Joni Mitchell’s highly anticipated “Joni Jam” concerts at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles are set to take place on October 19 and 20. The shows will feature the legendary Canadian singer/songwriter playing alongside her friend Brandi Carlile and various guest singers and musicians.
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Carlile, who also helped organize and took part in Mitchell’s other “Joni Jam” shows she played in 2022 and 2023, shared some tidbits about the upcoming concerts in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Brandi told the newspaper that Mitchell is taking a much bigger role with regard to the songs that will be played at the Hollywood Bowl gigs.
“She’s chosen to learn songs that I never heard before, that have been an incredible challenge for us all to learn,” Carlile revealed. “It’s gonna be a long show. She wants to give everybody a full-spectrum performance of who she really is and what her career has done.”
Brandi also noted that the upcoming shows will be “even crazier” than the two previous “Joni Jam” performances. Those events took place at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, in July 2022 and the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, in June 2023.
She added, “I’m seeing her be inspired in ways I haven’t seen before. And we’ve got some people that have joined the party that are just an inspiration to watch work.”
More About the Hollywood Bowl Concerts
Joining Carlile in performing with Mithcell at the Hollywood Bowl shows will be Brandi’s two longtime backing musicians, twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth, who play bass and guitar, respectively.
Carlile told the L.A. Times that Phil has had a particularly challenging time preparing for the concerts. That’s because he’s had to learn late jazz legend Jaco Pastorius’ bass parts for some of Mitchell’s late-1970s tunes.
“He’s having to do [Pastorius’ parts] on songs where Jaco tripled his bass,” she noted. “Phil’s got to play all the licks—and not p— off Joni in the meantime.”
More About the “Joni Jam” Shows
The “Joni Jam” performance at the Newport Folk Festival was a surprise event that marked Mitchell’s return to the stage for the first time since she suffered a debilitating brain aneurysm in 2015.
Among the guest artists who took part in one or both of the previous “Joni Jam” concerts were Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, Mumford and Sons’ Marcus Mumford, Wynonna Judd, Lucius, Annie Lennox, and Sarah McLachlan.
Tickets for Mitchell’s concerts are available via a variety of outlets, including StubHub.
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