“I’m going back to old Virginia where the mountains meet the sky,” erupted the crowd last Tuesday, April 15, when Billy Strings played “Think of What You’ve Done” by The Stanley Brothers for a sold-out show at UVA’s John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Billy was back in Virginia to take fans on a mind-melting, string-picking bluegrass journey.

From the moment the crowd began pouring into the arena, the energy was undeniable. A sea of tie-dye shirts, denim overalls, cowboy hats, and ball caps adorned with pins—some even clipped with little clothespins carrying kind messages—set the tone for a night where everyone felt like part of one big, friendly tribe. The crowd was a beautiful mix, from the young to the young at heart, all vibing together, smiles on their faces, many donning Billy Strings or Grateful Dead merch.

Billy took to the stage with a huge “Howdy,” then kicked off the show with a rousing rendition of the traditional song “John Hardy.” A mid-song mention of Virginia brought the crowd to cheers—it was clear we were in for a joyride. Rolling right into the next two songs, “Malfunction Junction” and “In the Clear” brought the audience to life. The spellbinding and electric sounds of “Wargasam” turned up the voltage. Billy’s intricate string and pedal work on the guitar was mesmerizing. Bassist Royal Masat, in a purple and teal tie-dye suit, brought flair to the upright bass. The timely solos of Alex Hargreaves on fiddle, Jarrod Walker on mandolin, and Billy Failing on banjo were perfectly punctuated with dramatic pauses that kept fans hanging on every note.  A massive screen projected close-ups, making every expression and strum feel larger than life. At one point, Billy moved closer to the front of the stage, creating intimacy even in a packed venue. The crowd danced, shouted, and swayed with the music, caught in its spell. Before wrapping up the first of two sets with “Secrets,” the band played the hypnotic melodies of “Escanaba” and “Shenandoah Breakdown”—in which Billy teased “Scarlet Begonias,” a Grateful Dead fan favorite and a welcome surprise for many in the audience. Each song in the first set felt curated with personal touch and mindfulness from the Prince of pickers.

With the crowd fully charged and ready, set two opened with the sound of a revving engine and Billy wielding a black banjo. He kicked things off with “Lead Foot” from his latest album Highway Prayers. The crowd roared when he dropped “Think of What You’ve Done,” another nod to good old Virginia, as mentioned earlier. Like a melodic rollercoaster, Billy took the audience on a rip-roaring ride—charging through toe-tapping beats, gently coasting into rhythmic breakdowns, then firing back up with a burn that catapulted cheering fans into the next dynamic tempo. He closed the second set with “Meet Me at the Creek” from the 2017 album Turmoil & Tinfoil—an over ten-minute jam session that made for the perfect showstopper. With the entire arena on its feet, the band returned for an encore with “The Beginning of the End” and one more of Billy’s takes on a Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Brothers song: “Roll On Buddy, Roll On.”

Billy Strings came to pick some tunes for Virginia—and he did just that. Drawing fans inward with a kind of musical meditation, then roaring them back to life with blazing tempos, he made notes melt off every string. Twangy soulfulness turned the evening into something transcendent. It was a picking wild ride no one wanted to end—pure musical magic.