Joni Mitchell performs first headlining concert in 23 years
Canadian folk icon Joni Mitchell performed her first official headlining show in 23 years last night. Along with a number of famous friends, Mitchell performed a 24-song set at the Echoes Throughout the Canyon festival in George, Washington.
Joni’s backing group consisted of a rotating cast of musicians including Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Sarah McLachlan, Annie Lennox, and Celisse Henderson. The show was considered a “Joni Jam”, the name given to Mitchell’s informal gatherings that have now become her default performing set-up.
Mitchell unofficially retired from music after releasing her 2007 album Shine. In 2015, Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm that took away a number of motor abilities, causing her to relearn how to walk and play the guitar.
“I’m learning. I’m looking at videos that are on the net, to see where to put my fingers,” Mitchell told CBS Mornings about her recovery process.
“It’s amazing… when you have an aneurysm, you don’t know how to get into a chair. You don’t know how to get out of bed,” Mitchell added. “You have to learn all these things again. You’re going back to infancy, almost.”
Mitchell made a surprise return to the live stage during the 2022 Newport Folk Festival as a part of a set titled ‘Brandi Carlile and Friends’. Her appearance at Echoes Throughout the Canyon included performances of ‘Big Yello Taxi’, ‘Blue’, ‘A Case of You’, ‘Both Sides Now’, and ‘The Circle Game’ before concluding with a cover of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Young at Heart’.
Check out the full setlist from Mitchell’s first headlining set in over two decades down below.
Joni Mitchell Setlist, June 10th, 2023:
Main Set
- Big Yellow Taxi
- Night Ride Home
- Raised on Robbery (with Celisse Henderson)
- Come in From the Cold (with Marcus Mumford)
- Amelia (with Blake Mills)
- Carey
- Sex Kills (with Celisse Henderson)
- Summertime (George Gershwin cover)
- Ladies of the Canyon (with Annie Lennox)
- Help Me (with Celisse Henderson)
- Where There’s A Will There’s A Way (Rick Whitfield cover, w/Rick Whitfield)
- Love Potion No. 9 (The Clovers cover)
- A Case of You (with Marcus Mumford and Brandi Carlile)
- A Strange Boy (with Wendy & Lisa)
- Cactus Tree (with Lucius)
- California (with Marcus Mumford)
- Blue (with Sarah McLachlan)
- Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers cover)
- Shine (with Brandi Carlile)
- Both Sides Now
- The Circle Game
Encore
- Just Like This Train
- If
- Young At Heart (Frank Sinatra cover) (with Allison Russell)
Never Miss A Beat
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