Black 47 Set To Play Last Show In New York Before Retiring

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The New York-based Celtic rock band Black 47 was set to play its final show Saturday night, after 25 years.

Black 47 was to bring its reign as a pub favorite to an end Saturday night at B.B. King's Blues Club in Times Square.

The band was founded in 1989 by Larry Kirwan, a native of County Wexford, Ireland, and Chris Byrne, who had been an NYPD officer and has since left the band. Speaking to CBS2's Diane Macedo Saturday morning, fellow founding member Geoff Blythe talked about the band's rise to fame.

"It was amazing, really. I'd never quite seen anything like it. It kind, you know, of grew out to something – I don't know – when I first started playing with Larry and Chris. You know, we were playing Paddy Reilly's twice a week, and nobody would come on a Wednesday night. All of a sudden it took off and there we were," he said.

Fellow band member Joe "Bearclaw" Burcaw recalled his first encounter with Black 47, as a fan.

"I went to school up in the New England area and I used to watch '120 Minutes' with Matt Pinfield, and I saw these guys on there – 'Funky Ceili' and '40 Shades of Blue' were the songs that were getting a lot of push. And they just stayed on my radar – it was like, 'These guys are something. They're amazing,'" Burcaw said. "And they came to town a couple years later, and I got to catch them up in Cambridge, and I was sold the minute – the first note that they hit – it was like, 'Wow, my jaw dropped to the floor. I loved these guys.'"

A decade later, Burcaw answered a Craigslist ad to join the band, which went on to take off around the country and see its videos aired on MTV.

"I think it's very organic the way it sort of really took off," Blythe said.

Black 47 announced last year that it would be disbanding this month – exactly 25 years after the band's first gig.

"There are no fights, differences over musical policy, or general skulduggery, we remain as good friends as when we first played together. We just have a simple wish to finish up at the top our game after 25 years of relentless touring and, as always, on our own terms," the band said in a September 2013 statement.

Burcaw described the choice to end the band as a "retirement."

"I think we've just said all we've got to say, basically, at this point, and the band's never been better – it's stunningly good," added Blythe. "We wanted to finish while it was like that; didn't want to peter out. And we've all got our little things we want to do in the future."

The final gig was set for 6 p.m. Saturday at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill, 237 W. 42nd St.

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