Hey RCS crew, my name is Max; long time listener, first time caller.
I attended my first Billy Strings shows last weekend and wanted to share the experience. Thanks to Mr. RCS for lending me the platform to do so. I am the co-founder of a charitable club, Things That Are Good (TTAG). We sell merchandise and host events with all profits donated to local charities (currently The Ronald McDonald House of NY). Feel free to check us out on Instagram and thanks for reading!
After listening to nearly every Billy Strings show over the past three years, I finally got to see him live myself. He was set for two nights at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ — home of the NJ Devils (so many great cover options… more on that later). As soon as the tour was announced and tickets went on sale in May, I knew these would be
must-see shows, and my first(s) at that. I foolishly passed up a chance to see him in Winston-Salem during my time at Elon in NC, and haven’t been able to make it to any of his shows in and around NYC since.
I grabbed floor tickets for Friday, Nov. 14 and opted to not get any for the 15th. I got lucky to get a pair of seats at face-value early in the week leading up to the shows (shoutout to @JamTixByMail) and my excitement was only rising. I texted a couple of friends “BMFS this weekend?” and quickly had my show-going buds (shoutout Noah F.
and Max W.) in order.
Friday evening started with a couple of pints at Carragher’s, a subterranean pub in Manhattan’s Financial District, before heading to the World Trade Center PATH station. 20 minutes later we arrived at Newark-Penn Station and were a short walk from the Prudential Center. We grabbed a beer and headed to get our spot on the floor.
Thankfully, we entered the building around 6:45p and were only 5 people off the rail and had a great view of the first set.
I enjoyed how frank the whole operation was. Nothing left to mystery beyond what song would come next. The PA system sounded both 15 and 5-minute warnings before the lights went down and the band appeared from the dark. Billy greeted the crowd with his standard “Well, howdy!” and they were off. A lovely I’m One of Those, one of Billy’s
newer songs, opened the night, followed by a great cover of Age by Jim Croce. Halfway through the set we got to hear Escanaba, a great picking tune from the Highway Prayers album. After tuning and thanking his guitar, Billy continued with Highway Hypnosis, which picked up the energy, and Show Me The Door, that soothed the arena.
The band closed a strong set with End of the Rainbow.
The Prudential Center was an enjoyable venue overall though the 100 level bathrooms weren’t very well equipped to host its respective sections and the floor. So we did not have enough time to do that, re-up on beer and get to the floor in time to reclaim our front-pit spot and settle for the back of the floor – still a great view!
Billy opened up the second set on a black banjo with a ripping Leadfoot, which has an equally enjoyable and trippy music video. Other highlights of set two included Don’t Be Calling Me (at 4AM), Seney Stretch, Dust In A Baggie, and Everything’s The Same.
The crowd showed its love equally for all five members of the band, and was properly rewarded with a wholesome This Heart of Mine to end the night. Nitrous Mafia is always an amusing scene in cities, and Newark was no exception. A large-scale and efficient market was to be had (see video below). Beyond the madness, there was a great shakedown street with vendors slinging homemade tie-dyes, stickers and grilled cheeses. I grabbed a couple of new hats thanks to @Train_Songz and @devandrsch as well as a few stickers from the lot and made my way back to Manhattan – a great night one.
Saturday brought rest and inside time before heading to meet a few friends at a rooftop bar in the Meatpacking District and taking the PATH again to the steps of the Prudential Center. Sitting in section 7 instead of the floor gave us plenty of time to get situated in our seats and Billy took the stage as soon as we put our jackets down.
Wearing the new Train Songz hat proved to be good luck and we got two train songs in our first three of the night: Play a Train Song (Todd Snider tribute) and Ridin’ That Midnight Train. In the Morning Light, Gild The Lily, Seven Weeks in Country, and (especially) Away From The Mire made for another enjoyable 70 minutes of music and we were entering the 4th quarter, so to speak.
Unfortunately, the bathroom/F&B lines proved to be a thorn again as we missed the first song of set two, Catch and Release (one that Noah F. was particularly hoping for on night one –sorry Noah)! We made up for it with two more Billy solo tunes and closed the two-night run with an amazing 12-song set, including:
– Brown’s Ferry Blues
– Georgia Buck
– Pyramid Country (17 mins!)
– Know It All
– My Alice
– Be Your Man
– Natural Born Gamblin’ Man
– This Old World
– Love Like Me
– Hide And Seek
– Encore:
– Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt cover)
– Tennessee (Jimmy Martin cover)
Two amazing nights – despite no Devils-inspired covers – and I can’t wait to catch him again in Ft. Worth at the end of the tour. The depth of his catalog (and range of covers) is very underrated – so many options! If you haven’t seen them play, BMFS is certainly worth the trip to your nearest tour venue.
MSA
