Joni Mitchell to Play First Headline Show in 23 Years

Joni Mitchell will return to the stage in June 2023 for her first headline concert in decades, Brandi Carlile said on yesterday’s episode of The Daily Show. Carlile, who joined Mitchell for her surprise set at Newport Folk Festival in July, told Trevor Noah she would perform her own set at Washington’s Gorge Amphitheatre next June, and that Mitchell would headline the following night, on June 10.

Carlile said Mitchell has been hosting “Joni Jams” with other musicians for years, as part of her recovery from her 2015 brain aneurysm; it was Mitchell, she added, who came to Carlile expressing a desire to play live. Her last proper headline shows took place during a 2000 tour of America (with a band including Herbie Hancock), though she delivered a handful of seemingly ad hoc performances in the intervening years.

In recent years, Mitchell has re-emerged into public life after a long withdrawal due to health problems. In 2015, she stepped back after the aneurysm affected her ability to speak and walk, only reappearing three years later at a tribute concert celebrating her 75th birthday. James Taylor hinted in a 2020 interview with The Guardian that Mitchell was working on a new album. The album has not yet come, but Mitchell has since been honored as MusiCares’ Person of the Year at the Grammys (where she also accepted an award for Best Historical Album), received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music, made that Newport Folk Festival appearance, and then discussed it on CBS Mornings.

Read Pitchfork’s recent article “Joni Mitchell Is Still Singing ‘Both Sides Now.’”