Odyssey's First time seeing Billy Strings live!

Billy Strings 2025.01.25 Denver, CO; Ball Arena

You always remember your first…

As a regular concert go-er and avid nugs listener, NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING) could have prepared me for the intensity of my first live Billy motherf*ckin’ Strings show!

While some might refer to this concert experience as a “show,” I think it can be better described as a transcendental odyssey through the thoughts of one’s own mind, facilitated by the shredding sounds of Billy and his world class bandmates and aided by a stunning light show and the high-spirited, good-hearted energy of his loving, loyal fans. 

I had the honor of being able to attend the show on Saturday, January 25, 2025.  This was their second evening of a three night run in Denver, CO, the city in which they started their winter tour.  The venue, Ball Arena, also supported Billy’s first ever 365 degree show, meaning the seats behind the stage were also sold (and filled)!  During the second set, Billy announced that they were undoubtedly playing to the largest crowd they’ve ever performed for in an indoor setting.  In a nearly sold out show, the venue held roughly 20,000 fans in the audience.   

I sat in section 124, row 15, seat 9, and even though Billy was hard for me to see because he was so far away, I still felt relatively “close” to the stage and very immersed in the production, especially with the help of the lightshow surrounding the stage.    

He played two, hour and a half sets and an encore, and no matter if he played the songs that I was hoping to hear most or not, it didn’t matter; because cosmically, it was the exact show that I was intended to hear, and I enjoyed every second of it just the same. That being said, he opened the show with “Red Daisy” just for me!  I wonder if it had anything to do with the picture that I drew and have had hanging on my fridge for the last year of a red daisy, growin’ on the hill, sunshine fallin’ on her petals so fine.  I also mentioned that I wanted to hear “Red Daisy” as I walked into the arena with friends, and they both replied that they wanted to hear “Heartbeat of America.”  Coincidentally, or cosmically, “Heartbeat of America” was the second song they played, which brought a definite rock vibe to the stage as Billy and his band absolutely shredded on their instruments!  The way the show started with those first two songs was all the confirmation I needed to know that this show was divinely meant for us; and I looked forward to the rest of the ride that Billy was taking us on.

“Now I'm seeing music that nobody else can see, with all the colors like a symphony surrounding me.” -"Heartbeat of America"

Third song, “In The Morning Light” was a true gem to hear live and perhaps a song that I didn’t know that I needed to hear so much.  I do believe it is one of the most beautiful songs in his entire repertoire, and I cried when I re-listened to it the next day on nugs. 

I always thought that “All Fall Down” (a John Hartford cover) would be a super fun song to hear Billy perform live, and it turns out, it is!  It’s even more fun when you’re blessed with a weird and wonderful extended version!  It had our heads bobbing, our bodies groovin’, and our souls flying for the whole 21.5 minutes!

The weird continued with “Long Forgotten Dream,” right before he thrilled us with “Away from the Mire,” a rather solemn song that felt more like an uplifting anthem when 20,000 people excitedly sang along with the lyrics: “It's enough to make a man stay humble, every day is just a new chance to stumble, just to end up gone like everything else.”

The set ended with a heavenly sounding “Wait A Minute” (a The Seldom Scene cover) and a fiddle-fueled, face melting “Fire Line” before the lights came up for a 30 minute break.

While the first set was more like a rollercoaster of drama and intensity, the second set proved to be lighter-spirited, like a magic carpet ride through a bluegrass forest. 

Perhaps it’s because my brain couldn’t keep up with what it had just witnessed during the first set, but the second was a giant, blissful, bluegrass blur with classics and covers alike. 

Favorite covers included songs originally by the late Jeff Austin and Doc Watson, “Run Down” and “Alberta,” respectively, as well as Widespread Panic with “Pickin’ Up the Pieces.”   Billy songs that especially came alive for me in the second set included “Seven Weeks in County” from his newest album (“Highway Prayers”), “California Sober”, and “Dust in a Baggie,” their second set closer and crowd favorite. 

At the end of the show, it felt like there would be no way for me to express the amount of gratitude that I had for the band and the experience they just gifted us; but then the crowd of 20,000 people collectively clapped and cheered as hard as Billy and the band played, and the response was so overwhelming that it brought tears to my eyes so big that I had to wipe my cheeks with my hand.  I know that in that moment, Billy felt how much he means to his fans.  To quote Billy regarding the sheer magnitude of it all, “This is… uh…(thinking of the words to say)  It’s just fucking insane!” 

Back at the hostel that I was staying at, I was reflecting on the night with a couple other people who were also at the show.  One girl asked generally, “So what did you think of the show?”

With a lot of outwardly visible, inward deliberation of words, I replied, “It was incredible; but other than that, I don’t think I have the words yet.”

She kindly replied, “It’s ok, it’s a LOT to process after a Billy show.”

She wasn’t kidding.

In conclusion, if the theme of the show was a Spotify daylist, it would be called “Saturday Night Gritty Werewolf Moon Trip;” and if the show was a coffee, it could be described as a dark roast, bursting with an array of flavors as vast as the colors of the rainbow, and with meditative notes of harmony and hypnosis.

Last but not least, one of my favorite parts of the Billy Strings live experience was the people that I shared it with and seeing certain songs come to life through the energy of the crowd.  Everyone around me was dancing and grooving and in a fantastic mood the entire time, enjoying and savoring every single moment, just as I was.

I am already dreaming of my next Billy show, but until then I’ll gladly let the songs of his shows haunt me as I re-listen on nugs an infinite number of times.  

Until next time, “Keep your stick on the ice, don’t let your meat loaf, watch your top knot, keep her shiny side up, and if you ain’t in bed by midnight, go on home.” -Billy Strings

Grateful for:

Billy Strings: @billystrings

Alex Hargreaves: @alexhargreaves.music

Jarrod Walker: @denmark_walker

Royal Masat: @royalmasat

Billy Failing: @billywinningbanjo

Jesse Faatz: @jesse_faatz