Arlo Made Me Cry

Live at the Old Rock House – St. Louis, Missouri

Review by Midwest Mixtape Podcast and photography by Michael Haley Photography

On this midsummer night in St. Louis, Missouri — Arlo McKinley and his band of troubadours tear through an hour and a half set to an energetic and receptive audience at the Old Rock House. With songs of the most intimate in nature juxtaposed with pure hard rocking rhythm and leads that nearly shake the ground beneath the crowd. The songs scattered throughout Arlo’s set covered the majority of his career; mixing in classics like Don’t Need to Know and Bag of Pills with newer selections like Stealing Dark from the Night Sky and This Mess We’re In. The latter being the title track off of Arlo’s newest record, which is receiving high praise and critical acclaim — something Arlo is quite used to at this point in his career.

“Arlo Made Me Cry” is a theme that runs throughout Arlo’s merchandise table (stickers, shirts, koozies, etc.). As true as that sentiment may be on this particular July night at the Old Rock House, Arlo McKinley’s voice, guitar, and songs certainly have the ability to elicit some kind of emotional response from his crowd. And this is where Arlo’s star shines the brightest — in the moments where the magic seems to happen — between the chord changes, the slight pause between the verse and the chorus, and the autobiographical and transparent nature of his lyrics.

Near the end of the set Arlo pulls out a crowd favorite, Bag of Pills — a crowd sing-along that lyrically represents a darker time in Arlo’s life which revolved around addiction and drug abuse. As dark of a place as that song may have come from, on this night in the Arch City it shines a light of redemption, hope, and optimism.