On the eve of Mitchell’s birthday -- she turned 78 on Sunday (Nov. 7) -- the night was both bold and comforting. Carlile deftly accomplished an artistic high-wire act, faithfully recreating Mitchell’s album live. “I’ve no interest in putting my own spin on it,” she said. Yet she brought her personality to the songs...
Carlile conceived this event four years ago. After pleading to be added to the lineup of the two-night 75th birthday tribute to Mitchell in November 2018, and meeting the legendary singer-songwriter backstage, “I remember telling my manager Will [Botwin], "I’m going to do the entire Blue album at Carnegie Hall.” After first performing the album live in Los Angeles in October 2019, she said, “this is the culmination of that dream.” [Billboard]
Joni Mitchell's masterpiece Blue turned 50 this year, and after performing it in full in Los Angeles in 2019, Brandi Carlile fulfilled her goal of bringing it to Carnegie Hall on Saturday night (11/6), just ahead of Joni's birthday on Sunday. Brandi, who called Blue the greatest album of all time, admitted to not loving Joni's music when she was younger, and recounted a road trip with her then-girlfriend, now-wife where they got into their first big fight when she wasn't thrilled with her girlfriend's choice of Blue to listen to in the car. She said that T Bone Burnett, who produced her second album, The Story, also suggested she listen to Joni.