JONI MITCHELL : LIVE AT THE FEZ 1995

Disc One

  1. Hejira
  2. Sunny Sunday
  3. Just Like This Train
  4. Moon at the Window
  5. Magdelene Laundries
  6. Lead Balloon
  7. The crazy Cries of Love
  8. The Three Great Stimulants
  9. Cherokee Louise
  10. Happiness is the Best Facelift
  11. Song For Sharon
  12. Turbulent Indigo

Disc Two

  1. Love Puts on a New Face
  2. Night Ride Home
  3. Amelia
    Bonus Tracks :
  4. Sex kills
  5. Hejira
  6. The crazy cries of love
  7. the magdalena laundries
  8. Furry sings the blues
  9. The dry cleaner from des moines
  10. a chair in the sky
  11. goodbye pork pie hat
  12. the wolf that lives in lindsey

Label : no label

Venue : The Fez, New York City, New York, USA

Date : November 6, 1995

Quality : soundboard recording (A+)

Review (Wally Breese) : Last night Joni performed a surprise concert in New York City at Greenwich Village nightclub, The Fez. She was joined in her 80 minute set by jazz drummer Brian Blade of Shreveport, LA., who's played with Daniel Lanois and Emmylou Harris. The club was filled with singer-songwriters, and an altercation occurred between Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Carly Simon. Chrissie was yelling out to Joni so much that Carly asked her to be quiet and Chrissie came over to Carly's booth and said "That's a real singer up there" as she put her hands around Carly's neck. Chrissie then went back to her seat and Carly left the club in a huff. At one point from the audience, singer Katell Keineg started singing "Happy Birthday" to Joni, whose birthday was the next day, and the entire audience joined along. Joni's set included four new songs as well as favorites from throughout her career. She played her beautiful new green Parker Fly guitar that is hooked to a computer brain that responds to a foot pedal and can instantly go into any tuning that she's pre-set. For Joni, this is a welcome addition as she has more than 50 different tunings and typically will change between them 5 or more times during a set.

Review (BigO) : According to Jim Bessman in Billboard (November 18, 1995) Joni Mitchell's surprise November 6 performance at Greenwich Village club the Fez - her first gig before a paying audience in New York in well over a decade - proved as memorable as it was historic. Particularly because she'd been privately contemplating bowing out of live music altogether. Bessman wrote that one likely reason for her absence, as she pointed out during the Fez set, is that she employs 30-50 guitar tunings for her complex repertoire, necessitating "endless retunings plus an army of extra guitars I had to bring on the road in what had become a truly exhausting process." However, the gig is also noted for the cat fight between Chrissie Hynde and Carly Simon. According to a report at Addicted To Noise, midway through the hour and a half set, Hynde roared her approval - gushing very audibly "I love you, I love you" as well as occasionally bellowing, hooting and clapping her hands from her center rear booth. Carly Simon, glaring at the rather tipsy Hynde, finally got fed up and suggested that Hynde sit down and, if you'll excuse the expression, "shut up." That's all it took. According to eye witnesses, Hynde leaped up, grabbed Simon around the neck, and shoved her to the ground, where she began to pummel her - not once but twice. In another account of the incident, Hynde came over to Simon's booth and said, "That's a real singer up there," as she put her hands around Simon's neck. Hynde then went back to her seat and Simon left the club in a huff. According to an internet report, when Hynde's American publicist was asked about the incident, she claimed: "Yeah, she grabbed her around the neck, but she was just hugging her." Joni Mitchell, ever the ice princess, never missed a beat. She continued to regale the crowd with three songs from Hejira, some vintage material, as well as three new, untitled songs that she's working on. If it weren't for the Simon/Hynde conflagration, the high point of the night would have been when Katell Keineg led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday" to Mitchell, who turned 52 the following day. Mitchell ended the night gracefully thanking the audience: "What a nice experience, I thank you for this."

Bonus Tracks : Tracks 4 - 7 : The Great Music Experience, Nara, Japan, May 2nd, 1994. Tracks 8 - 12 : Bread and Roses Festival, Berkeley, CA, September 2nd, 1978.