Buffy Sainte-Marie The Sage Gateshead Jan 28th 2010
On several occassions I have gone along to see a legendery performer, only to be disapointed. Tonight wasn’t one of them. Buffy Sainte-Marie certainly fits into my definition of a legend. She started singing in the early 60s and was a contemporary of Dylan and Joan Baez, she’s written some great songs, a few of which have become standards. My first encounter of Buffy’s music was when I went to see the film Soldier Blue when it came out in 1970. Of course I’d heard Universal Soldier by Donovan, but wasn’t aware that Buffy had written it. More recently I bought a copy of her first lp on eBay, enjoyed it, and decided that it was about time I went to see her in concert.
The Sage was about 3/4 full downstairs for Buffy. I came along a little late and missed the support; he was autographing CDs in the foyer when I arrived. I took my seat near the back of the hall and about 5 minutes later Buffy took the stage. At 68 she looks great and is clearly still enjoying performing. The set is a mix of her well known songs and others from her albums. Her band are, like Buffy, of native American descent and between the songs she tells stories of native American life, still “a teacher” (her words) and passionate about civil rights. Her songs are all sung beautifully; many of them drawing from native American culture and music. It was quite a short set, but I sensed as I left that everyone had enjoyed it. Particular favourites for me were Universal Soldier (of course), Cripple Creek (great mouth-bow; I think that is what you call it?) and Until its time for you to go (Buffy proudly tells us how this has been covered by Elvis and Barbra Streisand).
Setlist: I don’t know Buffy’s songs well enough to list them all, but the set included the songs below:
Little Wheel spin and spin
Cripple Creek
Universal Soldier
Soldier Blue
Up where we belong
Until its time for you to go
He’s an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo
No No Keshagesh
Starwalker
website: http://www.creative-native.com/
ticket
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