Larkin Poe & Amythyst Kiah – Union Transfer – Philadelphia (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)
- PopEntertainment
- May 11
- 2 min read
Larkin Poe & Amythyst Kiah – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA – May 8, 2025
Some runaway eyeliner was the only misstep during the wonderful, raucous return to Philly of the Lovell sisters of Larkin Poe. The slightly pregnant Rebecca, who said that she had tried to look her best for us, had an issue with her eyeliner getting into her eyes, causing her to have to stop playing a couple of times, until her sister Megan gave her a hand in clearing up the running liner and the waterworks.
Some other people in the Union Transfer may have started tearing a bit at a few points during the show, but it was not due to cosmetics.
Celebrating the band’s 15th anniversary and recently released eighth album Bloom, Larkin Poe (the band is named after their great-great-great-great-grandfather, who was a cousin of famous poet Edgar Allan Poe) stormed into the Union Transfer and torched the place with a smart and eclectic mix of rock, blues, country and folk.
Opening for them was Amythyst Kiah, who did a clever and quirky set of original songs exploring racism, self-respect, religion, rebellion, world peace and appointment television. She also did a fun acoustic banjo cover of Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra.”
After leading up to the Larkin Poe set with taped snippets of a couple of country classics – Dolly Parton’s “Wildflowers” and Jerry Reed’s “Smell the Flowers” – the band stepped up onto the florally-decorated stage and tore into the slamming rocker “Nowhere Fast.”
This was followed up by the rollicking “Summertime Sunset / Kick the Blues.” Speaking of the blues, the group soon followed up with the bluesy rock stomp of “Bluephoria” and “Bad Spell.”
Also celebrating their musical range, they recalled their early days as bluegrass singers with a four-song acoustic break which contained passionate takes on “Southern Comfort,” “God Moves on the Water” and “Mad as a Hatter.”
As the acoustic mini-set was ending, Rebecca said, “Okay, let’s have some fun,” and the band settled into a good-natured (and completely unironic) unplugged cover of John Denver’s “Thank God I’m A Country Boy,” which made the crowd go wild.
By then there was no stopping Larkin Poe – although the band did have to stop and restart a version of “If God Is a Woman” due to the band being concerned about one of the audience members falling. The guitars shredded for songs like “Deep Stays Down,” “Pearls” and “Wanted Woman / AC/DC.”
The encore took advantage of the sister’s sweet harmonies on the country-vibed heartbreak ballad “Bloom Again.” I can’t wait until they make it back to town and bloom yet again for us.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 11, 2025.
Photos by Jim Rinaldi © 2025
