Buffy Sainte-Marie at Shepherd's Bush Empire

Last night was Buffy Sainte-Marie's gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. I saw Buffy two evenings ago at The Sage in Gateshead and two Buffy gigs in two days is no bad thing. Tonight she is in Wolverhampton for the last night of her UK tour and then she's off to the Continent for a few shows before heading to Canada. It was a delight to see Buffy's name up on the marquee of Shepherd's Bush, it's just a shame they spelt it wrong.

Shepherd's Bush is an old theatre (opened in 1903) that has been various things in its existence (including the scene of the Terry Wogan Show for, like, ever) and in the last couple of decades has been a rock venue, with everyone from The Sex Pistols to Macy Gray to Paige & Plant strolling the stage. Whenever I think of Buffy playing in London I think of her at venues like The Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Royal Festival Hall or The Albert Hall, venues of respect and a bit of decorum. But after last night Buffy has proven (not that she needed to) that she can play anywhere - she *owned* that stage and she owned us, her audience.

We took our seats in the middle of the front row in the circle and I realised that for the first time I'd be looking 'down' on Buffy rather than 'up' from the stalls, and that I'd have a perfect view of the stage. I also realised how cold it was and how some people were sitting in coats, scarves and hats to keep warm! The stage was set up for the band and Buffy, a clean stage with lots of space for movement and a glitter ball hanging way up high above the stage. The music playing over the speakers while mics and guitars were checked was an odd selection and when it changed to pow wow drums and voice, it was clear that Buffy wasn't far off. On came the band and then on strode Buffy, no big announcements or anything, just a confident woman striding to the centre of the stage, smiling and waving and slinging on her guitar for 'Piney Wood Hills'. Tonight, rather than the sparkly black sequined jacket, she appeared as Admiral Buffy with black jacket (the opposite of the white jacket she wore last year) with gold epaulets and trimming, looking mighty fine.

The setlist was the same as at The Sage gig (not in the right order):

Piney Wood Hills
No No Keshagesh
Fallen Angels
Cho Cho Fire
Blue Sunday
Cripple Creek
Relocation Blues
He's An Indian Cowboy At The Rodeo
Still This Loves Goes On
Until It's Time For You To Go
Soldier Blue
Universal Soldier
Up Where We Belong
Little Wheel Spin And Spin
Priests Of the Golden Bull
Darling Don't Cry
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Starwalker
Goodnight (encore)

In between each song Buffy told tales of the old days touring or people covering her songs, about what she is really singing about in the songs and about her life. She has a wry sense of humour and great stage presence, with all us waiting to hear what she might say next. Every song was awarded with rapturous applause and cheers (including from the balcony) which ably demonstrated how much we've missed Buffy on this side of the Atlantic.

A few highlights for me:

Buffy telling us that when she grew up she loved Lonnie Donegan and Elvis, skiffle and rockabilly, and that was the music she listened to, so she's written her own version in 'Blue Sunday'.

Introducing 'No No Keshagesh' by explaining that 'keshagesh' is the name of a greedy puppy who eats all his own food and then wants everyone else's, a metaphor for big business and the environment.

Buffy picking up her mouthbow from where it always hangs on her microphone stand and telling us that the smart one in the group always discovers at some point that you can make music with weapons, so we have a bright future ahead of us. Then playing 'Cripple Creek' bathed in purple light.

The nice touch of switching on the glitter ball and sending shards of light round the hall while Buffy sang 'Up Where We Belong' and making me go 'wow'.

Talking about pow wow and the pow wow trail to introduce 'Cho Cho Fire' and, later in the set, 'Darling Don't Cry', telling us to join in one if we ever get the chance since they're one big party, about the pow wow trail meandering back and forth across the USA/Canadian border and that 'we' pre-dated the border.

I loved hearing about 'Indian Cowboy' (one of my favourite songs) and Buffy telling us that we could have a Shepherd's Bush Green Rodeo competition. And, for a change, Buffy played it on her own keyboard rather than on the grand piano that has been present on stage every other time I've seen Buffy play live (another indication that this was a rock rather than a concert venue) and the audience response to the extended pow wow singing at the end of the song.

The thoughtful introduction to 'Universal Soldier' about how she came to her conclusions about the individual responsibility for war when travelling between Los Angeles and Toronto in the early '60s. There was a deep silence while she sang that song that erupted into heartfelt applause at the end.

The deep sadness of Floyd Westerman's 'Relocation Blues', just Buffy singing with her finger tapping hauntingly on the mic, a song of few words about the old residential schools in Canada.

The joy and power of the pow wow songs clustered at the end of the set, from 'Darling Don't Cry', the power of 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' and finishing with the magnificent 'Starwalker'. Buffy reminded us that she was a teacher and gave us two books to read as our homework - 'Indian Givers' by Jack Weatherford and 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown (both of which I read after Buffy mentioned them at the Belleville gig five years ago). Buffy dedicated 'Starwalker' to all the people who never get recognised but do small but important things for their communities, and for all generations past and future, and it's been one of my favourites since hearing it on 'Sweet America' back in 1976 or 1977.


Buffy was excellent, in total command of the stage and audience, and the band was with her every step of the way, pounding drums and bass when needed for a particular song, skittering guitar to add light and shade in other songs. They were a powerful band and the sound was excellent, particularly in the rockier songs like 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee', loud guitars, drums pounding and wailing pow wow vocals making the hair stand up on the back of my neck, all in perfect time with Buffy. Buffy introduced them by name and by native people, reminding us that she is Cree. There's a photo of the band below (left to right) Jesse Green (guitar), Mike Bruyere (drums, who remembered me from Gateshead) and Darryl Mennow (bass) - well done on a fine show, lads.

Buffy got a standing ovation from virtually the whole crowd after 'Starwalker' and again after 'Goodnight', the encore, and that was it, the show was over, a show the like of which has possibly never been seen before at Shepherd's Bush, with a lady of Buffy's age giving it some hard rock sounds and moves, some radical politics and no little worship from the crowd. It's easy to put Buffy on a pedestal but, when it comes down to is, she is what she said she was during the show - a teacher - who uses her words and music to teach important lessons.

It was no surprise that a crowd gathered in the foyer and at the back of the stalls to meet Buffy after the show. It was a bit confused for a while and I was convinced she'd come to the merch stand in the foyer, which she and the band eventually did. When it came to be my turn to say hello I brought the photo of Buffy and me from The Sage to be signed and the booklet from the '70s albums which has the photo from the back of 'Sweet America' as the cover. I also asked Buffy to listen to a song on my iPhone, a song I taped on my cassette recorder from a BBC programme about her music in about 1975 or 1976 and that has never been released. At first Buffy looked puzzled and then intrigued by it, only vaguely remembering it, and saying she'd probably just made it up for the programme and asked me to send it to her, which I will. I still haven't got my stalking skills to a high enough level and, again, didn't want to take up too much of Buffy's time so when I moved on Chris asked Buffy to sign the leaflet for the new 'Soldier Blue' compilation for me and Buffy told him she was playing at the Winter Olympics in a couple of weeks time. When will I ever learn?

That's it, Buffy's tour is over for me and finishes at Wolverhampton tonight. After all these years of waiting patiently and I've seen her twice in the space of two days. I've needed today to recover from the experience. I've yet to take a good photo of Buffy (or at least one I think is good) but here is a selection of passable photos from the gig. Wonder when my next opportunity to see Buffy will be...?