Joni Mitchell to perform at Grammys for the first time this Sunday
KUALA LUMPUR: Folk singersongwriter Joni Mitchell will be performing for the first time at the Grammys on Sunday (February 4).
The 80-year-old, who picked up a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2002, will also be gunning for her tenth Grammy in this year’s event, Variety reported.
She is nominated this year for best folk album, for her Brandi Carlile-produced 2023 release Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live].
News of Mitchell performing at the ceremony comes as she gradually returns to live appearances. In the past two years, she was joined by Carlile and other friends in celebratory ensembles.
Mitchell was initially thought to have retired following a debilitating brain aneurysm in 2015 but word later spread that she was actively participating in informal musical gatherings at her home that came to be referred to as ‘Joni Jams’.
The concept went public when she was at the centre of a surprise ‘Joni Jam’ at the Newport Folk Festival in July 2022 that led to her Grammy-nominated live album.
She made two more subsequent public concert appearances last year — an officially advertised Joni Jam at the Gorge in Washington state last summer, followed by a Brandi Carlile & Friends show at the Hollywood Bowl in the fall that largely turned out to be another Mitchell-centric ensemble gig.
Besides Mitchell, other performers who confirmed their performance in this year’s Grammys include U2 (in a remote appearance from Las Vegas’ Sphere), Billy Joel, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Luke Combs, Travis Scott and Burna Boy.