Brandi Carlile, the extraordinary voice performed last night at the famed Carnegie Hall. This entire concert was a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s Blue album. The distinct lyrics of Mitchell’s songs are a perfect match to the stellar talents of Carlile.
Mitchell is a strong influence of Brandi Carlile. Carlile discovered Joni Mitchell quite late in her career, but has been making up for lost time since. Carlile has been fortunate enough to meet and become friends with her idol, drinking white wine at her house many times.
Carnegie Hall is a spectacular space with a tremendous music history, so it was so perfect that Brandi Carlile performed a number of Mitchell’s songs but also a handful of her own that helped catapult her to international fame.
Joni Mitchell’s Blue album is noted by some music critics as the best album of all time, which is a huge feat. The album was the fourth studio album by Mitchell and was released in 1971. The album was composed while Mitchell was taking a break from music and traveling Europe. A number of the songs were composed after a break up with musician Graham Nash.
As quoted by the New York Times, the album represented “turning points and pinnacles in 20th century popular music”.
In 2017 NPR stated Blue was the greatest album of all time made by a woman and in 2020 Rolling Stone rated Blue as the third greatest album of all time.
It only seems fitting that Carlile perform this concert at Carnegie Hall, coincidentally on the night of Joni Mitchell’s 78th birthday.
There was an electricity in the air at the Stern Hall, the house was absolutely packed with every seat taken. Prior to the performance starting, the audience burst into cheers and applause, as for many it was their first time back to a live performance following the pandemic.
You could see that everyone was ecstatic to be seeing Carlile perform one of the greatest albums by the incomparable Joni Mitchell. Everyone in the house was a Carlile and Mitchell fan and there wasn’t a moment where the audience wasn’t on their feet stomping, cheering or singing along with Carlile, a fabulous event to experience.
Brandi Carlile walking out on stage at the beginning of the show, you could see at first she was excited to see the crowd and incredibly appreciative, but also there was an awe. She expressed her undoubted desire and wish to perform the Blue album at Carnegie Hall and when she walked out her face said it all, she was in the moment and living a dream.
There is a similarity with the vocal stylings of Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell, a richness but also genuine talent that helps emulate the lyrics of the songs that makes them almost hauntingly real but also expresses the raw emotion.
The only criticism of the performance is that the Blue album is 48 minutes, so the performance was cut short, but then Carlile well and truly made up for the short set list by incorporating a number of her songs into the encore. It was a lovely moment having the entire audience sing Happy Birthday to Joni Mitchell.
Brandi Carlile is set to return to New York in 2022 at Madison Square Gardens and a very limited number of tickets are still available.