After bending Steel City to his will with a two-night run in Pittsburgh, Billy Strings moved on to conquer the small town of Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania for a one-and-done show on Friday. The concert at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza marks the penultimate show of Billy’s brief U.S. winter tour leading up to his three-night New Year’s Eve run in New Orleans.
Strings and company hit the ground running with their signature number “Dust In A Baggie”, sprinting straight through “Hollow Heart”. These songs kicked off a first set heavy on Billy originals, including a “Heartbeat of America” that saw the firebrand guitarist go full Dickey Betts on some electrified solos, counterbalanced with a tender “In The Morning Light”.
Billy Strings – “Dust In A Baggie” > “Hollow Heart”, “Heartbeat Of America” [Pro-Shot] – 12/15/23
Billy still found room to honor his influences in the first frame, including the traditional “Cattle In The Cane” which has been recorded by the likes of Tony Rice and Norman Blake. The first set was highlighted by Billy-penned songs though, like the somewhat rare “All of Tomorrow” from Strings’ full-length debut Turmoil & Tinfoil. The guitarist spanned the length of his career from the 2017 album mentioned above, through 2019’s Grammy-winning Home, to his 2021 release Renewal, and even his collaboration with Willie Nelson “California Sober” released earlier this year. An ethereal, ambient jam at the end of the first set ultimately manifested itself as “Turmoil & Tinfoil”, floating through space for a blissfully mind-expanding 16 minutes before capping the first frame.
Related: Billy Strings’ European Vacation: Highlights From The 11-Show International Tour [Videos]
Conversely, the second set was dominated by covers. Tributes rolled off the tongue of Billy and the fingers of his bandmates with a continuous run beginning with the original “This Old World” and moving through Leslie Keith‘s “Black Mountain Rag”, John Hartford‘s “With a Vamp in the Middle”, and finally David Grisman‘s “E.M.D. (Eat My Dust)”. It was another segue that highlighted the second set, with the pairing of “Running The Route” > “Running” propelling the frame with 14 minutes of frenetic picking.
Toward the end of the set, Strings sent his bandmates Billy Failing, Jarrod Walker, Royal Masat, and Alex Hargreaves off so he could have some one-on-one time with the audience on a solo “Catch and Release”. Failing came back first for him and Strings to share the stage and banjo duties on “Dos Banjos”, with the rest of the band ultimately rejoining for “Pyramid Country” > “Little Maggie”.
An encore of inside references, it began with the “Van Scoy Jingle (I’m A Lucky Girl! Hooray! Oh Boy!)”, taken from the Van Scoy Diamond Mine located in Wilkes-Barre. Billy previously debuted his cover of the ubiquitous radio ad known by locals for decades when he made his debut inside the Mohegan Sun Arena in 2021 (he previously played a three-night run of drive-in shows in the parking lot in September 2020). The earworm jingle had not been seen since July 27th, 2022 in Chicago, per BillyBase. Finally, Strings closed out the show with “Big Spike Hammer”, an Osborne Brothers original favorited by Yonder Mountain String Band during its days with the late Jeff Austin, one of Billy’s biggest influences.
Check out videos and audio from Billy Strings in Wilkes-Barre. PA. The tour rolls on to Syracuse, NY tonight, December 16th, for the last show ahead of the New Year’s Eve run. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit Billy’s website.
Billy Strings – “Turmoil & Tinfoil” – 12/15/23
[Video: Matt Frazier]
Billy Strings – Mohegan Sun Arena At Casey Plaza – Wikes-Barre, PA – 12/15/23 – Ful Audio
[Audio: Rich Stoler]
Setlist: Billy Strings | Mohegan Sun Arena At Casey Plaza | Wikes-Barre, PA | 12/15/23
Set One: Dust In A Baggie > Hollow Heart, Heartbeat Of America, In The Morning Light, Cattle In The Cane (Traditional), All Of Tomorrow, California Sober, Watch It Fall > Nellie Kane (Tim O’Brien), Red Daisy, Turmoil & Tinfoil
Set Two: Think Of What You’ve Done (The Stanley Brothers and The Clinch Mountain Boys), This Old World > Black Mountain Rag (Leslie Keith) > With A Vamp In The Middle (John Hartford) > E.M.D. (Eat My Dust) (David Grisman), Hold That Woodpile Down (David Brahan, Edward Harrigan), Running The Route > Running, Show Me The Door, John Hardy (Traditional), Catch and Release [1], Dos Banjos [2], Pyramid Country > Little Maggie (Traditional)
Encore: Van Scoy Jingle (I’m A Lucky Girl! Hooray! Oh Boy!) (Van Scoy Diamonds) [3], Big Spike Hammer (The Osborne Brothers)
[1] Billy Strings solo
[2] Dos Billys (Billy Strings on clawhammer banjo, Billy Failing on banjo)
[3] Last Played 2022-07-27 | 155 show gap