Hairball brings its arena-rock party to Davenport's Capitol Theatre in January

The long-running '70s and '80s rock tribute books downtown Davenport's restored 1920 movie palace for Saturday, Jan. 23.

Picture the Capitol Theatre's painted ceiling washed in stadium-rock reds and blues, and 1,500 people on their feet for a chorus everybody in the building already knows. That's the plan for one of the first big Saturdays of 2027 in downtown Davenport: Hairball has booked the Capitol Theatre for Saturday, Jan. 23, 2027, with the show starting at 7:30 p.m.

The date was announced Oct. 26, and tickets are on sale now through AXS. A room this size on a winter Saturday is the kind of night people plan around with a group, so if you're rounding up friends, sort out seats sooner rather than later. With almost three months to go, there's no need to panic. There's also no reason to wait.

If you've somehow missed them: Hairball isn't a tribute to one band. It's an arena-rock revue built on the big hits of the 1970s and '80s, and the Jefferson City News Tribune has called it one of the most successful tribute acts in the country. In a 2024 interview with My Global Mind, singer Dave Moody described the job as bringing the authenticity of arena-rock classics to the masses. A Kansas preview from KSNT put it more simply: a promised wild night.

Iowa crowds already know the routine. Hairball has been on the Iowa State Fair entertainment lineup and has played the state fairgrounds in Des Moines. The setting is what's different this time. Fairgrounds and event centers are where a band like this usually plays; a historic theater puts the whole production right in front of you, under a roof that has seen a century of shows.

And the Capitol is a room with a story. It opened on Christmas Day 1920 inside the 10-story Kahl Building. Henry C. Kahl built it as a palace-style theater meant to outdo anything else in Davenport or Iowa, and it ran vaudeville alongside movies before going to film only. Its most famous night came on Jan. 29, 1959, when Buddy Holly's Winter Dance Party stopped here, five days before the plane crash that killed Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.

Its most famous night came in January 1959, when Buddy Holly's Winter Dance Party stopped here.

The decades after were rough. The theater closed, the city bought it in 1975, and a fire badly damaged the building not long after. The comeback came in 2023, when the theater reopened as part of the restoration of the Kahl Building and hosted its first show since 2010. The ceiling murals were restored and apartments went in on the floors above (Visit Quad Cities). Hairball playing a January Saturday in a room where rock and roll history happened in January is a nice bit of symmetry.

One practical note: check the AXS listing for seating and fees before you buy, and leave yourself time for January weather downtown.

Some of the people in that room will have heard these songs in actual arenas the first time around. Others will be hearing them this loud for the first time. Either way, bring your voice: Jan. 23 is a long way off, but nobody is going to sing those choruses for you.

Sources: Hairball tickets – AXS (axs.com); What is Hairball? – News Tribune (newstribune.com); Dave Moody (Vocals, Hairball) interview – My Global Mind (myglobalmind.com); 80s rock tribute band promises wild night – KSNT (ksnt.com); Hairball – Iowa State Fair (iowastatefair.org); Hairball Des Moines concert – WeAreIowa (weareiowa.com); Kahl Building – Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Historic theatre in Davenport reopens – WVIK (wvik.org); Capitol Theatre renovations complete – Visit Quad Cities (visitquadcities.com); Restored Capitol Theatre to reopen – WHBF OurQuadCities (ourquadcities.com)