Poco Tickets

Looking forward to songs from the soundtrack of their youth a great crowd descended to the Cain Park to see the 21st century incarnation of Firefall, Poco and Pure Prairie League. Opening with an unapologetically nostalgic Firefall, the crowd was not disappointed as these senior musicians easily moved from one love anthem to the next. Next up was Poco and we again were treated to excellence. Rusty Young is simply great and relates to his crowd so well I could see them again and again. They have new stuff and it sounds really good, too. A brief pause and Pure Prairie League began the show's transition from country rock to just country. I did not recognize their first songs and when they broke into one of their well-known tunes I realized that they are no longer interested in replicating their original sound. As I walked up the park and their sound was defused by the trees they became more palatable but it is clear they are a country band. Not my taste.

Bad sound and bad voices made for a disappointing evening in Cleveland Hts., Ohio. The Firefall trio began the evening in fair form. Jock Bartley can still play guitar well, but Steven Weinmeister couldn't hit the highs with any consistency or strength, and Bil Hopkins' voice wasn't strong enough to fill in. Firefall has a great library. We just didn't have the chance to enjoy it on Saturday night. I am a HUGH Poco fan and this night, Poco was a failure, unfortunately. With the exception of one song, to be found on the upcoming CD, the set list was lifeless, as was Rusty's voice. Again, sound problems made a bad presentation worse. Jack Sundred's vocals were a whisper, and Rusty missed all the notes, though his performance was really limited by the lack of a quality sound system from the stage. Painful for this once great band to be on stage in that configuration with that sound. Finally, Pure Prairie League hit the stage and the energy of a live show was delivered! Nice work by the band and the old material sounded fresh and exciting. Nice ending to what was, essentially, a pretty lousy show. On paper, and on CD, this could have been a really great night. In person... wish I'd just played the records.

My husband and I really renjoyed the show. We especially enjoyed when Rusty reminisced about the old days with other bands and the things they did. The music was great and I would return!!

The venue was small and intimate and the sound was pretty good. Rusty is a very talented performer as were Jack and the organist. The music is classic and reminded us of a better time in life when music was really music and not some techno soundboard. Just wished Paul Cotton still played with the group. Jack's song about the Hard Country was excellent and the instramental at the end was rocking and moving just like the old days. Our only complaint was that Rusty's stories took away too much time from the music, even though his stories were entertaining. Bring them back again to Vegas real soon. Seat selection was very misleading as we thought we had assigned seats, as did most people. Would have come earlier if we had known the arrangements. All in all we loved the show and the music. Thank you POCO!

Firefall trio was unexpectly awesome. Great singing and harmonies. Poco was good too but sad to see only Rusty Young as the original.

Always a Firefall fan... great, tight acoustic jam on Sweet & Sour with only a very small meandering in the complementary fret work. They played everything you'd want to hear. Mexico, as usual was kick'n. Although the full band adds depth, the trio doesn't disappoint. And... although I missed the usual "It Doesn't Matter" show starter... (here it comes) it didn't matter.., Poco was actually better than their last visit to the Birchmere in my opinion. Rusty Young is bringing some new talent (Webb) and some new songs and even though he still carries the early hits in his bag, he's putting together a stronger performance. Letting his guys showcase their own good material and unleashing his new "I'm not Neil Young's Brother" really put some teeth in the show. When the guys and Rusty enjoy the show, it seems everyone goes away happy!

Despite all the changes, Poco continues on. As some of the new songs illustrated, this band, serves as a place where music can continue, and even to grow. Greg Webb is an outstanding musician, and a wonderful addition to the band. The accordion: who knew? And the Birchmere - as always, a great place to hear and see any act. It's such a personal experience. I can't say enough about the song "Hard Country" This echos my roots growing up on a farm, and the instrumental work was truly amazing! Shades of Neil Young's "Ordinary People" - but with an authentic quality that comes from growing up in that existence - more of a soul to the lyrics.

We were pleasantly surprised at how GREAT these old rockers sounded.....FIREFALL voices were as clear and harmonious as they were 35 years ago....actually, better harmonies than CSN 2 years ago...(No disrespect to all time greats CSN-just a nod to FIREFALL) Poco came on and, again, pleasantly surprised how well their voices meshed and harmonized....Rusty plays one MEAN steel! Played lots of oldies and some newies...always nice in a concert playing to a bunch of old rock& roll junkies! The best part? Small venue, great seats, cheap prices....a GREAT deal!

My date and I were amazed at the strength and range of their voices. The instrumentals were fabulous. Both groups were clearly enjoying the moment...and so were we! One of the best concert experiences I've had.

Nice venue. Friendly helpful staff. Pure Prarie opened the show and did an excellent set minus Mike Reilly who was in Hawaii for his 60th birthday. This was the first time that they played as an acoustic trio. Craig Fuller,Donnie Clark and Rick Shel did a might fine job. Poco was also a trio Rusty Young, Paul Cotton and Jack Sundrud minus drummer George Lawrence. Poco got off to a little bit of a slow start but by the second song they were flying. Paul played a new guitar the Hanson Chicagoan for the first time. Rusty was the man of steel playing his pedal steel to perfection and Jack provided excellent vocals. After the show Poco did a meet and greet signing CD's, shirts hats and taking the time to talk to everyone who waited on line. it was a fine night of music with an incredible group of musicians.

The Birchmere is always a fabulous venue to see any band. I was a little surprised that Poco was the feature band and after the concert confirmed my thoughts that it should have been reversed. While Poco's performance was good, I thought it was too loud so the vocals were distored on some songs, they spent too much time having a "jam" session with solo performances and not enough time playing the old time favorites. An accoutical concert is always a little different but Pure Prairie League was fabulous despite missing one band member. It was supposed their first accoutical appearance and they interacted with the crowd, took requested and their harmonizing compares to no other. Pure Prairie League still rocks!

What a deal! Seeing these two groups in such an intimate venue was special. They have all grown in their music and I will see them next year, too.

Pure Prairie League, though evidently suffering from shrinkage, did a great job. The guitar play was excellent, and the harmonies most enjoyable! I was hoping that Michael would be there, finally, but hope he enjoyed his birthday. Poco, also suffering greatly from shrinkage, was enjoyable, mostly, but the sound mix was very distracting. It's a real shame to wish that Paul would just stop for a while, when he's a great talent, because he was just too loud and grating. The sound mix for PPL was lovely and well done for the acoustics of the room, but for Poco it was consistently uneven and distracting. I love both these groups, and have seen them three times at the Birchmere. They may both be down to duets if I see them again, but if they perform as well as they did last night, I'll forgive them, and I know I'll be pleased:-)

My wife and I attended the show & it has been a long time since I have as good as I did with the show. Listenable, great crowd, & cold drinks. PPL and Poco stunned us all.

Pure Prairie League rocked... their harmony was golden. POCO's guitars were too loud... they over played them to drown out the softer voices.

All three bands were super! Firefall was very impressive, with just three guys all that good sound. Vocals were right-on. PPP also sounded top-notch, very enjoyable set. Poco vocals were, as the GR Press reviewer mentioned, "a little muddy" but great choice of music played and overall it was so nice to see them. Been a favorite for a long time! Forest Hills Fine Arts Center is awesome! I don't think there is a bad seat in the place and the atmosphere is so refreshing - no rowdy drunk kids or rude punks to endure.

Great Music - poor volume balance o Instrumentation too loud, voices to quiet - These bands were built around vocal harmony - couldn't hear the vocals:(

I was so looking forward to this concert since these groups are from my era and I had never gotten a chance to see them. After performing for 30-plus years they were ALL AMAZING! If I had to choose which band was best I don't think I could. The venue was intimate and there was a meet and greet after each band played. Better than I could have ever hoped for!

Great performance by Firefall. Sounded like we were back in the late 70's. Poco was also very very good. Did not care that much for PPL. The muscians were also very social after the concert with autographs and conversation. A really really good time!

Firefall was great -- fantastic vocals, entertaining and great guitar playing. The other two bands left a lot to be desired. Their sound equipment was way off (maybe they should have brought along a crew to help out with the sound system); there seemed to be stuff going on backstage that was distracting the Pure Praire League performers. PPL also played way too many songs off their new CD -- not what we came to hear. It's hard telling if Poco was any good. The instruments drowned out the vocals! (And way to many jokes about being old -- who cares? We just wanted to hear music.)