LARKIN POE Tour Dates JAN 26 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO JAN 27 The Commonwealth Room Salt Lake City, UT JAN 28 Center for the Arts Jackson, WY JAN 30 Bozeman, MT JAN 31 Knitting Factory Concert House Boise, ID FEB 2 The Crocodile Seattle, WA FEB 3 Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC FEB 4 Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR FEB 7 Center For The Arts Grass Valley, CA FEB 9 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA FEB 10 House of Blues San Diego, CA FEB 11 The Fonda Theatre Los Angeles, CA FEB 23 The Echo Lounge & Music Hall Dallas, TX FEB 24 Scoot Inn Austin, TX FEB 25 George's Majestic Lounge Fayetteville, AR MAR 9 9:30 Club Washington, DC MAR 10 Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, PA MAR 11 Webster Hall New York, NY MAR 12 Royale Boston, MA MAR 15 The Opera House Toronto, ON MAR 16 Thalia Hall Chicago, IL MAR 17 Turner Hall Ballroom Milwaukee, WI MAR 18 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN MAR 31 Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, TN APR 1 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA APR 6 Bluesfest Byron Bay 2023 Tyagarah, Australia APR 9 Metro Theatre Sydney, Australia APR 10 The Croxton Bandroom Melbourne, Australia APR 11 Corner Hotel Richmond, Australia APR 13 Powerstation Auckland, New Zealand APR 14 The Hunter Lounge Wellington, New Zealand APR 15 James Hay Theatre Christchurch, New Zealand OCT 6 Tapperiet Scene Trondheim, Norway OCT 7 Rockefeller Music Hall Oslo, Norway OCT 8 Münchenbryggeriet Stockholm, Sweden OCT 10 Amager Bio Copenhagen, Denmark OCT 11 Grosse Freiheit 36 Hamburg, Germany OCT 12 Ancienne Belgique Brussels, Belgium OCT 14 Le 106 Rouen, France OCT 15 L’Olympia Paris, France OCT 17 O2 Academy Bristol Bristol, UK OCT 18 O2 Academy Glasgow UK OCT 20 Albert Hall Manchester, UK OCT 21 Roundhouse London, UK OCT 23 E-Werk Cologne, Germany OCT 24 Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht, NL OCT 25 La Laiterie Artefact Strasbourg, France OCT 27 Transbordeur Villeurbanne, France OCT 28 Volkshaus Zürich, Switzerland OCT 30 Circus Krone Munich, Germany OCT 31 Forum Karlín Karlín, Czechia NOV 1 Huxleys Neue Welt Berlin, Germany NOV 3 Brauerei Ottakringer Wien, Austria NOV 4 Fabrique Milan, Italy NOV 6 Le Bikini Ramonville-st-agne, France NOV 7 Razzmatazz Barcelona, Spain NOV 8 Sala Riviera Madrid, Spain Read More
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As a winter storm approached the area outside, a night of the blues warmed things up inside--
Rock/Blues sisters Larkin Poe returned to a very sold-out Knuckleheads Garage in Kansas City, for a thrilling night and showcase of how refreshed and evolved this distinctly American genre of music, can sound today.
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The early-arriving crowd was treated to a thirty-five-minute opening set from openers Goodnight, Texas, a folk-rock foursome curiously named after the town that is the geographic midpoint between the initial locations of songwriters Avi Vinocur (San Francisco) and Patrick Dyer Wolf (Chapel Hill, NC).
The band has a new album to support, How Long Will It Take Them to Die, and has toured with the headliners several times, including the last time both acts played this very venue. Highlights included their spiritual sequel to a Dylan classic, “I'm Going to Work on Maggie's Farm Forever” (that had singer Vinocur loudly singing verses off-mic directly into the crowd), the pulp noir vastness of new song, “Hypothermic”, and the chain-gang stomp of their closing “The Railroad”.
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The buzz over Nashville’s Larkin Poe has been palpable and growing louder, but this was the first time we've managed to catch talented sisters Rebecca & Megan Lovell live, to experience their own brand of Southern roots rock and blues, after hearing good things as they’ve headlined and also supported the likes of Bob Seger, Elvis Costello, and Keith Urban.
Their prolific and impressive discography includes their newest, Blood Harmony (via Tricki-Woo Records) and their lively energetic eighty-five-minute set did not disappoint the sellout crowd, 2/3 of which were seeing them for the first time as well (per an informal show of hands).
Originally from Atlanta and currently Nashville-based, they are descendants of celebrated author Edgar Allan Poe, named for their four-times removed grandfather, who was Poe’s cousin, and came roaring out of the gate with the rousing “Strike Gold”.
“Are you ready to kick the blues tonight?” a smiling Rebecca asked, as sister Megan embellished the crowd response with her lap steel wails, both beaming with the obvious pleasure of being able to play live again after our collective isolated years.
Older sister Megan and longtime bassist Tarka Layman shined on the Son House classic, “Preachin’ Blues” and their empowering feminist theme song, “She's a Self Made Man” was next (flipped from the setlist), while the new “Back Down South” was written by Rebecca and her husband as a love letter to all the influential music that has originated from the region.
“Mad as a Hatter” dates back all the way from the sisters’ mid-teens, about mental illness, and is a song they highlight and try to play at almost every show. With alcohol brand Southern Comfort actually sponsoring the tour, the girls were rushed out drink shots and toasted the crowd (like fine brand stewards) before going into the song of the same name.
The rocking “Bad Spell” was written by Rebecca as her own response to a classic hit by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and the set continued to gain momentum, culminating in the new “Bolt Cutters & The Family Name” and its defiant chorus, “You can take me outta the fight, but you can't take the fight outta me”, which ended the main set with the crowd whoo-whoo-ing along.
The one-song encore was not some bombastic anthem; rather, a backwoods swampy Delta Blues song from the new album, that both highlighted the sisters’ harmony vocals and the dark secrets a Southern River might hold in its history.
“There's nothing quite like blood harmony, more than flesh, more than bone, when you sing, I don't sing alone” Larkin Poe emote on the title track of their new album, and not only do the Lovell sisters harmonize and musically connect like only siblings can, but the album and new songs solidify them as a leading voice in this next generation of blues rock.
(click on any image to enlarge and see in full)
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| John C ♥ johnc@weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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