Pittsburgh has earned the name the “City of Bridges” from its nearly 300 bridges, and on Friday night, Billy Strings added a few more, including one that connected “While I’m Waiting Here” and “Meet Me At The Creek” for 31 minutes of highly improvised bluegrass.
Last night marked Strings’ debut at PPG Paints Arena, the home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, with a capacity of almost 15,000 for concerts. Strings hadn’t played Pittsburgh since 2023 for a two-night run at the slightly-smaller Petersen Events Center, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, where Phish played a one-off weekday show this past summer.
Friday got off to a good start for Strings long before he stepped onstage, as the Recording Academy nominated Billy’s fourth full-length studio album, Highway Prayers, for the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. If he wins, it’ll mark his third Best Bluegrass Album Grammy, following trophies for Live Vol. 1 and 2020’s breakout Home.
So Strings was likely already riding high as he stepped out onstage with Billy Failing, Jarrod Walker, Royal Masat, and Alex Hargreaves. One of the things that has made Strings such a popular musician is his humility, whether in his songwriting or in interviews, and he immediately put forth that modesty with the reflective “I’m One of Those” opener.
A man of multitudes, Strings then immediately flipped the metaphorical desk with “Tumoil & Tinfoil”. The swirling, twirling 20-minute odyssey was an appetizer of things to come in the second set, which checked off “In the Clear”, Billy Strings’ first “Whispers of the North” (Gordon Lightfoot) since August 2024, “Libby Phillips Rag”, and “Must Be Seven” before digging into “While I’m Waiting Here”.
Billy Strings — “I’m One Of Those”, “Turmoil & Tinfoil” — 11/7/25
A stoic and reserved “While I’m Waiting Here” ultimately built to some blissful upbeat jamming, climaxing a third stone’s throw away from Jimi Hendrix. The back-end jam provided the necessary infrastructure to transition into “Meet Me At The Creek”.
The reliable improvisational vehicle passed through traditional sections led by Walker and Hargreaves, with a slight detour into atonal feedback experimentation from Strings. The final destination, as it were, was about ten minutes of Strings commanding the jam, working the crowd into an uproar with distorted arena-rock guitar playing before sliding back into the fold with his traditional bluegrass flatpicking to bring it all back around.
Check out a selection of videos from Billy Strings in Pittsburgh as well as full-show audio. The run concludes tonight, November 8th. Tickets are sold out on Ticketmaster, and they’re looking pretty steep on StubHub, but you can always try CashorTrade.
Friday’s show is available to stream on demand via nugs. All Access subscribers can watch every remaining Billy Strings show of 2025 at no additional cost. Start streaming on nugs or sign up for a free trial here. [Editor’s Note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your nugs subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Billy Strings — “Hollow Heart” — 11/7/25
[Video: bklynwmn]
Billy Strings — PPG Paints Arena — Pittsburgh, PA — 11/7/25 — Full Audio
[Audio: discostew_42]
Setlist: Billy Strings | PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh, PA | 11/7/25
Set One: I’m One Of Those, Turmoil & Tinfoil, Happy Hollow, I Only Exist (Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys), Running The Route > Hollow Heart, 10,000 Miles From A Friend, Ernest T. Grass (Ronnie Bowman, Dan Tyminski) > How Mountain Girls Can Love (The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys), Long Forgotten Dream, Slow Train (Leroy Drumm, Cal Freeman)
Set Two: In the Clear, Whispers Of The North (Gordon Lightfoot) [1], Libby Phillips Rag, Must Be Seven, While I’m Waiting Here > Meet Me At The Creek, Stratosphere Blues / I Believe in You [2], Seney Stretch, Don’t Be Calling Me (at 4 AM), Rank Stranger (The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys), Likes Of Me (Jerry Reed) [3] > Secrets, Richard Petty [4], Katy Daley (Eamon O’Shea) [5] [6]
[1] Last Time Played 2024-08-24 | 97 show gap
[2] Billy Strings on a Martin Grand J-28E, Royal Masat on a Nord Stage 3 88-Key Keyboard & Billy Failing on Masterton ML-1: Missing Link Béla Fleck Baritone Banjo
[3] “Pyramid County” fake out intro
[4] Full band (minus Alex) around single mic
[5] Full band around single mic
[6] Last Time Played 2025-02-28 | 65 show gap
Train songs: 1