In Concert: Billy Strings’ Down-Homecoming

Billy Strings, Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids Michigan, May 30, 2025

It took a while for my wife and I to wrap our heads around Billy Strings’ triumphant return to his home turf this past weekend. Why? Let me count the ways:

Strings’ two shows completely sold out, with around 12,000 people in attendance each night – so the concourse of our downtown sports arena was absolutely jam-packed. Restroom breaks were epic-length adventures; trips for concessions or merch were silently scratched. It’s not that we hadn’t navigated similar conditions before, but . . .
In the six years since our last show at said arena (if you must know, it was Jeff Lynne’s ELO), the majority of concerts booked there have shifted from classic rock to country, with the occasional rap and metal nights. Different genres, different, much younger clientele than the crusty old geezer I seem to have become . . .
Different clientele, different — uh, “atmosphere”. The designated standing room (the front half of the main floor) became a giant moshpit in record time, and the rowdy vibe plus a certain aroma seemed to filter throughout the arena. In our upper bowl section, the couple right in front of us seemed a bit, let’s say, chemically enhanced: standing most of the first set when they weren’t making multiple food and drink runs; constantly talking and shifting position. (It could have been worse; two guys a couple rows further down stood and danced out of rhythm all night.) I had to fight to keep my dad’s words out of my head; whenever we played pinochle, he’d eventually say: “Are we gonna talk or are we gonna play cards?” It wasn’t pretty.
With all that distracting us, we weren’t really braced for when Strings took center stage side by side with his acoustic quintet and kicked off. The sound was crystal clear but formidably loud, even without drums; the lights pulsed, strobed and flashed at Taylor Swift-level candlepower and speed. We used to love this stuff; now we felt instantly overwhelmed!
And the music got real wild and wooly, real quick. Straight bluegrass opener “The Fire On My Tongue” plowed into “Hide and Seek”, giving way to a dark, full-blown psychedelic freak-out. As Strings piled on echo and fuzztone, the band s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g out a gnarly one-chord vamp almost beyond its breaking point, I looked over at my wife — and she was not enjoying herself. And then the music went on, nonstop, for another half-hour! My prog side was thoroughly digging it; the part of me that had talked her into coming thought Strings might be reading our minds as he plowed into a double-time, pickin’ and grinnin’ take on Jimi Hendrix: “Is this love, baby, or is it – confusion?“

But then, Strings chilled things out, talking directly to the crowd. About how happy he was to be back, about memories of the local places he had played in his younger days. Then he gracefully started up what he’d called “a song about looking at the windshield, not the rearview”. Midway through “Away from the Mire”, the psychedelia was back — but this time it felt inviting, beckoning us in with open arms and a smile.

The two of us relaxed (it helped that both we and that couple in front of us were able to slip into nearby empty seats after intermission) — and just like that, we were off to the races! And as we mellowed out, we could see and hear what we’d been missing. Which is worth mentioning in full:

Strings is just an awe-inspiring musician — a virtuoso guitarist with immaculate taste and his own spin on multiple traditions, a first-rate vocalist who sings from the heart, and a songwriter with his own strikingly mature viewpoint, capturing the lives of desperate people in extremes of gloom, craziness and joy. His band members (banjoist Billy Failing, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat and fiddler Alex Hargreaves) are equally fabulous players and harmony singers, running buddies in every sense of the term. These guys have got range — as they demonstrated at the front of the stage to close the first set, infusing bluegrass classics and “Richard Petty” (Strings’ self-improvement gospel according to NASCAR) with simple, unforced pleasure.
The second set was served up in shorter chunks, surprisingly drawn more from Strings’ back catalog than his new Highway Prayers. (The luscious title track from Home and Renewal’s devastating love song “In the Morning Light” were high points for me). Plus, Billy took impressive solo turns, unreeling one bluegrass cover after another on banjo and guitar — though I could swear he also snuck a Slayer riff in there somewhere!
Again, you could tell Billy was glad to be there from the multiple shout-outs, thank yous and anecdotes he continued to share in the back half of the show. By the end, he was fully fired up again, roughriding through “Heartbeat of America”, then dashing across the stage while belting out his trouble-in-a-small-town classic “Dust in a Baggie”. A couple of quickfire quintet covers for the encore, and just like that, 2 1/2 hours had flown by. (And astoundingly, Strings’ equally long second night setlist was completely different!)

I might be getting too cranky for 21st-century arena shows, but actually I’m here to tell you this: Billy Strings is the real deal. His respect for his musical forbears, his unabashed instrumental brilliance, his gritty evocations of small-town vice, his poetic contemplations of the bigger picture, his killer instinct for maximum musical impact — he’s got it all, brought into focus onstage with fearsome chops, a high lonesome voice and a generous soul. If you love the tradition he comes from — or if you just love good music — find some way to experience this guy, on record, streamed or live. (Personally, I’m hoping for an outdoor show next time!)

This show, along with all of Billy Strings’ concerts, is available for streaming or downloading at nugs.net.

— Rick Krueger

Set 1:

The Fire on My Tongue
Hide and Seek>Pyramid Country>My Love Comes Rolling Down (Doc Watson Family cover)
Lumpy, Beanpole & Dirt (Bad Livers cover)>Love or Confusion (Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Away From the Mire
Freedom – front of stage
Close By (Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys cover) – front of stage
Sally Johnson (traditional cover) – front of stage
Richard Petty – front of stage

Set 2: