Wednesday 18 February 2015

Buffy Sainte-Marie and Morrissey

If you are tuned into any of the Buffy networks on Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere then you'll know that Buffy Sainte-Marie is joining Morrissey on his UK tour in March. He's only playing a few dates so Buffy can slot these in after her sojourn to Australia. Unfortunately there's no London gig so I'll have to see what I can do to shift things round and see her somewhere around the country.

I've seen Morrissey a few times but I'd be going to see Buffy.

This isn't the first time Morrissey has wanted Buffy on the same stage. I travelled to the little town of Belleville in Ontario, Canada, to see Buffy in February 2005, the first time I ever saw Buffy and she mentioned us from the stage - that people had come all the way from England to see the show. I almost looked round to see who they were before realising she meant me. I met Buffy afterwards and I asked if she ever came over to the UK to play and she said that Morrissey had invited her over to play the Meltdown festival that he curated in 2004 but she wasn't able to make it. That was the festival that brought the New York Dolls back together.

I've seen Buffy on every visit to London since then and was honoured to be on the guest list for her last show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2012 during the Olympics. I was on duty as an Olympic Ambassador at the time so did a quick change to see the show and then meet Buffy and her band afterwards.

Buffy has a new album due for release in, I think, April, so it'll be interesting to hear new songs played live. Buffy's vast back-catalogue means that she has a set-list for every occasion and I'm really fascinated to see which songs she picks for the Morrissey shows!

Important UPDATE

It looks like Buffy is playing the Tabernacle in London on 26 March - tickets aren't on sale yet but watch out for further details.

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