Billy Strings, photo by Madison Dodd

Billy Strings stepped into the spotlight in St. Augustine, Fla. last night to kick off his spring tour. With the first of three nights at the St. Augustine Amphitheater, the bluegrass firebrand blazed through two sets of genre standards and his own beloved catalog, ornamented by a few unexpected track resurrections and a pair of new originals.

Strings and his quartet of banjoist Billy Failing, fiddler Alex Hargreaves, bassist Royal Massat and mandolinist Jarrod Walker launched Thursday’s tour opener with “Everything’s the Same,” then segued deftly into the traditional “Sally Johnson.” The frontman embedded a tease of “Seney Stretch” into “While I’m Waiting Here,” then the band kept on with further favorites like “Hellbender” and “Taking Water” before building momentum into the first frame’s intense jam centerpiece with “Turmoil and Tinfoil.” Before returning to the last passage of the title track from his 2017 album, Strings unleashed his take on the cinematic funk of the late Lalo Schifrin’s Enter The Dragon theme, which he’d played last in February 2025.

In the last lap of their first act, Strings led the group into their first performance of  “Night Fishing,” a new original. The bandleader he expanded his live repertoire further by opening the evening’s encore with “Something To Look Forward To,” another new original co-written with the late bluegrass great Ronnie Bowman, a friend of Billy’s who passed away on March 22. Between these two captivating moments, the band raised a second set that included such essentials as “Secrets,” “Doin’ Things Right,” “Dealing Despair,” “My Alice” and “Gild the Lily.” To finally send their fans off into the night, with high expectations for this weekend’s follow-ups, the band closed with Reno & Smiley’s “Drifting with the Tide.”

Strings will return to the St. Augustine Amphitheater tonight, then close out the run on Saturday and dash off to stops in Tampa, Fla., Savannah, Ga., Greensboro, N.C., Charlottesville, Va., Charleston, W.Va. and Fishers, Ind. through April 25. Find tickets and more information at billystrings.com.

Read on for the full setlist from Thursday night.

Billy Strings
St. Augustine Amphitheater – St. Augustine, Fla.
4/2/26

Set I: Everything’s The Same > Sally Johnson, While I’m Waiting Here+, Hellbender, Taking Water > Ice Bridges, I’m One Of Those, Turmoil & Tinfoil >Enter The Dragon* > Turmoil & Tinfoil, Night Fishing#, Bronzeback
Set II: Secrets, Doin’ Things Right, Southern Flavor > Dealing Despair, Heartbeat of America, Rank Stranger, My Alice, Hide and Seek, Gild the Lily
Encore: Something To Look Forward To^, Drifting With The Tide~

Notes:
+ “Seney Stretch” tease
* Last Time Played 2025-02-21 | 88 show gap
# FTP – Original
^ FTP – Original wrote with the late Ronnie Bowman, a beloved bluegrass musician and friend of Billy, who passed away on March 22, 2026.
~ Last Time Played 2025-04-11 | 79 show gap

Setlist via billybase.net.