Stephen Stills Opens Up About Abandoned Buffalo Springfield Reunion

Photo: Jay BlakesbergAt Neil Young's 2010 Bridge School Benefit Concert, the surviving members of Buffalo Springfield reunited for their first public performance in more than 40 years. The influential 1960s band -- featuring Young, Stephen Stills and founding Poco frontman Richie Furay -- went on to play seven more concerts last year and were set to follow those gigs with a 30-date tour when Neil had a change of heart and quashed the plans. Stills, who previously has said little about the aborted Buffalo Springfield trek, has now shared his displeasure over the abandoned project with Rolling Stone.

"We were supposed to work for most of the summer," he explains. "It left me in a lurch for three quarters and ruined my financial planning. Also, 150 people got laid off that were supposed to work on the tour."

Stills also appears frustrated about the amount of time the band prepared for the tour, only to have the impulsive Young pull the plug on it. "We didn't go [through] all that trouble for seven shows," Stills complains. "That's what impetuosity will do for you…When Neil is involved [in] anything you need a seatbelt."

Despite his annoyance about how the Springfield reunion played out, Stills tells Rolling Stone that he's not mad at Young. "He was very kind to me in his book," Stills notes. "I can't be unkind about it…Working with Neil is a privilege, not a right."

For Young's part, he apparently hasn't entirely closed the door on the possibility of a future Buffalo Springfield reunion. Speaking with Rolling Stone a few months ago, the folk-rock great maintained, "There is the seed of something great still there. It's worth exploring again."

Stills, however, isn't very optimistic. Asked whether he thinks his old band will get together to tour again, he says, "For the purpose of this interview, no."