Well Tuesday was quite a big day... for both Owen and a certain Canadian singer!
For the first time in 17 years Buffy Saint-Marie played live in London and Owen wanted to be there to celebrate. And we were - row B of the Queen Elizabeth Hall sounds good enough but as Row A only has a couple of seats to it's name as it's the wheelchair row - looking out from the stage it must be like playing a gig at Lourdes - we were to all intents and purposes in the front row! For the longest time I wondered what that feedback noise was coming from the sound system - then realised it was Owen almost humming with excitement.
We sat through the support Nell Bryden who was a fine big lump of a girl from New York who sounded a bit like Shelby Lynne - kinda neu country/pop-crossover. She had the chatty, non-pushy personality that works well for support acts and although none of the songs were particularly memorable she connected well with the audience - I suspect that was down to them just being pleased to be there. Even without Owen there was obviously a lot of love in the room!
The auditorium had filled up by the time we had negotiated the scrum at the bar during the interval and there was a jittery feeling of expectation in the air. Of course Owen and I are old hands at this Buffy game... we have travelled to see her in Bellville, Canada as well as to New York... but it was fun to be in such a buzzy audience. Soon the lights were dimming and as her 3-piece band and 2 backing sisters walked out... there she was, waving and making exaggerated bows and curtsies... no announcement, no big buildup.

Her show was based nominally around her new album RUNNING FOR THE DRUM and she kicked off the show with a blast of the track CHO CHO FIRE which set the tone for the evening - upbeat, punchy, swaggering delivery - with a hint of Buffy tum thanks to her short t-shirt - and buckets of passion. There are a couple of her songs which she has played before that have me tuning out as they are a bit too folky for me but this was a good balanced set list with uptempo songs counter-pointing the ballads and political songs.
Moving back and forwards betwixt Roland keyboard and her guitars, she sang a 90-ish minute set which also was thankfully missing any syrupy "It's good to be back here in your lovely country" etc. instead she simply cracked on and sang up a storm. She joked with the audience a couple of times but more often that not her persona on stage is one of concentrating on singing her songs with minimum fuss, decoration or unnecessary sentiment.

Favorites included the following: FALLEN ANGELS and THE BIG ONES GET AWAY, her perennial favorites UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, UP WHERE WE BELONG, UNTIL IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO and BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE, CHO CHO FIRE, NO NO KESHAGESH, WORKING FOR THE GOVERNMENT, DARLING DON'T CRY and STARWALKER. She headed for the grand piano twice - once for the joyously bouncy INDIAN COWBOY IN THE RODEO - with Owen joining in on the pow-wow singing at the end! - and - eeeek! - SOLDIER BLUE! I bought this when it came out in the early 70s as a single so it has always been a song that triggers happy memories - even though I never understood what she was singing about! I was particularly beatific at this surprise inclusion.
As with the two previous times we have seen her live, Buffy hotfooted it around the foyer to meet and greet her fans - and sell quite a few of the new cd! We joined the lengthy queue but it didn't take long to get to the desk where she was signing. Owen handed her a copy of the photo I took of them at the Highline Ballroom and Buffy said she knew he was familiar to her from somewhere. and what was his name? When Owen told her she said "Oh sure I remember you now... I read your blog" - cue Owen looking like he had been slapped in the gob with a papoose! He recovered enough to ask if we could have a joint picture taken so her manager took a very nice shot of us - nope Constant Reader, it's not going to be Blogged!

She also mentioned in passing that it looked like they were going to be back in January so despite her salutation of "See you in another 20 years" as she sailed off the stage, it looks like London won't have to wait that long to see the passion and righteous fire of Buffy Sainte-Marie again.