The appearance of a legend is astonishing.
Canadian singing legend Joni Mitchell surprised the audience at the Newport Folk Festival. PDO
Legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, 78, took the stage unexpectedly at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island on Sunday. He had last performed at that festival 53 years earlier.
The festival audience didn’t know how to wait for Mitchell to come on stage, let alone for him to perform his first full-scale gig in more than 20 years.
– The last time Joni performed in front of a paying audience with a guitar in his hand was 8,660 days ago on his 55th birthday, his website states.
Mitchell performed at the festival together with singer Brandi Carlile. The audience got to hear such beloved Mitchell classics as A Case of You, Big Yellow Taxi and Both Sides, Now. In addition, he performed Evergreen as a cover Summer time.
If the YouTube embed is not visible, you can watch the video of the performance of the song Both Sides, Now from here.
– There were 10,000 people there. 100,000 people say they were there, Carlile commented on performing with his idol in the comment field of this Instagram post.
– Joni, you magical creature. You did it!
The most amazing thing about the Canadian singer’s performance is that he can sing and play the guitar at all. In the spring of 2015, he was found unconscious in his home and was rushed to hospital.
If the tweet is not visible, you can go and see it from here.
It was later reported that Mitchell had been diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm, i.e. a bulging of a cerebral artery. As a result, he lost his ability to speak and walk.
After his performance at the festival, in an interview with the CBS channel, Mitchell described his trials in recent years as “a return to early childhood”.
At the same time, he said he relearned how to play guitar by watching videos of himself performing to see where he needed to put his fingers.
– I didn’t sound any funnier tonight, he commented on his unexpected festival performance to CBS.
Willpower and guts
Neurosurgeon Anthony Wang commented to NPR about Mitchell’s recovery in general, as he has not treated the Canadian star and is not familiar with the case. However, he finds it amazing that Mitchell was able to recover to perform.
– Recovering to the point of being able to perform is incredible, he says.
According to Wang, among neurosurgeons, returning to work is considered a sign of successful functional recovery.
– But rarely does that work contain so many nuances, he says.
According to Wang, things like playing an instrument and producing a singing voice are demanding skills. He credits Mitchell with showing willpower in his recovery.
– (They) involve really complex, refined movements that take a lot of time to learn again, he says.
In an interview with CBS, Mitchell briefly alluded to what recovery required of him.
– The surgeon who performed my brain surgery said that I have willpower and guts, he said.
Mitchell has not disclosed more about his brain aneurysm. In 2020, he said that the experience was much worse than the polio he had as a child.
– The aneurysm took much more from me. It took away my ability to speak and my ability to walk. My ability to speak recovered quite quickly, but walking is still difficult, he said at the time.
Joni Mitchell played a guitar solo during Why Do Fools Fall In Love. PDO