The bands made their Meijer Gardens debut amid cloudy skies on Wednesday, delivering guitar-heavy strains to the amphitheater. The review and photos.
‘Kicking the Blues Right in the Teeth’: Larkin Poe on stage at Meijer Gardens. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERY
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
The Record Company’s vocalist Chris Vos said it best when he greeted the audience with this simple fact: “It’s a beautiful day for a rock ’n’ roll show.”
Overcast skies and chillier-than-normal temperatures set the scene for a night of blues and roots rock at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park with The Record Company and Larkin Poe, both of whom wasted no time in bringing amped up, guitar-heavy rock ’n’ roll to the picturesque setting.
While the venue was quite short of a sold-out show, many took advantage of the extra space to spread out picnic blankets, while others chose to stand at the foot of the stage for the true rock concert experience.
The Record Company got the crowd fired up with high-energy tunes that leaned heavily on steel and slide guitar as well as a few wild harmonica solos from Vos.
Although the trio is based in Los Angeles, Vos spoke about his Midwest roots of growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.
“I know a little something about winter,” he quipped before playing an acoustic track titled “Last Lonely Winter.”
With one last burst of energy, the group closed out their set with a John Lee Hooker-inspired song, “I’m Getting Better (And I’m Feeling It Right Now,” complete with call-and-response participation from the crowd.
The Record Company: Rocking the amphitheater. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
Before giving the energy provided by the opener a chance to lull, Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe burst onto the stage with bluesy riffs and precise vocal harmonies in full force.
From fearless slide guitar solos and witty lyrics that capture the sisters’ southern heritage, the duo blends the traditions of blues and southern rock into a fresh, modern mix that has been turning heads and gaining critical acclaim in the roots-rock genre.
“Are you ready to kick your blues right in the teeth with us?” lead vocalist and guitarist Rebecca Lovell asked the crowd, referencing their 2022 song “Kick The Blues.”
While much of the show sped along with non-stop energy, there were also a couple of quiet moments in which Lovell spoke candidly about recently becoming a mother and about how music can be used to help process heavy emotions.
Fresh off of playing the legendary Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the Nashville-based band paid homage to the music they were raised on. All five musicians gathered around a single microphone, as is bluegrass tradition, for a handful of songs including a haunting, harmony-laden rendition of the 2023 track “Southern Comfort” and a yet-to-be-released track dedicated to the late Ozzy Osbourne, “Devil Music.”
Larkin Poe also included covers of songs by The Allman Brothers Band, a staple of the Southern rock genre, and Son House, a Delta blues musician whose music dates back to the 1930s.
Meijer Gardens’ iconic “The American Horse” statue became a centerpiece of Rebecca Lovell’s on-stage banter, namely the two smaller replicas that accompany the massive statue. Lovell turned her encounter with the impressive monument into a humorous, musical tale about how the horse began speaking to her about a premonition it had and Lovell claimed that she must have been high off of whatever unknown substance the plants at Meijer Gardens might be releasing.
After playing several tracks from their 2025 album, “Bloom,” the sisters exited the stage, only to return, much to the audience’s delight, for an encore performance of “Bloom Again” that closed out the night.
PHOTO GALLERY: Larkin Poe, The Record Company at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker
