Album Review: At Newport allows us unleash our love for Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival.
- Joni Mitchell
- At Newport
- ★★★★☆
“And now it’s just another show,” sings Joni Mitchell 15 minutes into her first new release in some 13 years. But this isn’t just another show.
It is a recording of Mitchell’s surprise 2022 set at the Newport Jazz Festival, at which she was revealed, at the last moment, to be a special guest at a tribute performance in her honour.
Mitchell is joined by a vast musical ensemble. They are led by country singer Brandi Carlile, and include Marcus Mumford, Lucius duo Jess Wolfe and Holly Lessig, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and Wynonna Judd. That’s a lot of voices on one stage, and there are moments through this celebratory 11-track live album when Mitchell appears to be enjoying the celebration of her life and legacy more than participating in it.
That’s particularly the case with the version of 'Big Yellow Taxi' with which the evening kicks off (after we hear Carlile reveal to the shocked crowd that Mitchell will join their “Joni Jam”).
Here Mitchell is largely in the background, and while it’s a stirring take on the tune, you can’t help but wish that, the star of the show was given more of a chance to shine (there are even moments when the hero worship descends into condescension, such as when someone tells her to “kick ass”).
As the performance goes on, though, so Mitchell moves closer to the spotlight. After a stroke in 2015, she was thought to have given up live performance (though she has hosted regular “Joni Jams” through lockdown, with guests including Paul McCartney and Elton John).
But at Newport, her enthusiasm is infectious. Her voice has acquired a huskiness across the decades, and she is full of vim and wit on 'A Case Of You' (where Marcus Mumford is savvy enough to let Mitchell take the lead) and 'Both Sides Now', her timeless mediation on love, life and everything between.
As she reaches for those ascending notes, you can hear the entire audience take a breath. At Newport is, in the first instance, a tribute to the singer and her career. Yet for a heartbeat here and there, it becomes so much more.
