Joni:
A Portrait in
Song
Live at Massey Hall,
Toronto, Canada;
June 18-19,
2013. Very good webcast
These tracks come from a radio webcast featuring highlights from two concerts that were part of this year's
Luminato Festival. These concerts celebrated the career of
Joni Mitchell and pre-empted her 70th birthday which will be in November. These shows are significant because they marked Joni's first time on the stage since 2008. She had said initially that she would not appear at the festival (she doesn't like these kind of things, you know?).
Later it was announced that she would perform a reading of "This
Rain, This Rain," an
adaptation of a poem by
Emily Carr, with folks like
Herbie Hancock, etc. backing her. At the first concert, she surprised everyone by performing three songs in addition to the poetry:
Don't Interrupt
The Sorrow (which has not surfaced yet and was not broadcast),
Furry Sings the Blues, and
Woodstock which featured vocals by all the performers.
In addition to Joni, many other prominent musicians performed. These included
Glen Hansard,
Esperanza Spalding, Herbie Hancock and a host of others. Although these are just highlights and NOT a full concert, they provide an enjoyable listen.
Plus, they are historically significant in Joni's career. Could this be her last hurrah or maybe the start of something?
Anyway, she has a new ballet coming in May 2014 so her name may appear some more
...
The Radio Broadcast Set 1
Recorded July 1, 2013 from
Radio 2 webcast
00:00
CBC Intro
00:07 DJ Intro
00:52 Glen Hansard -
Coyote
08:28 DJ
Talk
09:35
Liam Titcolm - If (some cuts present)
18:24
Al Spx of
Cold Specks -
Black Crow
23:39 DJ Intro
23:59
Kathleen Edwards Talk
24:59 Kathleen Edwards -
Big Yellow Taxi
27:57 DJ Talk and Intro
28:34
Lizz Wright -
Shades of
Scarlett Conquering
33:38 Lizz Wright -
The Wolf That Lives in
Lindsey
40:28 DJ Intro
41:01 Herbie Hancock & Esperanza Spalding -
Both Sides Now
50:40 DJ Intro
50:47
Rufus Wainwright -
All I Want
55:02 DJ Talk and Intro
55:59 Joni Mitchell - Furry Sings the Blues (snippet)
58:47 DJ
Closing
The Radio Broadcast Set 2
Recorded July 12, 2013 from
Radio 1 webcast
0:59:15 CBC Intro
0:59:35 DJ Intro
1:00:10 Glen Hansard - The
Boho Dance
1:04:22 DJ Intro
1:05:01 Kathleen Edwards -
Cold Blue Steel and
Sweet Fire
1:10:03 DJ Intro
1:10:20 Lizz Wright and Herbie Hancock -
Jericho
1:15:30 DJ Intro
1:15:50 Esperanza Spalding -
Help Me
1:19:32 DJ Intro
1:19:50
Wainwright, Glen Hansard -others -
Free Man in Paris
1:24:21 DJ Intro to
News Break
1:24:46 Joni Mitchell -
Introduction to Rain
1:27:13 Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hancock - Rain (poetry)
1:34:29 DJ Intro
1:34:44 Joni Mitchell - Introduction to Furry Sings the Blues
1:37:08 Joni Mitchell & Herbie Hancock - Furry Sings the Blues
1:43:05 DJ Intro
1:43:15 Joni Speaks and Set-up
1:43:28 Joni Mitchell and others - Woodstock
1:50:59 DJ Closing
Cast of singers Glen Hansard,
Liam Titcomb, Rufus Wainwright, Lizz Wright, Kathleen Edwards and Cold Specks's Al Spx
The band, who floated in and out:
Herbie Hancock - piano (on select tracks as noted)
Brian Blade - drums
Jon Cowherd - piano, keyboard, organ
Bill Frisell - guitar
Marvin Sewell - guitar
Christopher Thomas - bass
Ambrose Akinmusire - trumpet
Melvin
Butler - saxophone
Jeff Haynes - percussion
Brad Wheeler wrote in
The Globe And Mail:
Onstage at Massey, where she followed performances of her material by a cast of singers (Glen Hansard, Liam Titcomb, Rufus Wainwright, Lizz Wright, Kathleen Edwards and Cold Specks's Al Spx),
Mitchell's range was revealed as greatly reduced. She blames the vocal decline on
Morgellons syndrome, not age or chain-smoking.
Whatever the cause, there was grace to the way she managed within her lower, limited register, both on
1975's Don't Interrupt the
Sorrow (which she introduced as "the closest I ever came to being a feminist") and on Furry Sings the Blues, a character study of the one-legged bluesman
Furry Lewis from
1976's
Hejira LP.
- published: 16 Sep 2014
- views: 20531