This happened last night. See: "Joni Mitchell Performs at Length for First Time in 22 Years at Surprise Newport Folk Festival Appearance/Another artist who is largely retired from public performance, Paul Simon, also made a surprise appearance at the festival" (Variety).
Here's Paul Simon:
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36 comments:
Somebody needs to tell these singers to hang it up with grace.
Her reputation is only tarnished by such an awful performance.
I get the whole nostalgia thing...she was an icon and a gifted singer.
But that ship sailed many years ago...
As to Joni,
The old gray mare,
She ain't what she used to be
Ain't what she used to be,
Ain't what she used to be
The old gray mare,
She ain't what she used to be
Many long years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfVwIBE00w
How did she know no one in the audience was spreading "misinformation"?
Y'know, one day, Tito Puente will be dead, and you'll say, "Oh, yes, I've been listening to his work for years."
Joni wrote that song at a tender age and it's almost as precocious as her "The Circle Game." But her voice sounds like she's channeling later Marianne Faithfull.
Joe Smith - I thought you were referring to Paul Simon. You could have. (Garfunkel would have helped.)
Newport, RI is a really neat place. Shops had prints of the Newport Music Festival posters from the 60's and 70's. Very cool art.
Thank for this post, Ann. I thought it was great. Joni sounded great to me. She's old now, they're both old now. But Joni sounded like old Joni. Paul did not sound like Paul anymore. Still, it's good to see him while we can. I saw him a number of years ago in an outdoor venue in Atlanta, the great Chastain Park Amphitheater. It was a hot, hot, humid August night. He and his band played two encores. In the heat, under the hot lights. I was sitting with water, doing nothing but bopping in my seat and I almost passed out it was so hot. But he just kept going.
These are two of my favorite songwriter/musicians of my lifetime (playing in one of my favorite cities). Great post.
Thank you for posting that. I love her music. Sounds great to me.
Sonofabitch - give em a drink!
Sad X2.
Seeing Joni made me realize we were all better when we were young and fabulous.
Damn it all anyway.
I remember coasting down a boulevard in St Louis hearing Clouds for the first time as a young guy at the end of one ill-done romance and in the midst of an ill-conceived other and thinking, pretty, - am I getting wiser now? But I was not, and maybe not yet. M m m my generation. I haven't cared much for Joni Mitchell, but she gets to say goodbye, and I was glad to hear her.
I liked listening to Joni singing that Both Sides. It was a little pretentious when she was very young but now it seems real and she seems to be remembering back, both sides now.
Very nice. Damn shame what age does to us.
Very poigniant for those two singers to sing those two songs at this point in their lives.
Hey Paul! NICE DREADNAUGHT! :-)
I didn't even realize the Newport Folk Festival was still a thing. I don't think I've heard about it since the 60's. Other than references and articles about it in the 50s and 60s which I run across from time to time.
I like Joni Mitchell's version of Clouds. But THE definitive version for me will always be Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1DuLmKxaSU
John LGBTQBNY Henry
I couldn't take Joni the full way, but Paul I thought was great. Pretty much the way I felt about them and listened to them back in the day.
His voice has held up better than hers (and it can't be easy singing from a chair like that) but both were still able to spin the phrasings and put some freshness into them.
Better than TikTok!
Contemporary folk?... https://youtu.be/EoYHYwpmBUc?t=27
Both Sides Now?
But Joni sounded like old Joni. Paul did not sound like Paul anymore.
I had the opposite reaction. Paul sounded like an aged Paul Simon. When Joni started singing (before the camera focused on her) I thought it was a man.
'Joe Smith - I thought you were referring to Paul Simon. You could have. (Garfunkel would have helped.)'
After Joni I didn't dare click on the Paul video...
Terrible.
I've always thought Paul Simon has a good pop voice to go with the songwriting skills.
Joni in her zenith :
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOUHow1pHVE&list=RDAMVMZOUHow1pHVE
Magnificent !
Thanks for posting this. I was so happy to hear these lovely performances. Paul’s voice has notably weakened since we saw him live in 2019 at Madison Square Garden, and neither PS nor Joni is as spry as Paul McCartney whom we saw at the Meadowlands in June 1 day shy of his 80th birthday. I feel lucky that these legends are still kicking and that we get to see them.
These videos are poignant... as poignant as scenes from a Christopher Guest movie...
The Judy Collins studio version with the harpsichord will always be definitive.
Perhaps never moreso than the way in which it was placed in an episode of "Mad Men" - holy cathartic cow.
I'm just delighted that Joni is still alive and is healthy enough to go on stage. She is a goddess among us.
I'm with Althouse's 4:06 post. I'm glad to see them alive and on stage. The performance isn't the main point. You can hear them at the peak of their powers with the click of a button. Don't be like a little kid complaining about visiting grandma. Treasure the moment. Have some perspective.
I clicked on the Variety link and there was a different camera angle for the Both Sides Now performance. Wynonna Judd's angst filled face caught my attention as she took in those lyrics and the plaintive life fully lived sound of Joni's voice. I'm sure she was thinking about her own mom's recent death.
"Wynonna Judd's angst filled face..."
I was struck by the intense emotion on Belinda Carlisle's face. Look at her in the end, after 5:30.
Joni's final "I really don't know life at all" is cosmic.
And check out the "Big Yellow Taxi" performance — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr6K612Mjig
She really couldn't sing much of it, but she was right there for the final — always very low — "put up a parking lot."
I know Joni's songs. But I thought they were Judy Collins'. There must be a lot of covers and overlap between them.
There was a very poignant mix of reverence and celebration from those on stage as well as those in the audience in response to the gift of Joni's performance. It was definitely a feel good occasion.
Joni channels Leonard.
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