The great Joni Mitchell turns 75 next month and her adopted hometown is throwing quite the party. Over two nights at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on November 6 and 7 (her actual birthday), “JONI 75: A Birthday Celebration Live” brings together a big-name lineup of troubadours, harmonizers and singer-songwriters to pay tribute to the Canadian-born musical legend. Mitchell is expected be among the crowd for at least one night.
Joni herself helped develop the roster of talent and asked some of the performers to participate.
“To be invited by the person who’s being honored and who had such a major influence on my life and career already makes this celebration one of the highlights of my life,” says Seal, one of more than a dozen major acts taking the stage on both nights. He and Mitchell have been friends since they met in the early 1990s, he tells me, but her influence began much earlier. “It’s not an exaggeration to say Joni’s music has been the soundtrack to my highest highs and lowest lows, and provided in many ways the score for my existence.”