In 2022, seven years after surviving a brain aneurysm that left her unable to sing or even speak, Joni Mitchell appeared onstage at the Newport Folk Festival. Singing alongside her were her supportive — and emotional — musician friends, including Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Wynonna Judd and Annie Lennox. Our critic Wesley Morris had his doubts. What was really happening here? Did Joni Mitchell even want this? Or were her younger adoring musician fans propping her up for their own reasons? When he learned this fall that Joni would be appearing onstage again, at the Hollywood Bowl, he bought a ticket to see for himself. On today’s episode, Wesley talks with his editor Sasha Weiss about the concert, and what it’s like to experience an 80-year-old in full command of her meaning.
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Hey Michael, It's Michael.
For our last few episodes of 2024, we're bringing you something really special.
A Year of Culture in Review.
We're going to begin with one of our all time favorite guests talking about one of the year's most astonishing performances and the really improbable story of how it even happened today.
Critic at large Wesley Morris on the comeback of the singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell.
It's Christmas Day Wednesday, December 25th.
I'm Wesley Morris.
I'm a critic at the New York Times.
And back in 2022, this news broke that this amazing event had taken place at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
Joni Mitchell had come out and played a concert for the first time in a long time.
And it was a big deal because Joni Mitchell, the singer, the songwriter, influencer of generations of musicians, that person had virtually disappeared from public life.
She'd sworn off touring, and then in 2015, a brain aneurysm almost killed her.
She survived, but her ability to sing or even speak was gone.