She is stardust, she is golden

June 12, 2023 4:39 AM

Joni Mitchell Returns to the Stage, Golden, Glorious and in Control | A crowd of more than 20,000 on Saturday night at the scenic Washington venue the Gorge Amphitheater got to experience Joni Mitchell's first ticketed live performance in more than 20 years. And it was indeed glorious.

Mitchell can’t hit those canary-like high notes anymore. So what. As she put it Saturday night in a sonorously sung “Both Sides Now,” “Something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day.” What Mitchell has gained is a fine command of her sumptuous lower register — an androgynous, omniscient voice, like a wise, benevolent god... To hear Mitchell hit certain notes again in that inimitable voice was like glimpsing, in the wild, a magnificent bird long feared to have gone extinct.

posted by I_Love_Bananas (9 comments total)

https://web.archive.org/web/20230611180020/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/11/arts/music/joni-mitchell-gorge-concert.html/
posted by hypnogogue at 5:29 AM on June 12, 2023 [4 favorites]

(I say this as a huge Joni Mitchell stan who thinks she's one of the best songwriters of the 20th century, but she couldn't hit those canary-like high notes twenty years ago.)

YouTube might pull these at some point, but here's a fan cellphone video version of Sinatra's 'Young at Heart' that she closed the show with. While I'm at it: 'Amelia,' 'If,' 'Ladies of the Canyon' (Annie Lennox), 'A Case of You' (Brandi Carlile), 'Both Sides Now.'
posted by box at 10:25 AM on June 12, 2023 [5 favorites]

With Celisse Henderson on guitar! Keep an eye on her, she's going to be a star. It's been fun watching her rise these last few years.
posted by bondcliff at 10:29 AM on June 12, 2023 [4 favorites]

I had friends at this concert and to say I was a bit envious would be understatement; for me, just to stand and applaud Joni Michell in person on stage would almost be enough, even if she never sang a note. But to surround herself with singers like Annie Lennox-- older women with magnificent careers-- means something too. I love what the young are doing (Boygenius is my particular jam at the moment) but there's something resonant in the presence and voices of those closer to my age who are carrying all years of experience and expressing the bittersweetness of life, as well. I'm so grateful Joni Mitchell is still here on earth; I'm also preparing for the oncoming flood (already well started) of the artists I've looked up to since my teenage years passing out of this life.
posted by jokeefe at 1:14 PM on June 12, 2023 [6 favorites]

I was there. 25 years of devotion and companionship with her music (I’m a young 41) and I never thought I’d get to see her. It was a hell of a pilgrimage and I am so so grateful I could be there. Her voice when she could use it was just right — if you’ve loved her voices over the years then you know she’s lost range but gained depth and never ever lost the touch of truth.

The show was in large part a Joni appreciation event, as much as a Joni performance — many standing Os for beloved songs, even when Joni didn’t perform them. The semicircle of collaborators and fans was thrilling — seeing Annie Lennox radiant with joy for being there, hearing Wendy talk about her and Lisa’s experiences with Joni and Prince, Celisse’s killer solos …

25K people with countless years of her music at our sides, our sage, awash in emotion … I am still processing and integrating the experience.
posted by wemayfreeze at 6:34 PM on June 12, 2023 [8 favorites]

Thank you Box for those links!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:21 AM on June 13, 2023

I love Joni Mitchell, and bravo to her for keeping going, but that review is awfully gushing
posted by anadem at 1:13 PM on June 13, 2023

Well you may not like this Pitchfork piece, then, though it does capture the experience very well:

I could relate to the heavy place Hejira holds in Leslie’s life. To hear Mitchell take the lead on that album’s “Amelia”—which she delivered largely solo, in her lower register that illuminated the many decades since its mid-’70s release—was to be changed. It somehow contained even more honesty, more knowledge, more comfort and promise. To hear this cracked-open ballad about lostness that takes the form of a conversation with Amelia Earhart—“Maybe I’ve never really loved, I guess that is the truth/I’ve spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitudes”—released at age 33, sung at 79, by a woman who appeared on stage beaming, laughing, free, and assured, was a gift of spirit. With the years, and Mitchell’s clipped delivery, this song about seeking refuge from heartbreak in travel and dreams was distilled. Refuge was possible, and in Mitchell’s existence, it was here.

posted by wemayfreeze at 1:43 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

An extraordinary voice, an extraordinary artist.
There's a really good (clear and clear) version of Both sides now on YouTube.
An astonishing piece of musicianship
posted by From Bklyn at 5:20 AM on June 20, 2023 [1 favorite]