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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tickets go on sale next week for Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Joni Jam’ in June at the Gorge

Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile in 2021.  (Paul Morigi)

The Joni and Brandi show is coming to the Gorge.

The highlight of June’s Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island was the “Joni Jam,” which featured Joni Mitchell’s first full set in more than 22 years.

Brandi Carlile helped put the surprise event together. The singer-songwriter, who hails from Western Washington, is assembling another Joni Jam for June 10 at the Gorge Amphitheatre. Carlile will open the show. She also will perform her annual Echoes Through the Canyon concert on June 9 with special guests to be named later. Sheryl Crow joined Carlile last summer.

The special guests who will appear at Carlile and Mitchell’s Gorge dates will be announced later.

Tickets for both events go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 28 via Carlile’s official fan club, brandicarlile.com/tour.

Citi card members will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday at 10 a.m. until Thursday at 10 a.m. through the Citi Entertainment program, citientertainment.com.

Carlile, 41, broke the news Wednesday night on “The Daily Show” while chatting with Trevor Noah. “Joni Mitchell is going to play,” Carlile said. “No one’s been able to buy a ticket to see Joni Mitchell in 20 years.”

Mitchell, 78, who is considered one of the greatest songwriters of her generation, has been under the radar since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015. Mitchell, who performed seated in a golden throne at Newport, shocked Carlile and the music world by delivering a 13-song set last summer, which featured such classics as “Both Sides Now,” “A Case of You” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”

“We thought it was a jam,” Carlile. “We didn’t know that she was going to sing all the leads on those songs. She just started singing. We had rehearsed the songs ourselves. And we didn’t know whether we should stop or what we should do, you know, so we just sang with her.”

So far, the Gorge date appears to be a one-off, although jonimitchell.com pledged to post any updates. Mitchell’s appearance at the Gorge will come 25 years after she last played the venue, a two-day stand in 1998 with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. Previously, her only other stops in Washington were in Seattle, according to her website, in February 1972 at the Paramount Theater and March 1974 at the Seattle Center Arena.