Poco 1980

As the touring economy in the U.S. takes a dive, Poco retreats to playing a majority of their live dates this year on college campuses where there is a built-in audience. Poco booked a shorter tour than the previous year’s because the band was tired after nearly a full year out on the road in 1979.

DATE	VENUE	LOCATION	ALSO PERFORMING	NOTES
March 3, 1980	Radio Picture Show			An early video show airs in syndication – this date is the transmission date for the LA TV market
July 31, 1980	Multnomah County Fairgrounds	Portland, OR		Fan recollection
August 1, 1980	Medford Armory	Medford, OR		One show at 8:30 p.m. Poco canceled this show
August 2, 1980	Sacramento Community Theater	Sacramento, CA		Poco canceled this show
August 3, 1980	Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University	Palo Alto, CA	Dave Mason, Huey Lewis and the News	John Hall proves a tough act to follow this night. College reviewer Jim Kownicki claimed that Poco did a Jimi Hendrix tune in their set. According to Rusty, Poco did not perform an encore because “The audience wasn’t getting into it at all.”
August 6, 1980	Ben H. Lewis Hall, Raincross Square	Riverside, CA	LaRoux	One show at 7:30 p.m. LaRoux made it difficult for Poco, but the band performed an energetic set and the audience responded wildly. Rusty Young told the crowd, “We’ve got to come back here!”
August 7, 1980	Civic Center	Bakersfield, CA		One show at 8:00 p.m. Added scan of ticket stub.
August 8-9, 1980	Universal Amphitheatre	Universal City, CA	LaRoux	Variety reported that Poco was canceling its tour, with the exception of these shows, and resuming in mid-September due to Kim Bullard’s broken hand. However, Bullard does not remember his hand injury being the reason for any canceled dates. Ed Harrison gave Poco a rave in Billboard. Poco managed to sellout both shows.
August 10, 1980	Open Air Amphitheatre	San Diego, CA		One show at 8:00 p.m.
August 12, 1980	Celebrity Theatre	Phoenix, AZ	World’s Greatest Cowboy Band	Poco canceled this show.
August 13, 1980	Paolo Solari Amphitheatre	Santa Fe, NM	Willis Alan Ramsey	Postponed until late August.
August 14, 1980	Red Rocks Amphitheatre	Denver, CO		Canceled? The Red Rocks website suggest that this show may have taken place.
August 15, 1980	Music Hall	Omaha, NE		One show at 8:00 p.m.
August 16, 1980	Five Seasons Center	Cedar Rapids, IA		This show was confirmed by the Denny Jones archives.
August 17, 1980	Kiel Opera House	St. Louis, MO		Canceled?
August 19, 1980	Century II	Wichita, KS		Canceled?
August 20, 1980	Soldier and Sailors Memorial Auditorium	Kansas City, KS	John Stewart	N. Castleman informs us that this show did take place, calling into question how many other of these shows were actually played. Anyone see them during this leg of the tour???
August 21, 1980	Unknown venue	Oklahoma City, OK		Canceled?
August 22, 1980	Wintergarden Theatre	Dallas, TX		Canceled?
August 23, 1980	The Palace	Houston, TX		Canceled?
August 24, 1980	Manor Downs	Austin, TX		Canceled?
August 26, 1980	Civic Center	Lubbock, TX		Canceled?
August 27, 1980	Chaparral Center	Midland, TX		Canceled?
August 28, 1980	Civic Center	El Paso, TX		Canceled?
August 30, 1980	Paolo Solari Amphitheatre	Santa Fe, NM
September 13, 1980	Great Adventure Amusement Park	Jackson, NJ		Two shows at 6:00 & 8:30 p.m. An audience tape of a partial set exists.
September 14, 1980	New Jersey State Fairgrounds	Hamilton, NJ	The Charlie Daniels Band
September 17, 1980	Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium	Columbus, OH		One show at 8:00 p.m.
September 18, 1980	Emens Auditorium, Ball State University	Muncie, IN	John Hall	An estimated 1,500 attend, roughly half-filled the auditorium. Minor technical problems and a rowdy crowd made for a less-than-stellar performance.
September 19, 1980	ACC Center, Notre Dame	South Bend, IN	John Hall	Roughly 2,000 people attend this show.
September 20, 1980	Kresge Auditorium, Depauw University	Greencastle, IN	John Hall	University reviewer called the show sluggish, referring to Poco as the “living dead.” It is the first of a number of negative reviews in the college press. As the 80s were dawning, Poco was not cool on campus.
September 21, 1980	Memorial Hall	Dayton, OH	John Hall	One show at 7:30 p.m.
September 24, 1980	Fisher Auditorium, Indiana University Of Pennsylvania	Indiana, PA	John Hall	John Hall proves a tough act to follow this night. College reviewer Jim Kownicki claimed that Poco did a Jimi Hendrix tune in their set. Poco did not perform an encore because according to Rusty, “The audience wasn’t getting into it at all.”
September 25, 1980	Wilkens Theatre, Kean University	Union, NJ	John Hall	One show at 8:30 p.m. Contrary to the last couple of shows, Poco goes over well with a New Jersey audience.
September 26, 1980	Puccillo Gym, Millersville College	Millersville, PA	John Hall	Once again, reviews from campus cited John Hall’s performance as more energetic and superior to Poco’s. The only exception was during the short acoustic bluegrass set which had the crowd on its feet.
September 27, 1980	Hollinger Fieldhouse, West Chester State College	West Chester, PA	John Hall	One show at 8:00 p.m.
September 28, 1980	Rec Hall, Penn State University	State College, PA	John Hall	Apparently the set started off rather slowly, but by mid-set the crowd was into it and Poco left the stage pleased with the reaction.
September 30, 1980	Civic Center	Huntington, WVA		Finally nailed the date down for this show.
October 1, 1980	Mountainlair Ballroom, West Virginia University	Morgantown, WVA	John Hall	Campus reviewer J.T. Ellenberger griped, “Paul Cotton was playing riffs with what appeared to be a minimum of enthusiasm.” Although basically a pan, the review did include a brief interview with Steve Chapman, who was very pleased with the tour to that point.
October 2, 1980	Tippen Gym, Clarion University	Clarion, PA
October 3, 1980	Rider College	Lawrenceville, NJ
October 4, 1980	McComb Field House, Edinboro College	Erie, PA	John Hall	One show at 7:00 p.m.
October 5, 1980	Hubbell Hall, University Of Bridgeport	Bridgeport, CT	John Hall	800 people attend this show. Poco did not take an encore, claiming a blown monitor system. This show caused a debate among student officials who wanted “better” bands booked into the school. Previous shows by America and McGuinn-Clark-Hillman had provided similar low attendance figures.
October 7, 1980	Dick Clark Theatre	Tarrytown, NY	John Hall
October 9, 1980	Alumni Gym, Clarkston University	Potsdam, NY	John Hall	One show at 9:00 p.m.
October 10, 1980	Farrell Hall, S.U.N.Y, Delhi	Delhi, NY	John Hall	Students painted a Poco mural in the hall. The band was delighted and happily autographed it after the show.
October 11, 1980	Wilson Ice Arena	Geneseo, NY
October 12, 1980	Panzer Gym, Montclair State	Montclair, NY	John Hall	A rare positive campus review with the only complaint being that Poco seemed to rely on long arrangements and long solos.
October 1980 (UD)	Northeast Missouri State University	Kansas City, MO		Poco canceled this performance.
November 1, 1980	Royal Oak Music Theatre	Royal Oak, MI
November 1, 1980	All Seasons Arena	Minot, ND	Mission Mountain Wood Band	From the Denny Jones archives
November 2, 1980	Fieldhouse, University of North Dakota	Grand Rapids, ND	Mission Mountain Wood Band	One show at 7:30 p.m.
November 3, 1980	Civic Theatre	St. Paul, MN	Mission Mountain Wood Band	One show at 8:00 p.m. From the Denny Jones archives
November 4, 1980	North Dakota State University	Fargo, ND	Mission Mountain Wood Band
November 5, 1980	Carleton West Celebrity Theater	Green Bay, WI		Apparently, the set started off rather slowly, but by mid-set, the crowd was into it, and Poco left the stage pleased with the reaction.
November 5, 1980	Rushmore Civic Plaza	Rapid City, SD	Mission Mountain Wood Band
November 7, 1980	Regis Fieldhouse	Denver, CO		One show at 8:00 p.m.
November 8, 1980	Saunders Fieldhouse, Mesa College	Grand Junction, CO		From the Denny Jones archives. Recent research finds that a burglary at a local record shop the night before had netted 200 unsold tickets. A 19-year old was arrested at the concert.
November 9, 1980	Ballroom, Colorado State University	Ft. Collins, CO		One show at 9:00 p.m.
November 10, 1980	City Auditorium	Colorado Springs, CO		Fan recollection (Stewart Levitt). Stewart tells us that Poco appeared at the JC Penneys in the Citadel Mall to sign copies of UNDER THE GUN prior to the show.
November 12, 1980	Fairgrounds	Reno, NV		One show at 7:30 p.m. From the Denny Jones archives
November 14, 1980	Perkins Place	Pasadena, CA		One show at 8:00 p.m.
November 15, 1980	Warnor’s Theatre	Fresno, CA		From the Denny Jones archives
November 16, 1980	Santa Barbara County Bowl	Santa Barbara, CA	Ambrosia and John Batdorf	One show at 1:00 p.m. John Wilkens of the News-Press cited Rusty as the inevitable musical highlight. Wilkens regretted that ‘Bad Weather’ was not part of the set and noted that Poco didn’t play their current radio hit, ‘Midnight Rain.’
November 17, 1980	Civic Auditorium	San Jose, CA	Greg Kihn Band	One show at 8:00 p.m.