Billy Strings has never been the kind of artist who treats a holiday show like a throwaway gig. For him, Halloween is a canvas. Some years it’s a tribute to a specific record, some years a full theatrical bit. This year, it was Eternia.

Listen on Spotify

At CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Strings came out dressed as He-Man, sword and all, while his band and a pair of guests filled out the rest of Castle Grayskull’s cast in Masters of the Universe costumes. Alwyn Robinson, Jimmy Olson, Royal Masat, Jarrod Walker and Chris Sterr made up the band, with Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull sitting in for several songs.

The whole thing felt less like a novelty set and more like a guy building a diorama out of guitars. The show opened with a string of theme songs, including the Masters of the Universe theme and the old Eternia cue from the Prince Adam storyline, before sliding into covers chosen for how they echo through internet culture as much as the original cartoon. There was 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?,” a nod to the meme pairing that’s followed He-Man around online for years. Snap!’s “The Power” showed up too, along with Slayer’s “Skeletons of Society,” Foo Fighters’ “My Hero,” and Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough.” It’s the kind of setlist that only makes sense if you’ve already fallen down the same rabbit hole Strings clearly had.

By his own account, that rabbit hole started just a few months ago, when he got hooked on the old cartoons almost by accident. He wrote a couple of original pieces inspired by the show, reconnected with musician friends from his Traverse City days to help pull it off, and leaned on his own band to learn an unusual pile of material in a short window.

But the real weight of the night came after the music stopped. Strings posted a message on Instagram explaining that Halloween carries a complicated pull for him now. October 31st was his mother Debra’s birthday. She would have turned 66. He wrote about missing her even in the middle of a show he knew she would have loved, the kind of quiet ache that doesn’t cancel out joy so much as sit right next to it.

He also hinted that this scale of production might not last much longer. With his son getting older, Strings said he’s thinking about trading the big theatrical nights for trick or treating in the next couple of years, as Stereogum reported.

So this one might be one of the last of its kind, at least for a while.