Billy Strings traveled to the City of Brotherly Love on Wednesday to kick off a two-night run at The Fillmore Philadelphia. The bluegrass guitarist even set down his guitar for a bit of banjo picking during the second set.
The show started off hot with “Fire On My Tongue” which segued into The Stanley Brothers‘ “Clinch Mountain Backstep”, featuring a Grateful Dead “Mind Left Body” jam. John Prine‘s “Sweet Revenge” came next before the most notable jam of the evening thus far with Bad Livers‘ “Pretty Daughter” as Strings, Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass), and Jarrod Walker (mandolin) locked in for inspired improvisation.
Strings continued to dish out heavy-hitters with his signature “Away From The Mire”, giving the song its traditional spacey breakdown. Audiences then listened for the echoes of their “Long Forgotten Dream” followed by traditional takes on Gordon Lightfoot‘s “Cold On The Shoulder”, Jimmy Driftwood‘s “Tennessee Stud”, and Ralph Stanley‘s “Katy Daley”. Billy then finished off the first set with the one-two punch of “Love And Regret” and “Everything’s The Same”, the latter of which saw Billy change the lyrics to “I’m goin’ down to Philly, I’m goin’ up to Maine.”
Related: Billy Strings Returns Home To Give Away 200 Guitars At His Old Elementary School [Video]
Strings and co. came out swinging for set two with “Fire Line” off Billy’s new album, Renewal. The extended improvisation ultimately gave way to a trip down “Ice Bridges” ahead of the sentimentality of “Morning Light”. Billy then laid his cards on the table for the Grateful Dead’s “Loser”. Wednesday’s show, which had so far been relatively light on jams, got the full “set two” treatment with a “Pyramid Country” that soon took the form of an “Also Sprach Zarathustra” jam. This ultimately segued into Billy’s original musical composition bearing the words of Robert Hunter, “Thunder”, that prompted an “All Apologies” jam with the boisterous crowd providing the lyrics from the Nirvana hit.
Before leaving the striking “Thunder”, the gang teased Jimi Hendrix‘s “Third Stone From The Sun”. It was then time for Billy to dial back on the hippie music and take a more traditional tone. Bringing out his clawhammer banjo, he delivered a solo take on The Hill Billies‘ “Georgia Buck”, followed by Honeyboy & Sassafras‘ “Crawdad Hole”. Joined by the rest of the band and reverting to his guitar, Billy String closed out the second set with “Wargasm” before finishing the evening with a “Dust In A Baggie” encore.
Listen to full-show audio of Billy Strings at The Fillmore Philadelphia courtesy of taper Papaphunk. Billy returns to The Fillmore tonight, November 11th, for his second of two shows. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit his website.
Billy Strings – The Fillmore Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA – 11/10/21
Setlist: Billy Strings | The Fillmore Philadelphia | Philadelphia, PA | 11/10/21
Set One: Fire On My Tongue > Clinch Mountain Backstep (The Stanley Brothers) [1], Sweet Revenge (John Prine), Pretty Daughter (Bad Livers), Away From The Mire, Long Forgotten Dream, Cold On The Shoulder (Gordon Lightfoot), Tennessee Stud (Jimmy Driftwood), Katy Daley (Ralph Stanley) [2], Love And Regret, Everything’s The Same [3]
Set Two: Fire Line, Ice Bridges, Morning Light, Loser (Grateful Dead), Pyramid Country [4] > Thunder (Robert Hunter) [5] [6], Georgia Buck (The Hill Billies) [7], Crawdad Hole (Honeyboy & Sassafras) [7] [8], Wargasm
Encore: Dust In A Baggie
[1] Mind Left Body jam
[2] “Starting to feel a lot more like I do now than I did earlier. I hope you are too”
[3] “I’m goin down to Philly, I’m goin up to Maine” lyric change
[4] Also sprach Zarathustra jam
[5] All Apologies jam with crowd vocals
[6] Third Stone From The Sun teases
[7] Billy Strings solo, clawhammer
[8] “They’re ain’t no smallmouth in this lake” lyric change
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