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Larkin Poe closed out the U.S. portion of their Blood Harmony tour Saturday night in Atlanta.
To state the obvious, you know it’s a popular band when the crowd is lined up down the street well before the doors open. Rebecca and Megan Lovell have earned that, winning fans at festival appearances and their own shows over the last decade, not to mention eight studio albums.
The lights dimmed, and a glowing circle with the band’s name cast light across their spartan stage. The band took the stage, and fiery opening notes to “Strike Gold” ripped across the venue. The sisters stood in the middle of the stage, facing each other, and the lights came on revealing the sisters in full rock mode. It was quite the entrance, and the crowd roared their approval.
There are plenty of bands with a palpable energy, but few seem as convincing that they’re really having that great a time… or, for that matter, are as appreciative of each other.
The blistering opener lasted three songs before Rebecca Lovell took a breath to chat with the audience, and anyone who tells people to check out Son House on their way home knows their roots. They served up his “Preachin’ Blues,” Rebecca’s vocals nuancing the blues styling (while accenting the humor: “I’m gonna be a preacher, so I don’t have to work”) and Megan laying the gravel with her new Beard lap steel.
After mentioning her Georgia roots and the toils of travel, they played “Southern Comfort,” one of nine songs they played from their 2022 hard-rocking release, Blood Harmony. If you think this plays well for an automatic tour sponsor, you’re right. Score! Whether following up with “Holy Ghost Fire” was an intentional play on spirits remains unknown.
Roots rock… Electric blues… Americana… Classifications are difficult. One fan speculated they were playing Blues Metal during the second half of “Wanted Woman / AC/DC.” There’s certainly a point that people want more than the media coughs up, and the search is on. Once found, Larkin Poe can keep an audience. They’re infectious. Great audience interaction, hand gestures aplenty, gracious smiles not just after a song but as they play, exuberance while wandering the stage, great songs, great harmonies, great guitar. And if you want a more serious side, try their nod to mental illness, “Mad as a Hatter,” and see if it doesn’t fit somewhere in a life.
Not every band can play nine of 11 new songs and completely own an audience. Larkin Poe’s style is gradually changing, but they’re by no means leaving their fans behind. Also, Variety Playhouse’s sound and lights were a great host for a superlative performance.
The outro selection of Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” was interesting in that the opening notes, though not the same and played with a keyboard rather than a guitar, offered somewhat of a closing refrain from the opening notes of “Strike Gold.”
More photos follow.
Setlist:
Encore:
