jBlindLuck: Young Joni Mitchell Performs a Hit-Filled Concert in London (1970) [feedly]

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Young Joni Mitchell Performs a Hit-Filled Concert in London (1970)
// Open Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKdPU48jtQ8

It's hard to imagine the young lady seen performing her own songs on the BBC in the video above twerking or even tweeting, for that matter. The utterly unadorned quality of this performance suits the now-legendary purity of her youthful voice.

Woe, the deleterious effects of her longtime cigarette habit.

Now, back to 1970, when just shy of 27, Joni Mitchell played a hit-filled set to a British studio audience, despite a "little London flu" she alludes to more than once.

If it seemed unpretentious at the time, it's even more so now, nary a laser beam or back up dancer in sight. No costume changes. Barely any makeup. Just Joni, her guitar, her piano, and a nifty custom dulcimer made by "a dynamite girl who lives in California."

Passing the time as she tunes this last instrument, she mentions that the upcoming song, "California,"concerns an adventure to which she'd recently treated herself. She'd written it before her return, as a sort of postcard home. Meaning that that park bench in Paris, France was barely cold! This is way more exciting to me than a bevy of hair extensions, served with a practiced snarl and a side of auto tune.

A girlish giggle and dignified bow seal the deal. Classy!

The Music, Art, and Life of Joni Mitchell Presented in a Superb 2003 Documentary

James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, Live and Together (1970)

Ayun Halliday is an author, homeschooler, and Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine. Follow her @AyunHalliday

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