On May 6 in history: 1972: Joni performs at Royal Festival Hall in London - Jackson Browne is the opening act. List member Philip writes: "[This concert] had been a disaster from a technical point of view. It started over an hour late and the p.a. broke down a number of times during the concert, which delayed things even more. When she left the stage after the last song I went down to the front in case there was going to be an encore. The house lights were on and most people were leaving apart from me and about twenty other die-hards gathered in front of the stage. She eventually reappeared. The stage was low and I was about three feet from her. Up close, she seemed very sophisticated to a freckled kid like me who was out late in the big city - she smoked, her toenails were painted and she was tanned. She seemed slightly taken aback and asked us why everyone was leaving. A voice from behind me informed her that they were rushing out to catch the last underground. Thinking I was the one who had! spoken, she looked at me with a puzzled look and said "underground?". I managed to blurt out the word "subway", remembering the word from American tv shows. She replied "Oh right" and began picking the first notes of The Circle Game. When she sang I was so close I was hearing her live without the amplification.
In 1996, Q magazine published a fan's thoughts on the event: "I was just 13 and totally in love with Joni. She didn't seem at all fazed by the technical trouble and invited us all to cluster round the front of the stage as she sang acoustically to us. It was magical, sitting right at her feet, hearing the songs from Blue in such an intimate way. It was the essence of what Joni would be like in your dreams." More info: http://www.jmdl.com/articles/docs/720513s.cfm 1979: Joni performs onstage with Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, and others at the Washington antinuke demonstration. 1995: Joni performs at the 26th annual "New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival". [Today], Joni gave an 80 minute concert... At this show, she premiered her new electric guitar- the Roland VG-8. Built for Joni by Fred Walecki of Westwood Music in Los Angeles, the apparatus solved a great deal of tuning problems for Joni. The VG-8 is actually the computer processor that her Stratocaster-like green guitar is plugged into. This computer stores all her tunings and can recreate them at the push of a pedal. More info: http://www.jonimitchell.com/NewOrleansJazz95.html
