The Power and The Fury:


Full Force of Fans Greet Rock and Roll Hall
of Famer Richie Furay in Times Square!
A Kweevak.com Rock Report by Rich and Laura Lynch

• MORE PICS FROM THIS SHOW!!! We’ve opened up a photo archive with more shots from this concert here!

For what it’s worth – there was quite a police presence on Times Square right as the Richie Furay show at the BB King Blues Club in New York City on July 20, 2007 was letting out.
Richie Furay in Concert!
This double bill featured 60′s rock giants from the Byrds and the Springfield. Fans exiting the building were greeted to a cordoned off and floodlit portion of 42nd Street manned by several armed to the hilt police officers in full riot gear. So much for the summer of love! Maybe the increased force was due to the ubiquitous re-sounding of the terror alarm that has swept across the country in recent weeks. Or, maybe it was because the man onstage once sang with the band whose popular radio hit alerted the nation to the dangers of tyranny during an unpopular war over 40 years ago – a song that remains an anthem of the protest movement to this day. Furay is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with the Springfield and is most beloved by the fans of POCO, the country rock outfit he helped pioneer in the turbulent 60′s. This was a rare appearance by the Boulder based singer-songwriter who thrilled the audience with his youthful enthusiasm, powerful performance and enduring appeal. This particular show was special indeed as Furay only recently took a break from his self-imposed sabbatical from his rock star persona to release a stellar record loaded with great country rock and folk songs with many special appearances by friends and former bandmates. Joining Furay on his latest Heartbeat of Love are former bandmates, Neil Young and Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield; Rusty Young, Paul Cotton, and Timothy B. Schmidt from POCO; as well as Kenny Loggins and from The Turtles – Mark Volman. The 12-track CD offers some of Furay’s best work ever and includes remakes of “Kind Woman” and “Let’s Dance Tonight” – songs that made their mark originally in both Buffalo Springfield and POCO.
Richie Furay in Concert!
Richie Furay seemed happy to back on stage performing for his fans! Furay is more likely to be found these days preaching at his church in Colorado – something he has been doing for almost 30 years. But it’s his role as the likable frontman in Buffalo Springfield and POCO that has reached the hearts of most of his admirers and they came out in force and anticipation to bathe in the light of their idol. Richie may have been absent from the mainstream music world but he leads his congregation often in song and has also released several Christian CDs over the years. The evening’s performance featured songs from all key elements of the artist’s career through the present day. Joining Richie onstage was a four-piece backing band that included his daughter Jesse Furay Lynch on background vocals and Scott Sellen on stellar lead guitar. The highlights of the evening were “Forever With You” and the title track from Heartbeat of Love, an extensive medley of Springfield classics, and the rocking set closer of POCO’s “Good Feelin’ To Know”. Now that Richie has made the leap back into the spotlight many fans wonder if he would be available for a reunion tour with POCO (that band will celebrate 40 years in 2008) or if he will ever make a foray into Buffalo Springfield again. Neil Young once called for the group to reunite in a song of the same name but putting the original line-up together became unattainable with the death of Bruce Palmer in 2004. Still, for a man who believes in and preaches the resurrection, his die-hard fans still hope to see their old favorite bands born again to rock another day!

Originally Published: 07/24/2007 on Kweevak.com