Nine years after a debilitating brain aneurysm, the great
singer-songwriter had the Los Angeles crowd transfixed in
hushed reverence
Darkness has descended on Los Angeles and the sell-out
crowd inside the Hollywood Bowl have fallen into a state
of reverie. Joni Mitchell, seated in an armchair on stage
and tapping along with her walking stick, is midway
through performing Both Sides Now, her brooding
meditation on love and life.
She is 81 next month and has suffered poor health in
recent years so understandably her voice is not what it
was. Yet the audience is transfixed, sitting in hushed
reverence while witnessing a folk music icon who even in
her twilight years has lost none of her power to
mesmerise.
That Mitchell, one of the greatest songwriters of the
20th century, is on stage at all is almost miraculous. In
2015 she suffered a debilitating brain aneurysm and had
to relearn how to walk and speak. During her recovery she
met the American singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile who
helped to organise a series of informal musical
gatherings at her home, which became known as “Joni
jams”.
• Brandi Carlile: How I got Joni Mitchell back on stage
In July 2022 Mitchell stunned and delighted the musical
world with a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk
Festival, while last February brought her to the Grammys.
Her performance that night was arguably the highlight of
the awards show and set the stage for her first official
concerts in Los Angeles in more than 20 years.
The Hollywood Bowl, with a seating capacity of nearly
18,000, was a fitting venue for such a monumental
occasion. Saturday’s performance was the first of two
back-to-back concerts that quickly sold out.
Despite her health problems, Mitchell was in fine form,
giggling between songs, sipping from a glass of pinot
grigio and denouncing Donald Trump. Her beret and
sunglasses gave the air of hippy chic.
• The miraculous comeback of Joni Mitchell
The first half of the three-hour concert featured deep
cuts not widely known to even Mitchell’s biggest fans.
Cherokee Louise, from the 1991 album Night Ride Home, was
one such example. However, Mitchell emerged from a 30-
minute break with Big Yellow Taxi, which prompted the
first singalong of the evening.
Marcus Mumford, Annie Lennox and Jon Batiste joined
Mitchell on stage, while Carlile did a fine job helping
the show along in the role of MC. A Case of You, from the
seminal 1971 album Blue, brought some in the crowd to
tears.
Elegiac, poignant, joyous, Mitchell was unmissable. She
stood up for the first time at the end of the concert,
basking in a standing ovation from an adoring audience.
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? Joni
Mitchell’s fans are only too aware.
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