Larkin Poe at Thalia Hall in Chicago 2023

16 Mar, 2023 John Kosiewicz Blues, Concert Reviews, Rock

Walker Hayes - Photo credit: John Kosiewicz

Larkin Poe

GRAMMY® Award-nominated duo, Larkin Poe is an American roots rock band fronted by multi-instrumentalist sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell. Originally from Georgia, Larkin Poe are currently based in Nashville, TN. Their sixth studio album, Blood Harmony was released on November 11, 2022 via Tricki-Woo Records.

Blood Harmony Winter 2023 Tour

Larkin Poe marked the arrival of Blood Harmony with their biggest North American headline tour to date. On January 20, 2023, the tour got underway at The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC and then traveling through an April 1 tour finale at Atlanta GA’s Variety Playhouse. Highlights included shows at such historic venues as highlights including San Francisco, CA’s The Fillmore (February 9), Los Angeles, CA’s Fonda Theatre (February 11), New York City’s Webster Hall (March 11), and Toronto, ON’s The Opera House (March 15). For complete details, please visit www.larkinpoe.com/tour. Supporting the tour was Michigan Rattlers.

Chicago’s Thalia Hall (March 16)

On a rainy Thursday night, March 16, 2023, fans were lined up around the corner as they waited for the doors to open. The sold-out show packed the venue to the brim with approximately 800 fans. As you entered the stairway to the venue, Thalia hall had a beautiful, chalk drawn image of Larkin Poe.

Prior to the start of the show, I spent a little time talking to some of the people up front. That’s where the dedicated fans are, right on the rail. They are also the “VIP” who received early entry to the venue. One father and daughter VIPs had driven up from southern Illinois and joined in on the question and answer session with Larkin Poe. The father had seen Larkin Poe 23 times, while the daughter had only seen them 4 times. Also, I met a couple who came from Michigan. They were actually there to see Michigan Rattlers, but were really excited to see Larkin Poe for the first time.

Michigan Rattlers

Opening the night was a folk-rock band called Michigan Rattlers. The four-piece band, from Petoskey, Michigan, is composed of Graham Young on guitar, Adam Reed on bass, Christian Wilder on piano, and Tony Audia on drums. Their high energy rock n roll brought an expansive sound to their honest songwriting.

Kicking off their set, the band started with the title song off the band’s second full length album, ‘That Kind of Life’, which was released in 2021. Before the second song, Young dedicated the second song, saying “This is a song for Chicago” as they went into “Illinois Sky”. Young addressed the audience Nice to be here. We love Chicago! First time here, this is a nice place.” (referring to Thalia Hall).

For those who already heard music by Michigan Rattlers, the band tried out some new material. “So we’ve been recording some new things and ah… won’t be too long before we get something out… this song’s called, Pure Resistance. It’s just about being here… we’re all here and that’s more than enough sometimes.” Michigan Rattlers closed out their set jammin’ an appropriately named song, “Just Good Night”.

Larkin Poe

“We’re coming to you all the way from Music City USA, Nashville Tennessee. But we do not come carrying a whole lot of country. Instead we come bringing you a little bit of roots rock n roll. Are you ready? Are you ready for some southern rock n roll? Let me here you say YA!”

Larkin Poe did as they promised by playing “roots rock n roll” from start to finish. They started out the show with recent single off Blood Harmony, “Strike Gold.” Followed that up with “Kick the Blues”.

Show Highlights

Highlights of the night included:

Singles off Blood Harmony which also included “Georgia Off My Mind,” “Bad Spell”
Toast to Blood Harmony Tour and story about Nickajack Lake with sponsored Southern Comfort… “Gimme, gimme that southern comfort”
“Holy Ghost Fire” was hot, enough said
One of my favorites “Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues” with some sweet live jams
Closed out the main set with “Bolt Cutters & The Family Name” as they had fans singing along and kept ’em rockin’ with a few more solos.

Mad as a Hatter

During a very impactful part of the show, Rebecca asked the audience, “Quiet down for just a quick second.” She proceeded to talk about how they almost didn’t perform the next song, “Mad as a Hatter”. They try to perform it every night that they play. During their meet and greet, they had some conversations which inspired to put it right back in the setlist. When she was 15 years old, Rebecca wrote the song to start conversations and the importance of prioritizing mental health. She just turned 32 which shows that the song has really had some staying power for the band. It means something deep to them. She wrote the song when going through a tough time and had a lot of questions and not that any of them were answered. At least its giving them the space to have valuable valuable conversations with people around the world.

Encore

After a few minutes off stage Larkin Poe returned to the stage wearing their tour shirts and performed “Deep Stays Down”. They started with a little stripped down version which really emphasized the harmonies. “Thank you for believing in live music!” Ending the song with full band on the song. “Thank you so much! We love you, love you, love you lots!” The band took a bow and walked off the stage to the grateful cheers of the audience.

Be sure to keep up with the latest information and tour days for the next time Larkin Poe hit your area.

Larkin Poe Links

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Larkin Poe (via SetList.fm)

Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL
March 16, 2023

Strike Gold
Kick the Blues
Summertime Sunset
Preachin’ Blues (Son House cover)
Georgia Off My Mind
She’s a Self Made Man
Southern Comfort
Holy Ghost Fire
Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues
Blue Ridge Mountains
Mad as a Hatter
Might as Well Be Me
Bad Spell
Wanted Woman – AC/DC
Bolt Cutters & The Family Name

Encore:
Deep Stays Down