Joni Mitchell featuring The Joni Jam – At Newport Review

Legendary musicians coming out of the blue to release live records or tinker away on new studio projects are a great delight for so many in their twilight years. From Bob Dylan to The Beatles there has been a surge in remastering or reworking old songs and throwing them out into the public. Are the glory days returning? It seems just about everyone is back in action, the pool of active participants includes all the greats. Joni Mitchell and her latest live record, At Newport, is not to be slept on either. Her mesmerising works from days gone by are as electric now as they were way back when – though their changes and interjections from the star at the heart of these songs is somewhat tough to swallow. 

A collection of performances from those taking part in a Joni Jam should never include a fourth of Mumford and Sons, but the barrel was scraped long before Mitchell returned to the scene. The electric can be heard almost immediately though in this introduction from Brandi Carlile, Mitchell returns to the Newport stage for the first time since 1969. Given the chance to spread her vocal range on A Case of You, the steady works of a musician in their twilight years is never lost. The impact of her voice, deeper now than it was before, brings about a new range of emotive flows. But quieter voices such as Mitchell’s need the space to grow, something which does not occur all that often throughout this feature-laden setlist. Marcus Mumford makes a solid appearance on this track and gives this necessary space, but the rest do not follow suit. 

Mitchell has more than a few stories, particularly in the lead-up to Amelia, which will no doubt delight her seasoned fans. Just Like This Train provides a break from the amicable on a neat guitar-led instrumental. Jazz lounge flourishes in Summertime are a neat way into softer material – a moment for Mitchell to isolate her voice with lush piano workings underneath. It may be a Joni Jam, but that first word in the title is what people are here to hear. Exceptional layering on Come in From the Cold is the real sweet spot for this one – an intense and assured build of vocals which end, naturally, with Mitchell on the final line. It is more her presence here that is tapped rather than her abilities, which still flow through and bring around more than enough quality for this Newport appearance. 

Her talents are never in doubt, she sounds as good as she so often does on recordings elsewhere. Of course it is down to the instrumentalists and vocalists surrounding her. Mitchell sets the bar and they must match it. Varying results follow. It feels almost impossible to expect much else from this piece, a nicely timed but often unimpressive piece which of course picks up when Mitchell has warmed to her role. At Newport is a historic occasion for those involved and though the love runs through this one it does not carry this hour-long project to the finish line. Not quite. Even if Shine still sounds extraordinary, there are too many moments where stripping back the instrumentals is the only real change to be made, burying Mitchell in her own songs and paving the way for Carlile to take the lead. This is not a passing of the torch, but it is a masking of Mitchell’s tremendous voice.