It has almost become a farce to declare in print that Billy Strings has reached new heights, because the 33-year-old bluegrass guitarist will just surpass his latest high-water mark in a matter of days or weeks. The Grammy-winning musician who has elevated bluegrass to the international stage earned his latest bona fide on Friday night, when Billy Strings headlined London’s Royal Albert Hall. Amid the historic first, the guitarist added a poignant cover of Jim Croce‘s “Age” to his live repertoire.
“I truly cannot believe I’m standing here seeing this,” Strings said at one point, as reported by Uncut. “It just feels like a special night.”
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The thousands of Americans who flew across the Atlantic to witness this concert would likely agree. Friday marked the penultimate stop on Strings’ five-country mini European/U.K. fall tour, following stops in Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, and preceding his tour closer tonight, October 12th, in Dublin, Ireland. This marked Billy’s first trip to London since playing the Roundhouse in November 2023, and to mark the occasion, Strings dusted off Tom Paxton‘s “Leaving London”, a Doc Watson-favored cover that Billy debuted on his inaugural trip across the pond in 2022. He also nodded to British exports The Moody Blues—whose bassist and co-lead vocalist John Lodge died earlier that day—with a cover of “Nights in White Satin” late in the second set.
International audiences have seen some of the best Strings has to offer, as the artist who normally fills arenas in his home country was allowed to revert to playing clubs and theaters. Among those venues was Royal Albert Hall, the concert hall opened in 1871 by England’s Queen Victoria and regarded as one of the finest venues in the United Kingdom.
Strings approached the show with reverence, highlighting traditional bluegrass with his opener “Red Daisy” and balancing it with his post-grass tranquility on the “Gild the Lily” that followed. Billy celebrated the history of the bluegrass tradition on a standout “Dawg’s Rag”, while honoring his own personal history with deeply revealing songs like “Dust in a Baggie”, “Stratosphere Blues / I Believe in You”, and the first set-closing “Turmoil & Tinfoil”.
Billy Strings — “Red Daisy”, “Gild The Lily”, “Hellbender” [Pro-Shot] — 10/10/25
Strings had more reflecting to do in the second set, though he chose to do it through the words of Jim Croce. Following an opening tandem of “The Fire On My Tongue” > “Ole Slew Foot”, Strings debuted a cover of the late singer-songwriter’s “Age”. From the opening line “I’ve been up and down and around and ’round and back again / I’ve been so many places I can’t remember where or when,” the song seemed just as relevant to Billy as any of the songs he’d written himself, all the way through the closing, “I’ve turned inside out and around about and back and then / Found myself right back where I started again.”
Through the second set, Strings also rattled off his personal contribution to the rich history of folk murder ballads, “My Alice”, his quintessential autobiographical song, “Away From The Mire”, a stirring a cappella “Am I Born To Die?”, and a thrilling mono y mono with banjoist Billy Failing on “Dos Banjos”. Strings saved some of the best for last, however, with a run of Bad Livers‘ “Pretty Daughter” and Leon Payne‘s “Psycho” > “Hide and Seek”. Though the show hadn’t included many large jams until that point, Strings, Failing, Royal Masat, Jarrod Walker, and Alex Hargreaves made up for it by going the distance with that trio finale, which ran for 22 minutes.
Though they didn’t leave the stage for an encore, there was a break as the band members basked in the roar of the crowd. Once again going a cappella, Strings was joined by Failing, Masat, and Walker for “Richard Petty” before looking homeward with his full band on the closing “Tennessee”.
After spending the first half of his life navigating from one valley to another—growing up surrounded by death and addiction—Billy Strings has gotten to where each peak he reaches brings into view the next high point. Just as he quoted from Jim Croce, “I’ve been up and down and around and ’round back again.” Now, with his whole life still before him, audiences worldwide watch to see what age will bring him.
Watch full video of Billy Strings at Royal Albert Hall below by DJVUK, or watch the entire concert on demand with a nugs All Access subscription. Sign up for a nugs.net All Access subscription here and tune into Strings’ European/U.K. tour closer today, October 12th, in Dublin. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your subscription via the links on this page helps to support our work covering the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Strings will return to the U.S. later this month for a domestic fall tour, including a two-night Halloween run in Baltimore with a Meet Me At The Crypt-themed October 31st show. Find tickets and tour dates here.
Billy Strings — Royal Albert Hall — London, England — 10/10/25 — Set One
Billy Strings — Royal Albert Hall — London, England — 10/10/25 — Set Two
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Setlist: Billy Strings | Royal Albert Hall | London, England | 10/10/25
Set One: Red Daisy, Gild the Lily, Hellbender, Dust In A Baggie [1], Leaving London (Tom Paxton) [2], Show Me The Door, Dawg’s Rag (David Grisman), Stratosphere Blues / I Believe in You [3], In the Clear, Turmoil & Tinfoil [4]
Set Two: The Fire On My Tongue > Ole Slew Foot (Johnny Horton), Age (Jim Croce, Ingrid Croce) [5], My Alice, Away From The Mire, And Am I Born To Die? (Charles Wesley) [6], Brown’s Ferry Blues (The Delmore Brothers) [7], Dos Banjos [8] [9], Escanaba, Nights In White Satin (The Moody Blues), Pretty Daughter (Bad Livers), Psycho (Leon Payne) [10] > Hide and Seek, Richard Petty [11], Tennessee (Doyle Neikirk, Jimmy Martin) [12]
[1] Crowd sang Billy Failing “Happy Birthday” for his birthday today
[2] Last Time Played 2024-11-01 | 79 show gap
[3] 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
[4] “Inspector Gadget” (Saban & Levy) teases
[5] FTP – Jim Croce
[6] Billy Strings solo a cappella
[7] Billy Strings solo
[8] Dos Billys (Billy Strings on clawhammer banjo and Billy Failing on banjo)
[9] “Happy Birthday” Billy Strings banjo intro for Billy Failing’s birthday
[10] “Can Mary fry some fish and chips, Mama?” lyric change
[11] Full band (minus Alex) around single mic
[12] Full band around single mic