On Saturday, Billy Strings wrapped a sentimental two-night run in Grand Rapids, MI, 30-something miles from where he grew up in tiny Ionia County. For their second of two weekend shows (and third overall) at the 12,000-seat arena, Billy Strings and his bandmates charged out of the gate with a 20-minute opening grouping of “Must Be Seven” and “Meet Me at the Creek”.

After the sentimentality of the semi-autobiographical “Must Be Seven” opener, Strings, Billy Failing, Jarrod Walker, Royal Masat, and Alex Hargreaves dug in with an ensuing 17-minute “Meet Me at the Creek”. With plenty of gas in the tank at the dawn of spring tour, the band took the reliable jam vehicle out for a healthy ride. Everyone got a piece of this one, with Strings throwing in Inspector Gadget teases and Hargreaves really catching fire on his fiddle toward the end of the immersive and expansive jam.

Billy Strings — “Must Be Seven” > “Meet Me At The Creek” — 5/31/25

“Meet Me at the Creek” was just the beginning of a show with plenty to love for diehard fans and newcomers alike. “Thirst Mutilator” took on an unorthodox jam not long before “Slow Train” got the packed arena gyrating for the evening’s only train song. The band flexed its harmonizing muscles with a single-mic “Harbor of Love” by The Stanley Brothers before new Highway Prayers favorite “Malfunction Junction” linked with a jammed-out “Little Maggie” to wrap the first frame.

In the second set, Strings threw in a nod to his recent bout of Outlaw Music Festival tour dates alongside Bob Dylan with “Tangled Up in Blue”. Though Strings’ career has been filled with one high water mark after another these past few years, being invited out to sing “All Along the Watchtower” with one of modern music’s greatest songwriters will be a hard one to top. Strings did Dylan justice with “Tangled Up in Blue” before linking it to another major inspiration on John Hartford‘s “All Fall Down”, another improvisational highlight of Saturday’s show.

Billy Strings — “Tangled Up In Blue” (Bob Dylan) — 5/31/25

[Video: TheFestivalCandy]

Billy Strings — “All Fall Down” (John Hartford) — 5/31/25

[Video: TheFestivalCandy]

Alex’s fiddle on “Sally Goodin'” then got the crowd hooting and hollering, only for Royal’s bass to bounce the entire arena. Between songs, Strings reflected on his childhood in Michigan and seeing Black Sabbath play on the same stage where he now stood. A performance of the newly debuted “I’m One of Those” seemed to echo that sentimentality, ahead of one last improvisational deep dive on “Turmoil & Tinfoil”, a tip of the cap on “The Beginning of the End”, and finally the first “Old Home Place” since September 2024 to close the show and the run.

Strings’ tour continues this coming weekend with a two-night stay at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL (6/6–6/7). Find tickets and a full list of tour dates here. nugs All Access subscribers can stream the entire tour. [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!]

Check out a gallery of images from Billy Strings in Grand Rapids courtesy of photographer Steve Baran.

Setlist: Billy Strings | Van Andel Arena | Grand Rapids, MI | 5/31/25

Set One: Must Be Seven > Meet Me At The Creek [1], John Deere Tractor (Lawrence Hammond), Thirst Mutilator > Taking Water, My Alice, Seven Weeks in County, Slow Train (Leroy Drumm, Cal Freeman), If Your Hair Is Too Long, There’s Sin In Your Heart (Bobby Davidson) [2], Harbor of Love (The Stanley Brothers) [3], Malfunction Junction > Little Maggie (Traditional)
Set Two: Leadfoot [4], Love and Regret, Whisper My Name (New Grass Revival), Love Like Me, Tangled Up In Blue (Bob Dylan) > All Fall Down (John Hartford), Catch and Release [5], Brown’s Ferry Blues (Delmore Brothers) [5], Sally Goodin (Traditional) > Know It All, I’m One Of Those, Turmoil & Tinfoil, The Beginning of the End, Old Home Place (The Dillards) [6]

[1] “Inspector Gadget” (Levy & Saban) tease
[2] Full band (minus Alex) around single mic, front of stage
[3] Full band around single mic, front of stage
[4] Billy Strings on his Masterton ML-1: Missing Link Béla Fleck Baritone Banjo & Billy Failing on Guitar
[5] Billy Strings solo
[6] Last Time Played 2024-09-27 | 53 show gap

Train songs: 1