Show Review - Billy Strings 11/17/23 Manchester, UK
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend my first Billy Strings show on an off night from Goose tour.
While I am not the biggest bluegrass fan, I can fully appreciate Strings’ generational talent and was ready to experience a new kind of music. Along my European trip so far, I have spoken to many fans who have sung the praises of his shows, helping me set my expectations for the night.
Strings played the bigger 2500 capacity room at Manchester Academy (Goose was in the smaller 950 cap “Academy 2” room on Thursday), and the floor was packed tightly with fans, both American and British. There were definitely a higher number of locals last night than I have been used to seeing on this trip, which was cool. Despite the positive pre-show vibes, however, I was dismayed at the level of chomping during the performance – due to the quieter volume of the bluegrass band, it felt at times like attendees treated Strings as the background music to their conversations.
Opening the show promptly at 8 with “Dust in a Baggie,” I was immediately shown the virtuosic skill of the quintet as they embarked on a 13-minute excursion within the song. Bassist Royal Masat stuck out to me from the first notes of the night, acting as the groove anchor due to lack of drums and offering a lower-toned sound to the very high-register combination of acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle.
My other favourite part of the first set was “Thunder,” a song I was familiar with due to its lyrics being composed by the late Robert Hunter. This one also had a decently-sized jam within, which consisted of rapid-fire solo trading between the band members amid some cool use of effects by Strings himself to build tension-and-release peaks.
In the second set, Strings worked a cover of Beatles classic “And Your Bird Can Sing” in as an ode to the nearby Liverpool hometown of the legendary band – the only song played all night that I knew all the words to.
By that point in the show, though, things began to get a little bit repetitive for me – there’s only so much sixteenth-note bluegrass shredding I can listen to in one sitting. The lack of drums and keyboards were felt as well – I mentioned above about the limited sonic palette that made the music a little bit one-dimensional at times. I do want to reiterate that I am in no way trying to insinuate that the five musicians on stage are anything less than incredibly talented – they each are insane at their respective instruments!
I will say that though I’m not “100% sold” on Billy Strings, it was a treat to get to experience live and I will definitely leave myself open to seeing more shows – hopefully at some point I get to catch his rare electric act with drums!
Back to Goose tonight…on a boat!