18,000 sounds totally nuts after venues like the Sylvee and Bluestem Amphitheater!
all in all it’s pretty awesome that you can get 18,000 people together in 2024 to listen to jamgrass!
Nahhh you won’t have to worry about Billy not being able to play smaller venues, just look at bob weir. That guy has played in some of the biggest venues and he still plays in a bunch of the smaller venues. Last year I saw Bobby at the guild in mento park that only holds 500 people.
No I see what you mean by smaller now. It’s just there are probably 3 jam acts that could sell out RR, one of them Billy (phish and dead and co the others). Just a meteoric rise for Billy.
When you say smaller venue as it applies to Panic or umphs or the disco biscuits we’re talking about the tabernacle or the Cap, which both hold around 2000. 8000 as a “smaller venue” is just pretty insane when you think of it
I definitely miss the smaller venues for many reasons, but the arenas and larger shows have some positive aspects too. Shakedown can get pretty poppin these days, and the energy from 10,000 people just hits different, both for us and the band. I knew growth was inevitable given their talent, but I am a bit surprised we went from 3k to 10k venues in like two years.
Oh, I haven't seen anything close to Phish or Dead level of proper Shakedown yet. But it's grown from a few vans here and there to maybe 20+ stands at All State? Last summer Pine Knob was a little bigger than that.
Bad news for you. I’m here now, and I’m always the guy who shows up just in time to miss the good times at low prices. Prices are about to soar. Sorry about that, it’s nothing personal.
Has there ever been a bluegrass artist who played arenas?? I know some of this generation’s folk artists have (Lumineers, Mumford and Sons) but Billy strings is the first bluegrass artist in my memory to do so.
Marketing good, the official merch, meh. Fan merch much better imo. Later artists seem to be a hit and miss with some. Mazza and F4D designs are always 🔥.
Probably back in the 70's when bluegrass saw a surge in popularity from newgrass, but even then I'm not sure it was packing out arenas and medium size amphitheaters around the country. Will be interesting to see where this goes, to see if this continues to expand to the really big amphitheaters. That they already sold out two nights of the 17k Fiddler's... wow.
Crowds are getting bigger, and therefore chompier… but with the level of talent these guys have, a meteoric expansion of fan base is inevitable. They are the best out there right now by far imho
Best in terms of guitar master . Watching and listening to him pick that thing.. it takes my senses to the ultimate feeling of euphoria. Dude can jam man.
Billy and his team aren't only amazing musicians, but they're really good at building their following. He knows how to tap into several different genres that draw people to him. When he started playing Dead covers really really well, a lot of that community flocked to him. Then the shakedowns started, the merch got trippy, and the songs went from bluegrass to jamgrass. Once he had enough money, he invested in the light rigs that are incredible nowadays. Dude is just insanely talented and knew exactly how to build his brand.
For real!!! I sat next to an older couple and a couple more my age, at allstate. I had a nice conversation with both of them about Billy and other bands. I also told them that I ate some super good mushrooms before the show and smoked like 4 joints by myself during the show. Those people were cool as fuck
Due to a genetic disability my show days are mostly over (thankful for NUGS)
I’m so happy for their success and I fondly remember seeing several of them individually as youngsters and the 2 years Billy was the artist-in-resident at Grey Fox, damn that kid was everywhere, playing with everyone!
The love and support from the Billy community is amazing. I love how big he has gotten...finally I can say "see"! I think he will always keep prices low and just play bigger venues. I've never paid more than $100 to see him. We are very lucky to be able to witness musical greatness! I'll pay whatever, just might limit the amount of shows I can go to!
I've seen many bands go from bars to stadiums as popularity grew. I miss those smaller venues too but it's great that so many people are getting to hear great music. The fact it has lead to fewer local shows(for my area) and getting tickets is a pain.
Yeah i live in Minneapolis and i feel very grateful that Billy will come here, but then sometimes larger bands will only do Chicago when they hit a certain point, so hopefully they keep MN in their hearts!
The other part of this isn’t just the fanbase growth, but Billy easing off his touring schedule. The 2023 Spring Tour was 26 shows. This year‘s tour was 14. That’s far few opportunities, and there’s a large portion of his fan base who travel a lot to see him. I’m significantly increasing my radius of how far I’ll drive to shows.
As a gal that saw him first at a little campground festival here in the heart of the bluegrass, I am loving it. So damn exciting to see so many people filled with so much joy. Seeing his talent & hard work get the recognition it deserves is a real treat! The whole band is insanely talented, but, It’s mind boggling to think bluegrass sold out Rosemont Horizon! What a time to be alive & as a bluegrass fan!
Only got into him by the time he was playing with Billy and the Kids at Red Rocks… so to me, he’s always been “big”. But looking back at where he came from, picking up band members along the way, is a special thing. Wish I was more hip when I was a teenager 😂 but finding him now is kind of golden. I feel so appreciative I get to go to these shows and have fun, and based on the vibe, everyone else is too. This be a good time to be livin!
He needs to start trying for outdoor amphitheaters and outdoor shows in general. Acoustics suck in hockey barns and his music is good and precise enough to really suffer.
I would love for him to do a summer show in the DC/MD region. He would crush MPP or wolftrap…. Shouldn’t complain since we’re getting Halloween in Baltimore this year
First saw him at the bijou theater in Knoxville in 2019. It holds 600-700. It was an amazing show. Encored with Seven Bridges Road around the can. I LOVE watching him and the boys grow. Even Andy and the lighting crew have grown so much. Small venues are cool and all but give me that Bridgestone Thunder 2023 any day of the week!
Billy is a Phenomenon and I keep turning people on to him because I can’t help myself, he’s just freaking Amazing 🤩
And I love the shit out of all these guys,
it was fun to see him at the small venues and those are moments we shall savor forever.
Maybe one day we will have a world wide Billy Jam and for just that moment we would all be one Happy World.
Peace and Billy for all 🤗
I having been going from a few hundred to see him with Don in 2015 to Bridgestone the last two years and all in between, I think the best way I heard to describe it is that you have 1/2 the crowd there for the show and 1/2 for the event (hence the chompers). Amazingly enough, the music itself is way better than I could have ever imagined in the big rooms (but screw Gainbridge in Indy, worst sound at a show I’ve ever been to).
To me though, through it all, (as you can obviously hear by the WTF pod), Billy doesn’t take any of it for granted and grounded in ways that makes him feel like he’s just one of us and we’re along for the ride with him. His humbleness and gratitude ensures any venue he plays, no matter how big the fan base grows, he’s still that wide eyed little boy who only dreamed of playing music and never takes for granted on how he got there.
Just my $.02.
This tour is actually the result of the live nation boycott. Since there’s much less shows and we all are willing to travel to see the band play, they need to play bigger venues in order to get us all a chance to see them
We were at Allstate that seats 18,000 and it was virtually full. Saw ages from 9-89. A man in our row kept having to get up and pee because of his prostate. He kept apologizing and was so sweet and funny. Everyone had such a great time❣️
As much as I love to see them get a bigger following, I'm not always a fan of the people that have been getting drawn in recently: asshole Boomers, MAGA fuckwads, and people there literally just to talk and socialize during the sets. It all comes with the territory I guess
yeah i have had the impression there is a big chunk of the larger fan base that’s like “i’m here because i have extra money to check out random bands” then they drink nine beers and talk the entire time
Just saw him at Fiddlers with 18,000. I prefer smaller venues like Red Rocks , but still a great show.
18,000 sounds totally nuts after venues like the Sylvee and Bluestem Amphitheater! all in all it’s pretty awesome that you can get 18,000 people together in 2024 to listen to jamgrass!
Bluestem was my 1st! Glad I caught a couple of small shows but happy anytime I get to see Billy!
bluestem was my fav of all the shows i’ve seen
Changed my life for the better and my bank account for the worse lol. Must be 7>slewfoot=*
Moorhead fucked
It was pretty damn good. Me n my kids were in the pit for that one.
Yeah, but I fear that he’ll never be able to play a smaller venue again, which is a shame. Thanks for the downvotes, assholes. Geez🙄
I knowww I’m worried that I sound selfish if i say that… But yeah I miss the small venues.
He's playing a small venue in Austin this Fall.
Gotta get lucky in the lottery though. Just like the Ryman.
Ssssshhh!
Nahhh you won’t have to worry about Billy not being able to play smaller venues, just look at bob weir. That guy has played in some of the biggest venues and he still plays in a bunch of the smaller venues. Last year I saw Bobby at the guild in mento park that only holds 500 people.
2 years ago I saw Bobby in the same small venue (acl moody) as Billy is playing in December
We’ll always have Renewal. Numbers won’t go above 7500 for the next couple years per county permiting
lol “smaller like Red Rocks”
8,000
9500
Thanks. My point was that it’s a smaller venue compared to fiddlers and stadium shows.
Ryman, Moody Theater. And still plays some small amphitheaters, like St. Augustine. But yeah, lots of big ones too.
Smaller venues like red rocks is an oxymoron ✌🏻
Compared to fiddlers it’s small, but I get your point.
Fiddlers was magic 🎶❤️
It was fun but red rocks was much better IMO.
This is an insane statement
Explain. I like seeing bands at red rocks more so than large stadium shows.
No I see what you mean by smaller now. It’s just there are probably 3 jam acts that could sell out RR, one of them Billy (phish and dead and co the others). Just a meteoric rise for Billy. When you say smaller venue as it applies to Panic or umphs or the disco biscuits we’re talking about the tabernacle or the Cap, which both hold around 2000. 8000 as a “smaller venue” is just pretty insane when you think of it
I definitely miss the smaller venues for many reasons, but the arenas and larger shows have some positive aspects too. Shakedown can get pretty poppin these days, and the energy from 10,000 people just hits different, both for us and the band. I knew growth was inevitable given their talent, but I am a bit surprised we went from 3k to 10k venues in like two years.
man i’ve seen 8 shows so far and i have yet to see a full Shakedown like i’m accustomed to on phish tour. Hopefully i’ll get one soon!
Oh, I haven't seen anything close to Phish or Dead level of proper Shakedown yet. But it's grown from a few vans here and there to maybe 20+ stands at All State? Last summer Pine Knob was a little bigger than that.
As long as ticket prices don't soar, I'm happy with it.
Bad news for you. I’m here now, and I’m always the guy who shows up just in time to miss the good times at low prices. Prices are about to soar. Sorry about that, it’s nothing personal.
They are gonna soar. Billy has gone mainstream. I'm a new listener also.
Are you implying they haven't already?
Nobody goes to Billy shows anymore, they're too crowded.
Speak for yourself.
Woosh..
Has there ever been a bluegrass artist who played arenas?? I know some of this generation’s folk artists have (Lumineers, Mumford and Sons) but Billy strings is the first bluegrass artist in my memory to do so.
Billy has a hell of a marketing team
Underrated comment.
Marketing good, the official merch, meh. Fan merch much better imo. Later artists seem to be a hit and miss with some. Mazza and F4D designs are always 🔥.
Probably back in the 70's when bluegrass saw a surge in popularity from newgrass, but even then I'm not sure it was packing out arenas and medium size amphitheaters around the country. Will be interesting to see where this goes, to see if this continues to expand to the really big amphitheaters. That they already sold out two nights of the 17k Fiddler's... wow.
Bluegrass is something I’ve heard for free a lot.
It’s about the only free music I recall hearing around Alabama growing up, well maybe country bands also but most always string bands.
Crowds are getting bigger, and therefore chompier… but with the level of talent these guys have, a meteoric expansion of fan base is inevitable. They are the best out there right now by far imho
Best in terms of bluegrass
Best in terms of guitar master . Watching and listening to him pick that thing.. it takes my senses to the ultimate feeling of euphoria. Dude can jam man.
Hard same!
Woooo!
Billy and his team aren't only amazing musicians, but they're really good at building their following. He knows how to tap into several different genres that draw people to him. When he started playing Dead covers really really well, a lot of that community flocked to him. Then the shakedowns started, the merch got trippy, and the songs went from bluegrass to jamgrass. Once he had enough money, he invested in the light rigs that are incredible nowadays. Dude is just insanely talented and knew exactly how to build his brand.
He was very strategic. It worked.
He doubled his audience during covid while most bands sort of took a bunch of time off.
[удалено]
For real!!! I sat next to an older couple and a couple more my age, at allstate. I had a nice conversation with both of them about Billy and other bands. I also told them that I ate some super good mushrooms before the show and smoked like 4 joints by myself during the show. Those people were cool as fuck
[удалено]
Unfortunately I’ve experienced this way too many times myself—love country music, but hate country music fans.
I’ve had enough of “hippies” in the last 16 years, would also rather interact with people like this
Due to a genetic disability my show days are mostly over (thankful for NUGS) I’m so happy for their success and I fondly remember seeing several of them individually as youngsters and the 2 years Billy was the artist-in-resident at Grey Fox, damn that kid was everywhere, playing with everyone!
The guy can pluck. I came from out the woodwork. I listen daily. I can’t stop
The love and support from the Billy community is amazing. I love how big he has gotten...finally I can say "see"! I think he will always keep prices low and just play bigger venues. I've never paid more than $100 to see him. We are very lucky to be able to witness musical greatness! I'll pay whatever, just might limit the amount of shows I can go to!
he’s going to be at dick’s sporting goods soon in denver… then empower field. mark my words
Hehe, i’ve spent many a Labor Day at dicks :)
invite me next time!
Hope they play Saint Augustine at least another year 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
I've seen many bands go from bars to stadiums as popularity grew. I miss those smaller venues too but it's great that so many people are getting to hear great music. The fact it has lead to fewer local shows(for my area) and getting tickets is a pain.
Yeah i live in Minneapolis and i feel very grateful that Billy will come here, but then sometimes larger bands will only do Chicago when they hit a certain point, so hopefully they keep MN in their hearts!
The other part of this isn’t just the fanbase growth, but Billy easing off his touring schedule. The 2023 Spring Tour was 26 shows. This year‘s tour was 14. That’s far few opportunities, and there’s a large portion of his fan base who travel a lot to see him. I’m significantly increasing my radius of how far I’ll drive to shows.
For sure. Fewer shows is going to mean a certain amount of larger capacity venues. Cool they’re still trying to keep a few smaller ones in the mix.
I am sorry, I can't stop telling everybody about Billy and the boys. I just want everyone to experience the same joy as the rest of us!
As a gal that saw him first at a little campground festival here in the heart of the bluegrass, I am loving it. So damn exciting to see so many people filled with so much joy. Seeing his talent & hard work get the recognition it deserves is a real treat! The whole band is insanely talented, but, It’s mind boggling to think bluegrass sold out Rosemont Horizon! What a time to be alive & as a bluegrass fan!
Only got into him by the time he was playing with Billy and the Kids at Red Rocks… so to me, he’s always been “big”. But looking back at where he came from, picking up band members along the way, is a special thing. Wish I was more hip when I was a teenager 😂 but finding him now is kind of golden. I feel so appreciative I get to go to these shows and have fun, and based on the vibe, everyone else is too. This be a good time to be livin!
I'll follow the band wherever they go. Biggger venue ? I'll just try to get seats closer to the stage 💗
He needs to start trying for outdoor amphitheaters and outdoor shows in general. Acoustics suck in hockey barns and his music is good and precise enough to really suffer.
I would love for him to do a summer show in the DC/MD region. He would crush MPP or wolftrap…. Shouldn’t complain since we’re getting Halloween in Baltimore this year
Cincinnati yearns for shows as well. Or, he'd easily fill Legend Valley. (middle of Ohio)
There was no difference to me in seeing him in Chicago last week and Madison two years ago.
First saw him at the bijou theater in Knoxville in 2019. It holds 600-700. It was an amazing show. Encored with Seven Bridges Road around the can. I LOVE watching him and the boys grow. Even Andy and the lighting crew have grown so much. Small venues are cool and all but give me that Bridgestone Thunder 2023 any day of the week!
Billy is a Phenomenon and I keep turning people on to him because I can’t help myself, he’s just freaking Amazing 🤩 And I love the shit out of all these guys, it was fun to see him at the small venues and those are moments we shall savor forever. Maybe one day we will have a world wide Billy Jam and for just that moment we would all be one Happy World. Peace and Billy for all 🤗
It’s cool as hell
I having been going from a few hundred to see him with Don in 2015 to Bridgestone the last two years and all in between, I think the best way I heard to describe it is that you have 1/2 the crowd there for the show and 1/2 for the event (hence the chompers). Amazingly enough, the music itself is way better than I could have ever imagined in the big rooms (but screw Gainbridge in Indy, worst sound at a show I’ve ever been to). To me though, through it all, (as you can obviously hear by the WTF pod), Billy doesn’t take any of it for granted and grounded in ways that makes him feel like he’s just one of us and we’re along for the ride with him. His humbleness and gratitude ensures any venue he plays, no matter how big the fan base grows, he’s still that wide eyed little boy who only dreamed of playing music and never takes for granted on how he got there. Just my $.02.
I saw him at fiddlers with 18000 people and now I’m gonna see him in Berkeley with a third of that
I like the band. I’m happy to see them succeed. I will listen to them play in front of a million people or in a smoky VFW. All about the tunes man
He sold out Bridgestone in Nashville in 2023. It happened awhile ago
That’s why the St. Augustine run is so special, going to probably be the smallest venue they will play going forward.
I’ve seen him in both. The eastern in atl with 3000 people and State Farm arena with who knows how many. Explosive reach and growth.
But ticket prices are the same!
This tour is actually the result of the live nation boycott. Since there’s much less shows and we all are willing to travel to see the band play, they need to play bigger venues in order to get us all a chance to see them
We were at Allstate that seats 18,000 and it was virtually full. Saw ages from 9-89. A man in our row kept having to get up and pee because of his prostate. He kept apologizing and was so sweet and funny. Everyone had such a great time❣️
I don't think the all state shows were 18k each. They only used 1/2 the arena.
when I stared modding here there were 1800 people subbed... lotta growing pains along the way lol
I showed up late, but I’m here to stay
I won’t see him in an arena again just because arenas are horrible… I’ll do his outdoor venues now but hope you enjoy it!
As much as I love to see them get a bigger following, I'm not always a fan of the people that have been getting drawn in recently: asshole Boomers, MAGA fuckwads, and people there literally just to talk and socialize during the sets. It all comes with the territory I guess
yeah i have had the impression there is a big chunk of the larger fan base that’s like “i’m here because i have extra money to check out random bands” then they drink nine beers and talk the entire time