Psychedelic Furs September 2, 2015

Over on my Green Day blog I wrote about the moment I saw the band live in 2017 and after writing that post, I thought of redoing the ones for the first three Psychedelic Furs concerts I went to. When I used to be on WordPress I had written about those PFurs concerts and I even saved them when I moved here to Blogger. But while looking at the posts I felt like I should write about them again because my writing has improved over the years, and I wanted to give those stories their own new posts (the old ones are now deleted). Today I am going to start with the time I first saw The Psychedelic Furs when they performed at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon almost seven years ago.

Before I talk about the concert I want to give you all a little backstory of how I got into The Furs. I heard a few of their songs growing up (thanks to my parents) and even liked them, but in November 2014 they somehow came into my thoughts and I decided to try out their other songs. So on Amazon I bought one of their greatest hits albums and after listening, I loved the music and I became a fan right away. That Christmas I got Forever Now and Mirror Moves which made me love them even more, and then later I got the other albums.

A while after becoming a fan the thought of wanting to see The Psychedelic Furs live never really entered my mind, but in late July of 2015 I was looking through my Twitter and there was a tweet that said: "CONCERT ALERT: The Psychedelic Furs at the Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR September 2, 2015." The moment I saw that I was ecstatic, and I told my mom about it and she got the tickets for me as part of a birthday present. The fact I was going to see The Furs made me so emotional I started crying.

When the day came my brother went with me since he liked some of The Psychedelic Furs' songs and while driving to Portland we listened to Midnight To Midnight. As we got to downtown Portland I got excited and had butterflies in my stomach because we were getting close to our destination. We found a parking spot and walked over to the Crystal Ballroom, then stood in line outside of the venue. We were by the tour bus, and while we were standing there was someone who went inside the tour bus. Later he came out and headed to the Ballroom, and that person was saxophonist Mars Williams. It was cool to think that he walked nearby where my brother and I were standing. I might have seen keyboardist Amanda Kramer too, but I can't remember.

After waiting we finally got in and went over to the right side of the stage, and we were up to the barrier! I was happy we made it to the front, because since I'm a short person I would never want to be in the back where I probably couldn't see anything.

The opening band was The Church, and what's interesting was I heard somewhere that in 1988 The Psychedelic Furs and The Church wanted to tour together but it never happened. 27 years later the two bands finally did and in 2016 they toured with each other again. After that it was time for The Psychedelic Furs to appear, and I'll never forget the moment I saw them with my own eyes in person. The band members were the first to arrive, and after Mars Williams played the saxophone intro to the first song "Heartbeat," the music kicked in and vocalist Richard Butler came up on stage. It was so awesome seeing Richard in person and as I was watching him, I thought to myself, "That's him! That's the Richard Butler!" The whole concert was filled with magic and The Furs were just magnificent.

Bassist Tim Butler sang right back at me during "Heartbreak Beat" and there was one special moment that occurred, and that was my first encounter with guitarist Rich Good. And remember, this happened a year before I actually got to meet him! At one point during the show Rich was standing in front of me and suddenly he looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at him, and when the show was over the band members were leaving and as Rich walked by, he waved at me and I waved back at him. Back then I never knew a year later I would eventually meet Rich and it's amazing to think about that.

After the concert my brother and I went to the merchandise area and I got a t-shirt that has the Mirror Moves album cover and a 2015 vinyl remaster of that album, which was autographed by The Furs! When we got home I went to my room and I cried tears of joy. I couldn't believe I saw them and it was one of the most awesome nights of my life. I told myself that if The Psychedelic Furs came back to Portland I would definitely want to see them again. My wish came true because in April 2016 The Furs announced the Summer Tour for that year and Portland was included, but at a different venue called the Revolution Hall. What happened at that show quickly became my favorite concert ever, and I will write about it very soon.

Setlist:

1. Heartbeat
2. Mr. Jones
3. Heaven
4. There's A World
5. Love My Way
6. Little Miss World
7. Until She Comes
8. Susan's Strange
9. The Ghost In You
10. Only You And I
11. Wrong Train
12. Heartbreak Beat
13. Highwire Days
14. Danger
15. Pretty In Pink 

Encore: 

16. Sister Europe
17. Sleep Comes Down

My autographed copy of Mirror Moves.

*All photos by me*