Buffy Sainte-Marie at Porchester Hall for the BBC

This evening we were lucky enough to score tickets to see a recording of the 'Songwriters Circle' programme for BBC4 at Porchester Hall in west London. The show puts three songwriters together to sing their songs one after another in rotation and on the bill tonight were Buffy Sainte-Marie, Donovan and Roger Cook.

I've been to one of these BBC recordings before and this was a mirror of that time with lots of BBC staff running round but no-one seeming to know what's going on and no-one telling us what's happening, just herding us from one place to another and then squeezing as many people as possible into a small space. Oh, and reserving the best seats at the cabaret tables for what I assume were BBC and music biz execs since many of them seemed to know each other. Still, I was happy with my view of the stage and when I saw Buffy arrive and walk through to the backstage area the excitement mounted.

Roger walked on stage, followed by Buffy and Donovan and they sat down and picked up guitars - Donovan was acoustic, Buffy was electric and Roger had a ukulele. And that's the order in which they sang for an hour and a half or thereabouts, chatting about the songs, how they came to write them and who covered them. Donovan opened with 'Sunshine Superman', followed by Buffy and 'Until It's Time For You To Go' and Roger singing his song 'Somethings Gotten Hold Of My Heart'.

Buffy's setlist was:

'Until It's Time For You To Go'
'Piney Wood Hills'
'Cod'ine'
'Little Wheel Spin And Spin'
'I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again'
'Up Where We Belong'
'Universal Soldier'
'Still This Love Goes On'

All the songs got a great reception but 'Universal Soldier' received the longest applause of all the songs of the night, a really powerful version. I'd also single out the harrowing 'Cod'ine' with Buffy's excellent guitar playing, creating a big sound as if she was playing several guitars, every now and then adding a trippy almost psychedelic riff under the main chords. It really stood out for me, just Buffy's voice and guitar had the audience mesmerised. After the applause Roger Cook said, 'How do you follow that?'. And he was right. But, quite sensibly, having him follow Buffy was the perfect thing to do so he could lighten the mood with songs like 'Melting Pot' (I cringed inside at the line' 'Little bit of red Indian boy') and 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing' (it was great seeing Buffy sing along to that one!).

I'd also single out Buffy's 'Still This Love Goes On' as a highlight, one of my favourite songs from her latest album, 'Running For The Drum'. It paints a lovely picture of the seasons in Canada and Buffy's love of the land - a true love song. I want to see Jingle Dancers one day. It was also nice to hear Roger Cook say he thought it was the most beautiful song he'd heard in years. It is.

Donovan had to sing two songs again because there was something wrong with the recording of his guitar (I won't say which). He commented at one point that he only ever recorded his own songs with the exception of recording two of Buffy's ('Universal Soldier' and 'Cod'ine') and it was nice to see them holding hands a few times - they've known each other for a long time. I was wondering whether they'd duet on 'Universal Soldier' but, given Buffy's extraordinary version, I'm pleased they didn't. Donovan went through his big songs, like 'Colours', 'Mellow Yellow' and 'Lalena' but didn't do 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' or any of the more trippy songs.

All in all, it was a good night out. It will be interesting to see what stays in the final edit and what will be cut. I might be in it as well - cameras were panning over the audience and at one point one camera stared right at me knotting dreadlocks into my beard. O dear. I think it's meant to be screened on BBC4 in the autumn so watch out for it.

Tomorrow night I see Buffy with her band at Union Chapel, so I'm on a Buffy overdose this week!