Music
Gorge Amphitheater, Quincy
Many thought she would never perform live again after suffering an aneurysm, but Mitchell is in lively and entertaining form on this All-Star return in rural Washington state
Just a few years ago, the idea of a Joni Mitchell concert in 2023 seemed an impossibility. The singer-songwriter hadn’t headlined a concert in more than a decade when she survived a brain aneurysm in 2015 and lost the ability to walk and speak.
But seven years later – after what her friend Brandi Carlile called “a magical transformation” – she took the stage again with a surprise performance at the Newport Folk Festival, alongside Carlile and other musicians. After that, according to Carlile, “Joni said, ‘I want to do one more show.'”
And so on Saturday night in rural Washington state, Mitchell played her first headlining show in 23 years. The venue was the Gorge Amphitheater, a stunning venue with a stage set against a backdrop of dramatic cliffs overlooking the Columbia River. For the Joni devotees in attendance, reaching this natural cathedral—nearly a three-hour drive from Seattle—was something of a pilgrimage. But that was no obstacle.
Among the younger crowd in a multi-generational crowd was Sasha Wachtel, who was from Los Angeles. Mitchell “was my number one and practically my only musical hero for many, many years,” she said. “I just remember listening to Hejira driving across the country at 21 and I realized what the songs are about, the incredible depth of the songwriting and the layers of meaning… and I just thought: The woman is a damn genius.”
The Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington with Joni Mitchell. Photo: Gary Miller/Getty Images
Dennis Brice traveled from Philadelphia for the show, where he was accompanied by his brother Paul, who had flown in from London. Brice, a priest, had seen Mitchell before – at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival – and now he was celebrating his 75th birthday. “Joni was often a guest in our sermons because of the way she interacts with culture, thought and life: ‘I’ve looked at life from both sides now, win or lose, I still don’t know anything'” , he said. paraphrases her 1969 song Both Sides, Now.
Barbara Olson, 61, traveled from Florida. “When I think about what she’s been through, she’s learned to walk three times in her life,” Olson said. “If she sings ‘I’ve seen life from both sides now’ tonight, I’ll be on the floor and then I can die.”
Given the lofty place she occupies in the minds of her listeners, this comeback performance could have been a stately and celebratory affair — but Mitchell herself, who beams as she takes the stage and seems slightly tickled by the admiration, made sure that this was not the case.
The concert is part of Carlile’s weekend festival in the gorge. Mitchell’s performance, Carlile explained, is modeled after the “Joni Jams” Mitchell hosts at her home in LA, which regularly gathers musicians from Paul McCartney to Chaka Khan to Harry Styles. The intention on Saturday, Carlile told a crowd of 27,000, was to “invite you into the living room”. So the stage is set with a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a table with framed pet photos, and a row of sofas and chairs that host a band full of musical luminaries, including Annie Lennox, Sarah McLachlan and Marcus Mumford.
Carlile acts as an informal MC of sorts, while Mitchell, who sits up front and wields a cane with a small bear’s head on it, plays the role of storyteller throughout a remarkable three-hour performance. With her vocal range being far more limited than it used to be, her singing comes across as chatty, as if she’s passing on the wisdom she’s gleaned over her 79 years. Although the stories her songs told were all true, “not all of my stories are,” she says.
She also shares stories from her career. The last time she was at the Gorge, she said she was on tour with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison and forgot the lyrics to one of Dylan’s verses, so she made one up. Morrison thought that was rude, but Mitchell disagreed — Dylan loved it, she says. “There’s nothing he likes better than seeing me screw it up.”
Joni Mitchell with her fellow artists. Photo: Gary Miller/Getty Images
Though Mitchell’s vocal range is smaller, her voice hasn’t lost its power or its familiar slow vibrato. This is particularly evident in songs like “Both Sides”, “Now” and “Gershwin’s Summertime”, which she sings mostly alone with instrumental accompaniment. On other songs, Mitchell and other performers share lead vocals, sometimes in unison, sometimes crossed, slightly out of sync. This lends an improvisational vibrancy to songs like “A Case of You,” which receives a standing ovation from both audience and performers.
Her own performances are interspersed with covers of Mitchell songs by others on stage, often preceded by brief speeches describing what her music meant to her. “You’re such a visionary, such a legend, such an inspiration to all of us on stage and everyone out there,” says Lennox before singing “Ladies of the Canyon,” which she describes as the song that inspired her career has. Another is a powerful rendition of “Help Me,” performed by singer/guitarist Celisse, whom Mitchell calls “the Lady Jimi Hendrix.”
Joni Mitchell: “I’m a fool for love.” I keep making the same mistakes.
Despite the torrential praise, Mitchell’s performance feels egoless. She laughs and jokes between songs and praises the virtues of her fellow musicians without taking the evening too seriously. It sets the stage for a joyful show, even if the magnitude of the occasion leaves quite a few in the audience – and even some on stage – in tears.
Mitchell picks up the guitar for the encore. It’s surreal to see a legend who could barely speak a few years earlier perform virtually alone, accompanying herself while singing her song If, which she says is one of her favorite songs.
The lyrics offer hope to the listener “if you manage to attract crowds and keep your virtue alive.” As tens of thousands celebrate her, Mitchell — whose wide appeal over the decades has never diminished her consummate artistry — may have been singing about herself .
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