Buffalo Springfield To Reunite After 42 Years

Buffalo Springfield - circa 1967
Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Richie Furay, Dewey Martin, & Bruce Palmer

"Like to see those guys again
And give it a shot
Maybe now we can show the world
What we got
But I'd just like to play for the fun we had"

"Buffalo Springfield Again" by Neil Young, 2000

With yesterday's stunning announcement, it now seems that after 42 years, The Buffalo Springfield will reunite at the Bridge School Benefit concerts in October.

The Buffalo Springfield Again lineup will consist of original members Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Richie Furay. Bassist Rick Rosas will fill in for the late Bruce Palmer, and CSN drummer Joe Vitale will fill in for the late Dewey Martin.



From Rolling Stone | "Buffalo Springfield’s Richie Furay Discusses Reunion" by Andy Greene:

Two weeks ago, Buffalo Springfield guitarist Richie Furay got a text message from Neil Young that simply said, “Call me.” “I called and he asked me if I’d be up for a reunion at the Bridge School Benefit,” Furay says. “He said, ‘If you’re into it, I think Stephen [Stills] will be into it.’ The three of us then arranged a conference call, chit-chatted for a few minutes, and planned it all out.

The last time I was onstage with them was the last Buffalo Springfield show at the Long Beach Arena back in 1968. Our lives have gone in different directions and I wouldn’t say that we’re close friends, but we’re friends and its an opportunity for us to get together again for a good cause. I’m very excited.”

For What It's Worth / Mr. Soul at the Hollywood Palace in 1967

The impact of Buffalo Springfield's brief but highly influential career still resonates today. Despite existing for just two years -- the notoriously volatile band folded in 1968 after just three albums -- the seminal Buffalo Springfield are considered one of the most influential groups of their era with their unique melange of melodic folk rock, trippy psychedelia and hip country sound. Along with the Byrds, The Buffalo Springfield country-rock sound spawned an entire genre from Poco to Loggins & Messina to Jackson Browne to The Eagles -- arguably the most successful American band of the last 40 years.



From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "Program Book" 1997 by Michael Hill :

Buffalo Springfield begat CSN, Poco, Loggins and Messina, Crazy Horse, CSNY; inspired the Eagles and the early-Seventies Southern California scene; and, if you look at the roots of bands ranging from Sonic Youth to Son Volt, at least a part of them will stretch back to Buffalo Springfield."

From article "EXPECTING TO FLY" by Mat Snow:

"It was a Stills tune that in March 1967 took Buffalo Springfield to number 7 in the US singles charts and, when tacked on to the debut LP, reinvigorated its hitherto wan commercial performance. In August '66 the local citizenry had tried to clear the area around the Sunset Strip club Pandora`s Box, whose long haired clientele deterred legitimate tourism, by having the police enforce a curfew.

Protests followed, things turning ugly when the police weighed in with the night-sticks. Witnessing this upon return from a trip to Nicaragua , Stills was inspired: 'All the kids on one side of the street, all the cops on the other side - in Latin America that meant there'd be a new government in about a week. 'Both a warning and a barricade-manning counter-culture rallying cry, 'For What It's Worth' owes much of its power to Young's paranoid guitar. This creative contrast was seldom otherwise captured on record to Young's satisfaction.

From article "EXPECTING TO FLY" by Mat Snow:

Stills: 'When we got to our first session,we went into the studio and cut this one song, the voice came over the talk-back saying, 'No, that`s too long. Play it faster.' Neil and I looked at each other and said , 'We better learn how to work this shit ourselves. >From then on it was like a race to see who could learn the most about making records, about electronics and engineering, the whole nine yards.'

As Young told Nick Kent:' The real core of the group was the three Canadians - me, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin. We played in such a way that the three of us were basically huddled together behind whilst Stills and Furay were always out front. 'Cos we'd get so into the groove of the thing, that's all we really cared about. But when we got into the studio the groove just wasn't the same. And we couldn't figure out why. This was the major frustration for me as a young musician, it fucked me up so much. Buffalo Springfield should have recorded live from the very beginning. All the records were great failures as far as I`m concerned."

Rock'n Roll Woman at Live Popendipity in 1967 - Flip Wilson Show

In an interview with Stephen Stills by Cameron Crowe (September, 1974) on the Sunset Strip guitar duels with Neil Young:

STILLS: "Neil and I used to have guitar wars on stage that were really stupid.

It was really funny. I wouldn't play the game except every once in a while when I'd get in a mood. It was just pathetic. I started playing lead guitar in the Buffalo Springfield and it was okay. I never played anything that was really bad, other than that I played too loud. The fights started getting really good and I guess that fights started becoming a little too much to take or something.

'Cause it got weird."

Buffalo Springfield
Photo by Dennis Hopper


Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (Monterey 1967)




For What It's Worth


The Buffalo Springfield open for The Rolling Stones
Hollywood Bowl, July 25th, 1966
Photo by Sue Michelson


Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth - Smother Bros show 1967

"Used to play
in a rock 'n' roll band,
But they broke up.
We were young and we were wild,
It ate us up.
Now I'm not saying
who was right or wrong."
"Buffalo Springfield Again" by Neil Young, 2000

On the song “Buffalo Springfield Again”, from his Silver & Gold album [2000], Young sang of how he’d “Like to see those guys again/And give it another shot.” The song was written just after Young had refused to appear at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction of Buffalo Springfield. Later, Dewey Martin remarked on Young's absence that he'd much rather have it that Neil would sing with them rather than about them.




Stephen Stills & Neil Young discuss Buffalo Springfield - Part #2


Stephen Stills & Neil Young discuss Buffalo Springfield - Part #3




The Richie Furay Band performing Neil Young songs that Richie sang on the first Springfield album. The songs include Flying on the Ground, Do I have to come right out and say it, and Clancy.


Buffalo Springfield on TV Program "Mannix" - Broadcast: October 28, 1967



More on The Buffalo Springfield and Neil Young. Also, see Bruce Palmer 1946-2004 and Dewey Martin-1940-2009.



(Thanks Scott M.!)

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