On the night of June 10th, 79-year-old singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell headlined for the first time in 23 years at the majestic Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington, on the banks of the Columbia River. Her appearance had the feel of a comet’s return. Unusual, breathtakingly longing, it was worth camping all night. The fact that many concert-goers traveled long distances made the experience feel more like a Mitchell song. Perhaps it was one of the poetic highway trips on her 1976 album Hezilla, or one of the romantic intercontinental voyages she sang on her 1971 album. Landmark “Blue”. It was a crowd dotted with tie-dye and gray braids, but at the same time lifelong friends reunited, mothers and children bonded over their intergenerational musical tastes, and Taylor Swift’s Ellas There was also a crowd wearing handmade Mitchell t-shirts that rivaled the tour. Mitchell paraphrased one of her most memorable songs, “You’re Stardust And You’re Gold,” to an enthusiastic crowd, holding her cell phone lights aloft.
Loretta Pervier Grant, 64, a lifelong Mitchell fan, had never seen her play live. So she and her husband Larry Grant, 65, drove from Arizona to the show.
From left: Rose Paisley, Julie Chinnock, Vivian Pedegana, Laura Pedegana, Greg Pedegana. Rose Paisley’s daughters wore her grandmother’s clothes to the show, including cowboy boots and jewelry.
Dan Waldron and Elizabeth Ford drove in from Canada to see Mitchell’s show.
Suzanne Park, 64, said she grew up listening to Mitchell’s music in the ’60s and ’70s and played his songs on guitar in high school.
