The Fureys

After ten previous performances, The Fureys will play their last ever concert at Empire Consett as part of their Farewell Tour.

Legends of Irish music and song, The Fureys, renowned for their hit songs, I Will Love You, When You Were Sweet 16, The Green Fields of France, The Old Man, Red Rose Café, From Clare to Here, Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway, Leaving Nancy and Steal Away, take to our stage for the final time as part of their Farewell Tour.

The oldest of the brothers, Eddie Furey left home in 1966 and travelled to Scotland at the time of the great folk revival where he met and shared accommodation with then unknown folk singers Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty.

In 1972, Gerry Rafferty wrote Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway for Eddie. BBC Radio 1 presenter, the late John Peel made it his single of the year.

They are particularly proud of their UK chart success with songs such as I Will Love You and When You Were Sweet Sixteen, which in turn helped bring Irish folk and traditional music to a completely new audience. The band made their Top of the Pops debut in 1981.

Eddie Furey recalls how “many musicians have told us we influenced them after hearing a record from their parents or grandparents’ collection”. Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics has credited Eddie with teaching him his first chords on the guitar while still a teenager. Eddie would return the compliment by joining Dave on stage in Paris for a jam during Dave’s wedding to Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey.

Their emotive songs stir many emotions, tears and laughter, sadness and joy.