What do the bands Larkin Poe, The Cold Stares, Denver and a Southwest Airlines mileage run give you? A heckuva good time that’s for sure. Sometimes, you can mix a little fun with your mileage runs and even uncover an unexpected surprise like I did on part 1 of my 2-part mileage run to maintain A-List status on Southwest Airlines.
How it started
I’ve not been traveling much on Southwest Airlines this year. Like many of you, my business travel (and pleasure travel) slowed during the pandemic and while it’s definitely picked back up quite a bit this year, I’ve mostly been flying on United Airlines. With a generously low target to hit United’s 1K status, I’ve almost exclusively been choosing United routes – and I am closing in on the prize.
But, as a long-time Southwest fanatic, I felt a little guilty about abandoning my favorite low-cost airline. Having held A-List status for too many years to even count now, it was looking 2022 was going to the first year I didn’t have it. After doing the math on the 13 flights I’d need to hit the target I decided that just wasn’t going to happen. But then Southwest hit me with a special offer: if I were to fly 2 round trips, or 4 one-way trips before the end of the year I could re-up my status for another year.
Psh….uh, yeah. Slam dunk.
Besides, since I had a little over $400 in travel credit this was an easy decision. Almost like picking Charles Barkley….
You can sign up for the Southwest Airline Credit Card using my referral link here and we both win!
Now, where to go!?
Southwest gives travelers plenty of options and there was no shortage of places to choose from. I wanted to keep my ticket around $200 and wanted the trips to be reasonably short. Ultimately, after considering a trip to Montana, and Boston, I settled on a trip to Denver for the first two flights.
Why? To catch one of my favorite bands live, The Cold Stares who were opening for a band called Larkin Poe (more on this in a moment).
- Buy Larkin Poe’s Peach album in vinyl here
- See a smokin’ deal on Amazon’s Unlimited Music Streaming service here
Snagged a hotel at the Hilton Tru by the Airport, bought some general admission passes to the concert and was ready to go.
A week later it was time to make the journey (from my home airport of Ontario, mind you). For some reason, Ontario airport had lost its mind Friday afternoon and was slammed. Thank God for TSA Precheck.
A quick note about the Denver airport
We interrupt this programming to remind our readers how much we dislike the Denver Airport. Apart from it being 1.2 trillion miles away from the actual city of Denver, it’s old, the signage is poor, and, well, it just kinda sucks. Ok, that’s all, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
The Cold Stares & Larkin Poe
To be clear, I was there to see The Cold Stares, a more than up-and-coming blues-rock band that lays down some tasty licks and delights their audiences every time. They are a big-time talent and to be perfectly honest I was like, “Why are these guys opening for this other folk rock/country band?!?” [hint: they are not a folk/country band]
After seeing and hearing Larkin Poe tear the damn roof off the place with an insanely amazing show I now see why they were on the top of the bill. Sure, The Cold Stares are great (and they were everything I wanted them to be), but holy guacamole, the Lovell Sisters from Larkin Poe can straight out jam. And I was wrong – it’s ain’t folk/country, it’s roots rock/blues rock and the chunkiest, rockiest licks around.
Here’s a snippet of them jamming out:
The show was off the charts. They earned a fan that night and I am already scoping out where to see them next.
Final Thoughts
It’s that time of the year where folks starting doing the trigonometry on their mileage runs or mattress runs. If that’s you, try to mix in some pleasure with your run, but most importantly, go see Larkin Poe live. Good lawd…
Next up for part 2 of my mileage run is probably a ticket to Nashville to go see my buddy Lee from Bald Thoughts (and hopefully catch a show at the famed venue The Caverns.
Peace out
PS…don’t forget to check out this deal on Amazon Prime’s Unlimited Music Streaming Service.
PSS…while I know I’ve been cheating on you with United, I still love you Southwest…don’t worry. 🙂
