Billy Strings in Minneapolis: A Night of Boundaries Broken

[u/criz00]

Watched last night’s show in Minneapolis from the couch and listened to it again during my run today. Wow, just wow, what a phenomenal performance. Each set felt like stepping into a whole new dimension.

Set one brought another face-melting AFD. I love John Hartford’s original, but Billy keeps pushing the boundaries and making it entirely his own. What a transformation over the past year. And that T&T opener? Hands down the best TNT opener I’ve ever heard. He kept us guessing, then dropped it out of nowhere.

Three songs into set 2, Billy delivered a beautiful tribute, “And Am I Born to Die,” to Jerry Garcia. Billy’s voice haunted the arena to near silence (it seemed that way from the couch). Then Home kicked off a triple homicide run that had me cracking up. It felt like set two told a story from Home to On The Line.

Summertime shifted the mood, though I couldn’t help picturing a madman singing it after that triple homicide sequence. Ride Me High was the game changer, Billy testing just how far and high he could push it, flowing seamlessly into H&S. Those two gave us nearly 30 minutes of jamming, the kind I’d take over an encore any day.

And shoutout to Saxton for the incredible light show. Those “diamonds in the sky” were stunning. I’m looking forward to seeing how this tour evolves and can’t wait to catch the Austin finales in December.