Joni Mitchell Is Playing Her First Proper Concert In 20 Years
Earlier this year, Joni Mitchell returned to the stage for the first time in nearly a decade. Up until this past spring, the legendary singer and songwriter had barely appeared in public since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015. But at this year’s pre-Grammys MusiCares Person Of The Year gala, Mitchell, who was being honored that night, got up onstage to join in on two songs. Then, this past summer, Mitchell played a surprise set at the Newport Folk Festival. She had an all-star backup band, but she sang lead and even played guitar; it was her first full set since 2000. Next summer, Joni Mitchell will do it again. This time, it won’t be a surprise.
On last night’s Daily Show, Joni Mitchell’s friend and collaborator Brandi Carlile said that Mitchell will play at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington next June. This year, Carlile, Sheryl Crow and Amythyst Kiah, played a show called Echoes Through The Canyon at the Gorge. Next summer, Carlile will play another Echoes Through The Canyon show herself. Then, the next night, Joni Mitchell will do her own Echoes Through The Canyon set. Joni Mitchell and the Joni Jam — a backup band with a lineup that’ll be announced later — will perform 6/10, the night after Carlile’s headlining set.
On The Daily Show Brandi Carlile told Trevor Noah that Joni Mitchell approached her about the possibility of playing another show: “She said, ‘I want to play again.’… Joni Mitchell is going to play. No one’s been able to buy a ticket to see Joni Mitchell play in 20 years.”
Carlile says that Joni Mitchell has been holding private “Joni Jams” with other musicians for years; it was part of her recovery from her aneurysm. She also says that the other musicians at the Newport Folk Festival set didn’t know that Mitchell was planning to sing live: “We thought it was a jam. We didn’t know that she was going to sing all the leads on those songs. She just started singing. We had rehearsed the songs ourselves. And we didn’t know whether we should stop or what we should do, you know, so we just sang with her… She always has a plan. She knows what she wants to do, even if she doesn’t say it.”
Here’s video of Carlile’s interview: