A great double bill of rock and blues made its way through the WNY area this past Thursday night with Larkin Poe and the Allman Betts Band. I was looking forward to this show as I have never seen Larkin Poe and only have seen Devon Allman solo and not teamed up with Duna Betts. Needless to say, how would each of these bands stack up live? I was curious to see.
First up was the Allman Betts Band. This band was put together back in 2018 with the sons of former Allman Brothers Band members. Devon Allman (son of Gregg Allman), Duane Betts (son of Dickey Betts) and Berry Duane Oakley (son of Berry Oakley). The band also included Alex Orbison (son of Roy Orbison). The band has 2 studio albums and intertwined their own material with Allman Brothers classics. Both Allman and Betts handled vocals and lead guitar. Even though both are tremendous guitarists, the bands secret weapon was guitarist Johnny Stachela. His leads brought some of the songs to even more to the forefront. Songs like “Magnolia” and “Shin” were prime examples. Of course a fine rendition of the Allman Brothers gem “Midnight Rider” was the perfect way to end the set. Their set was everything I thought it would be and it was all packed in an hour and 10 minute set.
The headliners Larkin Poe took the stage at around 8:45pm. This band is led by sisters Megan and Rebecca Lovell. What is different about these sisters is that both play lead with Rebecca playing lap steel guitar (slide guitar). Rebecca Lovell plays this the lap steel guitar not sitting (which is tradtionally how its played). She played it while standing. The band was rounded out with Tarka Layman handling the bass and keyboards and Ben Satterlee was backing the skins. The band focused on material from their latest effort ‘Blood Hamony’ by playing 6 tracks off of the record. This included the first two tracks “Strike Gold” and “Kick the Blues.” After playing “Summertime Sunset,” Megan Lovell talked about how lovely the area was and that 3 members of her crew never saw Niagara Falls. So they enjoyed taking the beauty of the falls all in. Rebecca Lovell debuted a brand new electro liege guitar that was in dark green for the track “She’s a Self Made Man.” They talked about the song “Southern Comfort” was about missing home. Megan Lovell talked about how they got the idea of “Bad Spell” from the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song “I Put A Spell On you.” The sisters harmonies were spot on and the 4 piece outfit was so tight overall. I was super impressed by the musicianship and the overall stage presence of Megan Lovell. She worked very inch of the stage and filled stories in between songs. You can judge band by not only keeping their fans satisficed but turning new people on to their music. I’m already looking forward to see Larkin Poe again!
What show and double bill. This show was for true lovers of rock and blues alike!
Setlist:
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
Might as Well Be Me
Bad Spell
Wanted Woman – AC/DC
Bolt Cutters & The Family Man
Encore:
Come On in My Kitchen (Robert Johnson cover)
We would like to thank Jordan Oscar for the credentials to review the show.
