Joni Mitchell performed at her most highly-anticipated headline concert in over two decades at the Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington, on Saturday.
Mitchell formally followed the release of her 2022 Newport Folk Festival set with her first concert since she suffered a brain aneurysm and her first solo return after 20 years. The 79-year-old showed her fans and concert attendees that she has been feeling better than ever after her near-fatal experience in 2015.
Joni Mitchell Performs for 3 Hours During Comeback Concert
The Saturday show saw Joni Mitchell performing her classic songs for three hours long alongside other musicians who supported her, including Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, and Annie Lennox.
According to BBC, the concert was billed as Joni Jam as it ultimately recreated the sessions she had with the artists when she was still undergoing rehabilitation in her California house.
"There's nothing scarier than playing songs you wrote in front of Joni Mitchell," Carlile said during her opening set. "It's not gonna be someone coming up here singing their songs one after the other. [I've] watched one of the most miraculous things I've seen in my life, and now you get to see it."
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She compared the concert to looking at a tiny cabin inside a snow globe, saying that it showed what life had been like for Mitchell in the past few decades.
Mitchell and her team started the concert by singing Big Yellow Taxi followed by her other hits like Night Ride Home, Raised on Robbery, and Come in From the Cloud.
The 24-set 3-hour concert ended with Young at Heart (Frank Sinatra Cover).
See Joni Mitchell's 2023 concert setlist below:
1. Big Yellow Taxi
2. Night Ride Home
3. Raised on Robbery
4. Come in From the Cold
5. Amelia
6. Carey
7. Sex Kills
8. Summertime (George Gershwin Cover)
9. Ladies of the Canyon (Performed by Annie Lennox)
10. Help Me (Performed by Celisse)
11. Where There's a Will, There's a Way (Performed and Written by Rick Whitfield)
12. Love Potion No. 9 (The Clovers Cover)
13. A Case of You
14. A Strange Boy (Performed by Wendy Melvoin)
15. Cactus Tree (Performed by Lucius)
16. California (Performed by Marcus Mumford)
17. Blue (Performed by Sarah McLachlan)
18. Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers Cover)
19. Shine
20. Both Sides, Now
21. The Circle Game
22. Just Like This Train (Instrumental)
23. If
24. Young at Heart (Frank Sinatra Cover)
Joni Mitchell's Health Issue
Joni Mitchell's return to the stage came after she held a surprise concert at Newport Folk Festival in July 2022 and released a new live album based on that show this year.
Her "At Newport" album marked her first music project after facing a near-fatal brain aneurysm in 2015 which caused her to learn how to walk again.
