David Kary

BOTH SIDES NOW : PURE BLISS FOR JONI FANS

For Joni fan’s BOTH SIDES NOW : CELEBRATING THE SONGS OF JONI MITCHELL was pure bliss.  Five of Australia’s finest female singers – Katie Noonan, Ella Hooper, Wendy Matthews, Melinda Schneider and Kristin Berardi- took to the stage to perform their favourite Joni Mitchell songs supported by a great band which included a string quartet.

The concert took place in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House, the first pop music concert to take place since its recent refurbishment, and with the acoustics sounding better than ever.song

There were many highlights. The two songs, Shadows and Light’ and ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, which saw the group sing in unison.

Melinda Schneider’s rueful rendition of ‘River’ in which Joni laments losing a lover which  she, at least in part, blames herself : ‘I lost the best baby I ever had..Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on’.

Wendy Matthews gave a soulful rendering of  Joni’s classic song ‘For Free’, perhaps the best song ever written about a busker. Joni wrote the song after being inspired by a New York sidewalk musician playing a clarinet on the corner of 6th and 8th Street who was playing ‘real good for free’. Matthews also performed an evocative version of the existential title song which took the audience to interval.

Melinda Schneider gave a superb version of the wistful  ‘Blue Motel Room’ which she considered to be a pop music standard – ‘Tell those girls that you’ve got Joni/ Joni’s coming back home.’

I can still remember the first time that I heard ‘Woodstock’. I was a student at Sydney University, having  lunch in the Union building, when from the jukebox I heard that magical piano intro and then the soaring vocals. I had never heard anything quite like it before. I was won over.  One of Australia’s finest jazz vocalists, Kristin Berardi’s version conveys the song’s majestic quality.

The wonderful, silky voiced Katie Noonan gave heartfelt versions of three songs from Joni’s classic ‘Blue’ album; ‘My Old Man’, her ballad to then lover Graham Nash, the tremulous title track – ‘Crown and anchor me or let me sail away, and ‘A Case Of You’- I drink a case of you whilst still staying on my feet;’), considered one of rock music’s greatest  love songs. I  remember reading somewhere that Kris Kristoffreson  reprimanded Joni at the time that she shouldn’t make albums that showed herself being so vulnerable, that she had to leave something for herself.

There were plenty of slow numbers but the concert also included some upbeat numbers which were gleefully performed. These included ‘Raised On Robbery’ (Ella Hooper), ‘Carey’ (Wendy Matthews), ‘Be Cool’ (Kristin Berardi) and ‘Free Man In Paris’ (Kristin Berardi).

This wonderfully talented group of five came together for the final two songs; a lovely version of  boppy ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ – ‘(they paved paradise/put up a parking lot) and for the encore, the wistful, poignant ‘Circle Game’.

This was a great night, so appropriately performed at the Sydney Opera House. Hopefully some recording of the concert took place, so that there would be a permanent record of it that people could enjoy.

Just a few weeks ago some good news came through for Joni fans. Back in 2015 Joni had a major stroke after which she was unable to speak or walk. It was believed that she would never be able to appear on stage again. True to her indomitable spirit, late in July, with the help of her friend, the singer Brandi Carlisle, she made a surprise appearance at the New Folk Jazz Festival, even at one point getting out of her and playing a guitar solo. There will only ever be one Joni Mitchell.