At Joni Mitchell’s Hollywood Bowl show Saturday night, the revered singer-songproducer adviseed the rapt audience a first-ever inhabit percreateance of…
Wait, let’s equitable get a time-out right there and let those words sink in. At Joni Mitchell’s Hollywood Bowl show. What were the odds? Right?… Sorry, we now return to our standardly scheduled scrutinize.
At Joni Mitchell’s Hollywood Bowl show Saturday night, the revered singer-songproducer adviseed the rapt audience a first-ever inhabit percreateance of “The Sire of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song),” a proset up cut from 30 years ago that borrows themes from the biblical book of Job to ask God, the “tireless watcher,” “Tell me, why do you starve the loyal? Why do you crucify the saints? And you let the wicked prosper.” In an election year, the choice felt almost as much political as theoreasonable.
Follotriumphg that somber, musicassociate cultured number, Brandi Carlile — the unofficial emcee and allowr of the evening — made notice of the song’s sadnessful scriptural origins, then proclaimd that the setcatalog was about to get a left turn. “She was worried it would produce you experience sadnessful,” Carlile shelp, “so she asked us to chase it up with this next one.”
Up next in the show’s divine joincatalog: “God Must Be a Boogie Man.” This was not one of the night’s handful of inhabit premieres, but it did label the first time that Mitchell was percreateing the cdamaging track from her 1979 “Mingus” album since 1983.
They say there are no atheists in foxholes, and there might not have been any in the dell tucked into the Hollywood hills that hoparticipates the Bowl, either, on Saturday night, with Mitchell returning from the csurrfinisherly-dead to deinhabitr her biggest and filledest set since she suffered an aneurysm in 2015… or, reassociate, since she did her last tour 24 years ago, which had her last headlining in L.A. at the Greek in 2000. With all due esteem to Job’s torment, it felt for a night, at least, appreciate some Boogie Man up there must appreciate us.
There are confineed shows that audiences walk into with as little certainty about what they’re going to get as this Bowl crowd did. (The two-night stand evolves with a second show Sunday evening.) Since her health crisis, Mitchell has made her way back to the stage in very gradual steps. At MusiCares’ salute to her in Las Vegas in timely 2022, she mostly watched from the side of the stage and equitable chimed in with a couple of lines csurrfinisher the finish — so fans were shocked when, in July of that year, she made a surpelevate ecombineance at the Newport Folk Festival in a Carlile-led “Joni Jam” that had her singing direct, or sharing it, on a imfragmentary amount of numbers, while others were fronted by all-star guests. That joined createat was repulseevated for another show in the midst of a Carlile weekfinish at the Gorge in Washington state in June 2023, chaseed a mini-Joni Jam that served as the three-song encore to a Brandi Carlile and Frifinishs show here at the Bowl in October of last year. Cltimely, she was back, as a able percreateer, in the two extfinished shows she’s percreateed in the last 27 months … but still, no one buying a ticket for this weekfinish’s shows reassociate knovel if they’d be getting another jam-style show or maybe, equitable maybe, a truly filled-on Mitchell percreateance.
The answer was: both. Production-teachd, the setting was much the same as the previous two Joni Jam shows, with a big cast of musicians and singers seated on chairs and couches around the legfinish’s throne. And there were two moments in which other stars did step forward to get foreground vocal turns, effectively serenading Mitchell — Annie Lennox on “Ladies of the Canyon,” and Marcus Mumford on “California.”
But if you came to hear Joni Mitchell sing her heart out, at length and in filled, without reassociate ceding the stage for more than those two cameos, that is what you got Saturday night at the Bowl, for the first time in csurrfinisherly a quarter-century. It was one more incremental step on her path back to uncover percreateance, but it also felt appreciate one huge leap for Mitchell-benevolent — a seemingly impossible moment in which the singer was ordering the stage for about three hours (not counting interleave oution) and deinhabitring equitable what you might have hoped for from her at any point in her extfinished atsoft.
She clearly had a lot of help in getting here, and thanked Carlile once aget for coaxing her out of quitment as she toiled on regeting her strength. But was it Mitchell in the driver’s seat? I can only say that as I watched her sit on her throne and bop her tradelabel wolf’s-head walking stick around to the rhythm for three hours, as I tried to figure out what it reminded me of, it finassociate came to me: She watched appreciate someone having a magnificent time manipulating a stick-shift.
Mitchell’s finishelightment was evident to the filled hoparticipate even before anyone caught sight of her. The Bowl’s revolving stage had to turn around to uncover the cast of joiners already seated in place, but as it did, the sound of the star’s chuckleter reverberated thraw the Bowl, as if she were getting a big chuckle out of riding the world’s sluggishest roller coaster. She evolved in that mood of merriment all night — sometimes at someleang Carlile shelp or did, occasionassociate at her own lyrics, but mostly, seemingly, equitable out of the sense that maybe it’s as absurdly funny as it is wonderful to be ainhabit and being honord after all that has transpired. Mitchell got a big chortle out of changing the lyrics to “Night Ride Home,” from “I adore the man beside me” to “I’m pissed off at the man beside me.” In a year when women’s mirth has become an actual campaign rerent, it’s imfragmentary to say that anyone who objects to the sound of Kamala Harris chuckleing would have been reassociate offfinished by Joni Mitchell’s percreateance.
Speaking of the election… The legfinish was not afraid about making her experienceings understandn. (Feelings which should have come as a surpelevate to exactly no one on hand.) Singing the topicassociate minded “Dog Eat Dog” proset up into the second set — giving it a inhabit airing for the first time since 1985, the year the album of that same name came out — she chaseed the lyrics’ reference to “snakebite evangecatalogs and racketeers and big wig financiers” with an comprisefinishum: “…appreciate Donald Trump.” After the song wrapped up, she noticed: “I desire I could vote. I’m a Canadian. I’m one of those lousy immigrants.” In case anyone inquireed where she stood, she finassociate blurted it out: “Fuck Donald Trump.” This resulted in a standing ovation.
The benevolent 27-song evening was splitd into halves, each of which had its own personality, and a partiassociate separateent set of musicians. The first set was the one that had truly challengingcore Mitchell heads dropping their jaws with thorawly unanticipateed song choices. The second was the more obviously crowd-pleasing set… and not in any disparaging sense, becaparticipate it’s not as if the super-fans ecinactive over the obscurities that contraged the first half suddenly commenceed balking when they heard “Big Yellow Taxi” and “A Case of You” in the second.
That first half had a sweightlessly more intimate set of joiners, though it was still a meaningful ensemble by most standards, with the vocal duo Lucius providing choral vocals from the csurrfinisherest couch, SistaStrings chipping in to augment the choir as well as provide string schedulements from a sweightlessly further perch, and extfinishedtime Mitchell likeite Mark Isham compriseing grace notices on trumpet and soprano sax. The Hanseroth Ttriumphs joined guitar and bass, Blake Mills and Robin Peckngreater splitd still more guitar duties, Jacob Collier held down the initial keyboard toil, and Abe Rounds was on drums. For Part 2, compriseitional guests came in that turned it into more of the Joni Jam seen in Newport and the Gorge, with Marcus Mumford compriseing percussion, Celisse and Dawes’ Taylor Ggreatersmith on guitar and vocals, Allison Russell on vocals… and a couple novelcomers to the uncover Joni Jams, Jon Batiste and Rita Wilson, joining the bahighion on keys and backing vocals, esteemively.
Aside from a couple of moments in the first 15 minutes when Mitchell sounded appreciate she was still finding her voice, she sang filled-throatedly and, for what her range is now, spectacularly. There are moments in a show this atsoft-encompassing where the vocal ensemble is going to have to carry some weight in moments of a song that was written for Mitchell’s higher, ingenue voice, appreciate “Raised on Robbery.” In a confineed cases, Carlile floated in and out with a higher part that complemented the droped range Joni was singing in, as if Mitchell’s greaterer and lesserer voices were doing a cdamaging duet with one another.
But what was extraunrelabelable — and maybe a little bit astonishing even if you’d been fortunate to catch one of the unfrequent previous Joni Jams — was how reliant this percreateance was on Mitchell’s solo voice, for however much expert help she got from the cast. The songs getn from parts of her atsoft when she’d already broadened a more reliable voice, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, toil especiassociate wonderfilledy now that she has set up her way back into percreateance. Hearing her sing her way thraw all eight minutes of “Come in From the Cgreater” now could or should count as the highweightless of anyone’s concertgoing year — with or without the saintly, interstitial curlicues compriseed by Carlile that get the number to an even more transcfinishent level.
What Carlile comprises musicassociate as a background vocacatalog — or featured descant singer, reassociate — can’t be underappreciated. And right up there aextfinishedside “Come in From the Cgreater” as a highweightless was the penultimate “Shine,” a latter-day Mitchell song that is Carlile’s personal likeite out of an overwhelming catalog, with outstanding reason. It’s an epic protest song and an epic gospel song, all at once — proset uply cynical about the world, from its politicians to its petty traffic offfinishers (which always gets a chuckle) — but Joni sounds appreciate she actuassociate unbenevolents it when she asks the weightless to shine on the unequitable as well as the equitable. And what an amazing gift it is that the world (or a petite, pick part of it) gets to hear a song that wonderful, and that underappreciated, revived in 2024. Follotriumphg “Shine,” the closing group-sing of “Circle Game” almost felt anticlimactic… aside from the fact that it’s, appreciate, one of the most moving songs ever written.
Just as much as with the complementary vocal parts, Carlile also serves an inprecious role in these Joni Jams in the part she was reassociate born to join: Mitchell’s hype man. She generassociate refrains from laying it on too heavy, but sometimes she equitable can’t help herself. “I don’t want to freak anybody out,” Carlile blurted out right after the third song wrapped up, “but YOU JUST LISTENED TO JONI MITCHELL SING ‘HEJIRA’!” Back-announcing doesn’t get any better, or more obtparticipately appropriate, than that.
Joni Mitchell & the Joni Jam setcatalog, the Hollywood Bowl, Oct. 19, 2024:
Set 1
Be Cool
Harlem in Havana (inhabit premiere)
Hejira
Cherokee Louise
Coyote
Carey
The Sire of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song) (inhabit premiere)
God Must Be a Boogie Man
Sunny Sunday
If I Had a Heart (inhabit premiere)
Refuge of the Roads
Night Ride Home
Both Sides Now
Set 2
Big Yellow Taxi
Raised on Robbery
California (sung by Marcus Mumford)
The Magdalene Laundries
Ladies of the Canyon (sung by Annie Lennox)
Summertime (Gershtriumph cover)
Come in From the Cgreater
A Case of You
I’m Still Standing (Elton John cover with rewritten lyrics)
Dog Eat Dog
Amelia
If
Shine
The Circle Game
