Billy Strings turned his Baltimore Halloween concert into a Masters of the Universe celebration, mixing cartoon music with an unusually wide-ranging cover set.
Billy Strings’ He-Man Halloween show reached CFG Bank Arena on October 31 with the guitarist dressed as the animated hero. His band and guests extended the Masters of the Universe concept across the stage, making the costumes part of an evening built around the same fictional world.
Announced as “Heartbeat of Eternia,” the production brought Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Alwyn Robinson, Chris Sterr and Jimmy Olson into the lineup. The advance announcement also named regular band members Alex Hargreaves, Billy Failing, Jarrod Walker and Royal Masat, setting up a larger ensemble than a standard Strings performance.
According to Stereogum’s concert recap, music associated with the cartoon helped establish the setting before the show moved into covers. The choices included 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?,” a song with its own long-running internet connection to He-Man.
The repertoire stretched well beyond bluegrass. Snap!’s “The Power,” Slayer’s “Skeletons of Society,” Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” and Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough” were among the selections, allowing the theme to accommodate dance music, metal and familiar rock songs.
Afterward, Strings explained that he had recently become absorbed in the old cartoons and begun adapting their themes for guitar. He also said he wrote “Prince Adam” and “Teela’s Quest” for the production, while thanking his guests and band for learning the material.
The celebration came with a tentative note about the tradition’s future: Strings said next year might be the last Halloween production for a while because he wants to spend the holiday trick-or-treating with his growing son. That was a possibility rather than a confirmed farewell, and he also expressed enthusiasm for making the next edition a big one.
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