Joni Mitchell Triumphs at the Gershwin Prize Concert

Another old beau sings her praises

James Taylor spoke fondly of his 1970–71 romance with Mitchell, and his pride and privilege in backing her up on her heartbreak album, Blue. Starting with a gorgeous guitar-picking intro, he infused her song about feeling homesick in Europe, “California,” with a delicate nostalgia. But there was a technical glitch, so he had to sing it again for the cameras. “This thing runs like a Swiss watch, huh?” he joked — and then sang it twice as well in the version you’ll see. As he sang, Mitchell, in the front row a few feet away, provided quiet percussive accompaniment, happily tapping her cane.

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Mitchell’s biggest young fan sings a protest song

You could feel the radiant love when Brandi Carlile, who had coaxed an apprehensive Mitchell into performing her first full concert in 20 years at the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival, sang her lesser-known anthem of anger about modern society, “Shine,” from her 2007 comeback album of the same name.

(Left to right) Holly Laessig, Jess Wolf, Brandi Carlile, Ledisi, Annie Lennox, Angelique Kidjo and Cyndi Lauper perform "Big Yellow Taxi."

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Mitchell gets the last word in a pop classic

Ledisi, Carlile, Lennox, Cyndi Lauper and Angélique Kidjo — whose version of “Help Me” had earlier made Mitchell dance in her seat — got the crowd on their feet with an exhilarating performance of “Big Yellow Taxi,” inspired when Mitchell looked out her Hawaii hotel window and was appalled by its vast parking lot. Mitchell has compared this song and “Circle Game” to “nursery rhymes,” and Ledisi and company sang it with utterly infectious youthful exuberance. At the end, Carlile handed the mike to Mitchell in her seat to sing the last line, “put up a parking lot,” and got a big hand. After many decades of cigarettes, it’s easy for Mitchell to hit the jokily low notes of the tune’s finale.

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Cyndi Lauper gets blue

Onstage, Lauper told Mitchell that “Blue” is a song “I used to sing to comfort myself,” adding, “Thank you for teaching me how to paint with words, with sounds — and with paint!” Lauper delivered a breathy, quavery, heartrending version of the hit about heartbreak, softly and brilliantly accompanied by cello, trumpet and piano. But as with Taylor, technical issues forced her to sing it a second time, and though the first take was good, the second performance (which you’ll see) soared to ethereal heights.

Graham Nash sings a love song to his old flame

Nash spoke movingly of how bowled over he was when he met Mitchell in 1967. “She took me to her room and played me a dozen of the greatest songs I’d ever heard,” he said, and hailed her amazing recovery from calamitous illness. “ ‘Resilience’ is the right word for Joni.” Accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica, he played “A Case of You,” which may have been inspired by him (or possibly another Mitchell beau, Leonard Cohen). On the video behind him, a jagged zigzag line appeared on a photo of him and Mitchell embracing in the days when they were lovers; their faces moved apart, revealing a house, likely the “very, very, very fine house” they shared in Laurel Canyon, which inspired his song “Our House” and her Ladies of the Canyon album.

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Mitchell’s British Columbia neighbor hits a high note

The evening’s most dazzling musical achievement was Diana Krall’s rendition of “For the Roses,” Mitchell’s nature-celebrating kiss-off to L.A.’s showbiz scene, written at her British Columbia home high above the ocean — right across from Krall’s home. “We’d wave at each other across the Georgia Strait,” Krall said. So when she sang, “I heard it in the wind last night/ It sounded like applause … / And the moon swept down black water / Like an empty spotlight,” Krall knew exactly what Mitchell was talking about.

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A finale that made everybody feel like a kid again

In concert in 1968, Mitchell introduced “Circle Game” — the song that landed her a recording contract — by saying, “If you know the chorus, wow — just sing along, ’cause it’s a chorus about people and growing old and growing young.” Joined by all the stars at the 2023 Gershwin concert, plus everybody in the audience (and no doubt many who will watch it on PBS), she gave a whole new meaning to its inspiring lyrics: “There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty / Before the last revolving year is through.”