Billy Strings Revisits Select Covers During Brisbane Stand
Photo: Stevo Rood
On Saturday night, Billy Strings arrived at the latest location of his ongoing Australian outing, Riverstage in Brisbane. During the third concert of this tour leg, the musician and his band dedicated their time to preserving legacy material from the bluegrass canon, including a slew of traditional songs with thematic references to mobility and rural life, alongside sage cuts from his own repertoire of originals.
Before landing on borrowed tunes, Strings and company commenced their July 19 performance with a selection of originals that touched on three different sets of music: Renewal, Turmoil & Tinfoil, and Home, by way of “Red Daisy,” “On The Line,” and “Train 45.” The latter songs converged into a nonstop movement, before presenting “Watch It Fall,” a secondary reference to Strings’ 2019 offering. The delivery was followed by the first return to the Cliff Carnahan-scribed, Jimmy Martin-recorded “Ocean of Diamonds” since May 21, 2024, ending an 82-show performance gap.
The band batched up originals, producing takes on “Show Me The Door,” before the instrumental interlude known as “Charlie’s Birthday Breakdown.” Set one brought out more covers and band-penned songs, such as the borrowed number “Freeborn Man,” followed by the original “Know I All.” The Seldom Scene’s “Wait A Minute” preluded classic “Sally Goodin,” which, upon completion, provided an opening for the band to amalgamate “Wargasm” into Bill Monroe’s “Southern Flavor,” and “Cabin Song” to cap the night’s initial frame of music.
Set two saw the bandleader return to the stage solo for a rendition of his own “Catch and Release,” as well as Delmore’s “Brown’s Ferry Blues.” Rather than bring back the whole band, just Billy Failing joined Strings for a duo take on the traditional, “Froggie Went A-Courtin’.” The rest of the players took their spots, and the collective gave live treatments to “Seven Weeks in Country,” which ran into “Reverend.” Finding a hot spot and letting the songs sizzle, the ensemble kept up the pairings on “Malfunction Junction” into classic, “John Hardy.”
Blaze Foley’s “Cold Cold World,” “Happy Hollow,” and David Grisman’s “Sugar Hill Ramble” were performed before hammering in the theme of movement with Peter Rowan’s “Bound to Ride,” and a final pairing: “Running the Route” and the Delmore Brothers’ “Running.” For the night’s encore, Strings dusted off the Hank Williams popularized “Someday You’ll Call My Name” for the first time since Feb. 18, 2024, followed by a concert-ending “Blues Stay Away From Me.”
After Saturday’s show, Strings will arrive in Auckland, New Zealand, tomorrow, July 22, for their final concert on this international leg.
Billy Strings
Riverstage – Brisbane City, Australia
July 19, 2025
Set I: Red Daisy, On The Line > Train 45, Watch It Fall, Ocean Of Diamonds1, Show Me The Door, Charlie’s Birthday Breakdown, Freeborn Man, Know It All, Wait a Minute, Sally Goodin, Wargasm > Southern Flavor > Cabin Song
Set II: Catch and Release2, Brown’s Ferry Blues2, Froggie Went A-Courtin’3, Seven Weeks in County Reverend, Malfunction Junction, John Hardy, Cold Cold World, Happy Hollow, Sugar Hill Ramble, Bound To Ride4, Running The Route > Running
Enc.: Someday You’ll Call My Name5, Blues Stay Away From Me
Setlist Notes:
- Last Time Played 2024-05-21 | 82 show gap
- Billy Strings solo
- Billy Strings on guitar, Billy Failing on banjo
- Last Time Played 2024-12-06 | 53 show gap
- Last Time Played 2024-02-18 | 99 show gap
Setlist via billybase.net.
