There may not be a bluegrass player in history who managed to make it to the arena level. This is the phenomenon of Billy Strings, who has risen from small rooms and festival stages to some of the largest venues in the country over less than five years. There are certainly more towering legends in the genre, but somehow this tattooed 30-year-old guitar picker from Michigan has cracked the code on how to get the masses excited about bluegrass. Though the first night of his two-night run at Portland, Oregon’s Moda Center on September 29th was hardly a sellout, it was nonetheless a spectacle to behold to witness bluegrass in such a large room. It was also a testament to his rabid fan base, chomping at the bit to savor his high-energy, youthful approach to this classic American music.
As his fanbase has grown and become more loyal, Billy Strings has only continued to embrace the jam band approach to live shows. This means two sets with nearly three hours of music and no shortage of surprises. Starting with the instrumental “Bronzeback,” which felt like the guitar picking equivalent to an athlete stretching before a game, the band wasted little time in getting down to business as they steered the tune into “The Fire On My Tongue.” This carried some lovely early-set energy before the ominous, bass-driven “Heartbeat of America” that featured loads of flatpicking fireworks and one of the first big jams of the night as Strings showed off his distortion-soaked electric guitar effects on the jam. “Long Forgotten Dream” was another highlight with its hyper-speed pace and the band fully locked in, setting a high bar before the clean and refreshing “This Old World” saw Alex Hargreaves stepping into the spotlight to end the song with a proper fiddle jig. The band shifted gears for the beloved tune “Dust in a Baggie” as they let it morph into a sneaky and sinister exploratory jam that surprised with a funky segue into “Lumpy.” Here we saw Billy Failing delivering an ascendant banjo solo for the first several bust-outs of the show, and this set the stage for a massive group picking session that saw the musicians taking solos in the round. In some ways, Strings is like the Quentin Tarantino of bluegrass, filling his performances with references, nods, homage, and straight-up tributes to acts that have influenced his style and also those he feels should be shared with the world. The traditional bluegrass section at the end of set one found him including covers from the likes of Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Ralph Stanley, with plenty of fast picking and showmanship to boot. The set-closing original “Turmoil & Tinfoil” drifted into expansive sonic territory with the band opening up and stretching things out to bring it all back home.
The band eased into set two with a couple of Strings’ more romantic, country-leaning tunes – “I’ll Be Gone a Long Time” and “Love Like Me.” This mellow start eventually gave way to more incendiary fare with the slow-building “Fire Line” that exploded into a damn fine “Reuben’s Train.” One of the biggest moments of the night came during “Hide and Seek,” a tune that brought to mind Yonder Mountain String Band in its prime with its huge energy and extended jamming that reached a high point before the old-timey jamboree sounds of the banjo and fiddle-heavy romp “Katy Daly.” Set two also featured a truly psychedelic bluegrass take on Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” and a gigantic one-two punch of Larry Sparks’ “Takin’ a Slow Train” and the Osborne Brothers classic “Ruby Are You Mad” to end the evening on a high point.
For those who have followed Strings and his band over the years, Friday’s show captured their evolution to a dialed-in sound that is absolutely worthy of the large venues they increasingly play. Perhaps bluegrass is finally getting its due and Strings is shepherding the movement. His continuous acknowledgment of so many acts ranging from classic to progressive shows in the songs he chooses to cover in each show, and one can only hope his fans are taking note and going down the rabbit hole to see all that bluegrass has to offer. Regardless, Strings’ first night in Portland managed to bring the right amount of energy, showmanship and sheer musicality to grab ahold of everyone in attendance and continue to push his star higher.
All photos by Greg Homolka
Setlist (via BillyBase): Billy Strings | Moda Center | Portland, OR | 9/29/23
Set 1: Bronzeback > The Fire on My Tongue [1], Heartbeat of America, Long Forgotten Dream, This Old World, Dust in a Baggie > Lumpy, Beanpole & Dirt (Bad Livers) > Ashland Breakdown (Bill Monroe), Hellbender, Riding That Midnight Train (Doc Watson), A Robin Built a Nest on Daddy’s Grave (Ralph Stanley), Turmoil & Tinfoil
Set 2: I’ll Be Gone a Long Time, Love Like Me, Whisper My Name (New Grass Revival), Show Me the Door, Fire Line > Reuben’s Train (Traditional), Rank Stranger (The Stanley Brothers), Hide and Seek, Come Down the Mountain Katie Daly (Traditional), Spinning > Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath) > Labor of Love (Fruition) [2], Takin’ a Slow Train (Larry Sparks) > Ruby Are You Mad (The Osborne Brothers)
Encore: Dig a Little Deeper in the Well (The Oak Ridge Boys) [3]
[1] “Must Be Seven” Fake-out intro
[2] Last Played 2020-07-22 | 303 show gap
[3] Billy played the encore shirtless, in a giant muscle costume, striking wrestling poses for the crowd
