes, the band decided to get the show on the road with a transition to a hot “The Fire on My Tongue”.
Billy Strings — “Pyramid Country” > “The Fire On My Tongue” [Pro-Shot] — 7/31/24
While Strings is known for his encyclopedic bluegrass knowledge and isn’t afraid to pay tribute to those who came before him, last night’s setlist was heavy on Billy’s growing cache of originals. Of the 29 songs played Wednesday, only 11 were covers, a fairly low percentage for Strings, whose setlists are usually about half tributes. From the very beginning of the show, Billy and his bandmates stuck to their catalog as “Secrets” tagged onto FOMT to complete a continuous 25-minute, three-song segue to start the show. Frequent show opener “Taking Water” appeared a bit further down the setlist and set up a journey down “Ice Bridges”, establishing a jam-heavy tone early on in the evening.
The first cover of the show finally appeared with Dan Fogelberg‘s “Along the Road”. Strings fired off quick runs through more traditional numbers “These Memories of You”, “Cabin Song”, and “Hellbender” before adding a new cover to his arsenal with “Blackjack County Chains”. The song penned by Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Red Lane was first recorded in 1967 by Willie Nelson, with whom Billy collaborated on the 2023 single “California Sober”. Though Nelson found success with “Blackjack County Chain” and took it to #24 on the country charts, the song was originally rejected when Lane offered it to Charley Pride, who felt the lyrics recounting the killing of a Georgia sheriff by a prison chain gang were too controversial. In Nelson’s hands, they helped grow the burgeoning outlaw country movement alongside Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings—the latter of whom recorded “Blackjack” with Willie in 1983.
Billy Strings — “Blackjack County Chains” (Red Lane) — 7/31/24
[Video: Laura Dowling]
Strings was sparing in his covers but delivered one of great significance with Bill Browning‘s “Dark Hollow”. The folk song regularly appeared in Grateful Dead acoustic sets in 1970 and 1980, which is interesting because after Billy Strings performed with Bob Weir at Ryman Auditorium in 2022 he swore off covering the Dead. Though he made no public decree at the time, Billy later clarified on social media that, there are “just too many pigs on the teet. There are sooo many bands trying to suckle off the dead. I’ll leave that to them.” So while Billy has not covered songs penned by Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Robert Hunter, John Perry Barlow, or anyone from the Dead, the two entity’s spheres of influence do sometimes overlap—with “Dark Hollow” in the middle of that Venn diagram.
Strings then polished off the first set with originals “Gone A Long Time” and a “Home” that utilized his “Bride” (of Frankenstein) Preston-Thompson D-SBA Custom guitar before finally catching a “Slow Train” to set break. After just one set, Wednesday’s show already had most everything a Billy fan could ask for: big jams, a Dead-adjacent cover, and a train song. The rest was just gravy.
Returning to the stage with some snazzy, pointed, lime green sunglasses that looked like something a supervillain from The Powerpuff Girls would wear, Strings kicked off set two with quick hitters “Red Daisy” and “While I’m Waiting Here”. After that, Alex Hargreaves’ chilling fiddle runs highlighted a despairing “Fire Line” that paired with the sorrowful “End of the Rainbow”. Larry Sparks‘ “These Old Blues” then made its first appearance since November 10th, 2023 (47 shows ago) prior to a pairing of “On the Line” and the evening’s second of two train songs, the traditional “Tain 45”.
After an hour of hair-raising bluegrass pickin’, a spacey psychedelic intro ushered in a sequence that was arguably the highlight of set two. Sparing tremolo notes from Billy brought on his cover of Black Sabbath acoustic passage “Planet Caravan”, which only got stranger from there with Strings’ DMT-influenced spoken word exploration “Spinning”. That interdimensional ambiance was soon shattered by the earthly worries of mankind with a destructive “Wargasm”, the deep, dark jam fueled by Billy’s frenetic fuzzy metal guitar solos jolting the arena back to reality. The trifecta of “Planet Caravan”, “Spinning”, and “Wargasm” had not been seen since the Sunday finale of Strings’ February run in Asheville, NC.
Billy Strings — “Planet Caravan” (Black Sabbath) > “Spinning” > “Wargasm” — 7/31/24
[Video: Amy Karibian]
Following his psychedelic foray and ensuing metal madness, Billy had another cover to dust off with “The Two Soldiers”. While Jerry Garcia and David Grisman covered this song on their 1991 self-titled album, the traditional dates back to the Civil War and has been covered by Norman Blake and Tony Rice, Bob Dylan, and more over the past 160 years. Still, the fact that Billy would choose to play this song for the first time in 226 shows on the night before Garica’s birthday seems like quite a coincidence.
Rocketing through the rest of the set, “Likes of Me” set up a reprise of the “Pyramid Country” that opened the show—sending the arena into hysterics before “How Mountain Girls Can Love” closed the set. Returning to the stage with “Bride” once again in hand, Strings faked out the audience with the intro to his instrumental “Guitar Peace” before taking a hard detour through Pink Floyd‘s blissful “Fearless” to bid farewell to Worcester, MA.
Billy Strings’ summer tour continues this weekend with a two-night run in State College, PA. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates on his website. If you can’t make the show, tune in for a livestream on nugs, free to all subscribers. [Editor’s Note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your nugs subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Billy Strings — “Home” — 7/31/24
[Video: K T]
Billy Strings — “Likes Of Me” > “Pyramid Country (Reprise)” > “How Mountain Girls Can Love” (The Stanley Brothers And The Clinch Mountain Boys) — 7/31/24
[Video: Amy Karibian]
Billy Strings — “Fearless” (Pink Floyd) — 7/31/24
[Video: Amy Karibian]
Setlist: Billy Strings | DCU Center | Worcester, MA | 7/31/24
Set One: Pyramid Country > The Fire On My Tongue > Secrets, Taking Water > Ice Bridges, Along The Road (Dan Fogelberg), These Memories Of You, Cabin Song, Hellbender, Blackjack County Chains (Red Lane) [1], Dark Hollow (Bill Browning), Gone A Long Time, Home [2], Slow Train (Leroy Drumm, Cal Freeman)
Set Two: Red Daisy, While I’m Waiting Here, Fire Line > End Of The Rainbow (Frank Wakefield), These Old Blues (Larry Sparks) [3], On The Line > Train 45 (Traditional), Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath) > Spinning > Wargasm, The Two Soldiers (Traditional) [4], Likes Of Me > Pyramid Country [5] > How Mountain Girls Can Love (The Stanley Brothers And The Clinch Mountain Boys)
Encore: Fearless (Pink Floyd) [2] [6]
SETLIST NOTES
[1] FTP – Red Lane
[2] Billy Strings on his “Bride” Preston-Thompson D-SBA Custom guitar
[3] Last Time Played 2023-11-10 | 47 shows
[4] Last Time Played 2022-03-15 | 226 shows
[5] Reprise
[6] “Guitar Peace” intro. fakeoutBilly Strings Brushes Up Against Grateful Dead Canon At Original-Heavy Worcester Closer
The post Billy Strings Picks On Grateful Dead Canon At Original-Heavy Worcester Closer [Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
