He appeared at the Edinburgh Folk and Bradford Festivals, and London venues such as the Marquee Cafe, 12 Bar Club, Rock Garden, and Mean Fiddler Acoustic Room. During that time he appeared with English folk star Eliza Carthy, folk legend Vin Garbutt, the late Cuban guitarist Isaac Guillory, and Irish singer/songwriter Kieran Halpin to name a few.

After his university studies, he began performing again in 2005, following medical problems that nearly stopped him playing guitar altogether! This fuelled a desire to write and perform as he had before, with appearances at Scarborough’s Acoustic Gathering & Beached Festival in 2006, where he formed The Billy Nielsen Band with friends Ben Westwood on Drums and John Cunliffe on bass as a one off. They have continued ever since, performing Billy’s songs old and new. During this time they guested on Radio York’s More Raw show with Matt Seymour in Feb 2007, played at the UniON Festival 2007 @ Scarborough Train Sheds, with top UK punk/rock outfit THE GALLOWS and at the Beached 2007 launch with Liverpool band Amsterdam. Headlining the festival's Truck Stage on the Saturday of the event! They have also appeared with guitar virtuoso Jon Gomm. Billy and the boys have received great acclaim at live shows, whether solo, duo or in band form. A blend of heartfelt folk/blues/roots songs, soaring vocals, wailing guitars, thundering bass and the clattering of drums, in the British blues/rock power trio tradition. See billy and the band if you dare!

Billy is writing new material all the time, with some songs taking years to emerge, like a fine wine! Billy says, "I have heard that Elton John ditches a song after 15 mins if it's not working, I often wonder how many great songs a writer like that could have binned?" Billy prefers to shelve ideas and go back to them later. Sometimes much later on. His song 'City of 100 Nations' is a great example. The initial verse idea was started in 1998 inspired by a one of his early trips to London to perform, but it didn't progress any further. Billy revisited the song an expanded on the original idea (a whole 10 years later) in 2008 with a new chorus and middle section.