Joan Baez at the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festvial Hall, 16 March 2012
Given Joan Baez has been more in the news recently for falling out of treehouses than her music I did wonder, at the grand old age of 71, whether I would ever get the chance to see her live.
Thankfully I needn't have worried because the folk legend is not only in good voice but seems to still get a big kick out of performing. Not only that, I was actually taken aback by how great she still looks. Wearing a simple black ensemble and yellow scarf, she still looks incredibly beautiful, years younger than she is and actually seems to read our thoughts at one point joking playfully "I know what you're all thinking, she looks good! I wonder if she's had any work done?"
But of course looks can be deceiving and time can ravish even the greatest singer's voice but while it's true that she can't sing those pure high notes she became so famous for anymore, she still sounds wonderful and is instantly recognisable as the Baez we know and love. And, wow, there is so much love for her tonight. As she walks out onto a stage furnished with a sofa and lampshade at the back, making things seem nice and homely, the Royal Festival Hall (on the first of two sold out nights) is filled with love for her and she beams in appreciation.
Starting off with the gorgeous Steve Earle number God Is God and the Elvis Costello penned Scarlett Tide from her last album Day After Tomorrow, she wove her way throughout her long career, starting with her most recent and going way back to the very beginning to her pure folk roots with songs such as Lily Of The West and Railroad Boy to some of her most famous Dylan covers like Farewell Angelina and With God On Our side and even a couple of Donovan numbers (Be Not Too Hard and Catch The Wind), either accompanied by just her own acoustic guitar or joined by her son Gabriel Harris on percussion and Dirk Powell on a variety of different instruments. All the while though it was kept wisely minimal, letting Joan's voice be the main attraction.
She was funny too, reminiscing about the time she was pregnant and caused a panic at Woodstock when the rumour went round she had gone into labour but instead was just hanging out with Joe Cocker (as you do) and gushing about how wonderful and gorgeous Johnny Cash was (you all know how much I agree with that), before launching into a fantastic version of Long Black Veil (her "country song of the night"). Not surprisingly, although her between song banter was short on anything truly political, she didn't go the night without saying anything, dedicating the song Joe Hill to the Occupy movement.
Funnily enough, recently I was telling someone how much I loved Leonard Cohen's song Suzanne and its numerous covers and Joan sang it tonight (she had obviously overheard me!), and there were also fine interpretations of House Of The Rising Sun and the joyous Spanish number Gracias A La Vida. She kept all the big hits for the finale though, ending the main set with a rousing Diamonds & Rust, easily her greatest moment as a songwriter and arguably her best ever song full stop. She then returned to the stage after a standing ovation to treat us to a fun singalong of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Dylan's classic Blowing In The Wind, which wasn't on the setlist.
It was a wonderful show from a true legend. Amusingly though the woman beside me obviously had had a hard day and kept falling asleep during each song and would jerk up, awoken by the applause at the end of each tune and try and pretend as if she had been listening all the while, not just snoring away beside me. I would have shook my head in disapproval but it was so funny, and you had to feel sorry for her because she really missed a fantastic show.
Thankfully I needn't have worried because the folk legend is not only in good voice but seems to still get a big kick out of performing. Not only that, I was actually taken aback by how great she still looks. Wearing a simple black ensemble and yellow scarf, she still looks incredibly beautiful, years younger than she is and actually seems to read our thoughts at one point joking playfully "I know what you're all thinking, she looks good! I wonder if she's had any work done?"
But of course looks can be deceiving and time can ravish even the greatest singer's voice but while it's true that she can't sing those pure high notes she became so famous for anymore, she still sounds wonderful and is instantly recognisable as the Baez we know and love. And, wow, there is so much love for her tonight. As she walks out onto a stage furnished with a sofa and lampshade at the back, making things seem nice and homely, the Royal Festival Hall (on the first of two sold out nights) is filled with love for her and she beams in appreciation.
Starting off with the gorgeous Steve Earle number God Is God and the Elvis Costello penned Scarlett Tide from her last album Day After Tomorrow, she wove her way throughout her long career, starting with her most recent and going way back to the very beginning to her pure folk roots with songs such as Lily Of The West and Railroad Boy to some of her most famous Dylan covers like Farewell Angelina and With God On Our side and even a couple of Donovan numbers (Be Not Too Hard and Catch The Wind), either accompanied by just her own acoustic guitar or joined by her son Gabriel Harris on percussion and Dirk Powell on a variety of different instruments. All the while though it was kept wisely minimal, letting Joan's voice be the main attraction.
She was funny too, reminiscing about the time she was pregnant and caused a panic at Woodstock when the rumour went round she had gone into labour but instead was just hanging out with Joe Cocker (as you do) and gushing about how wonderful and gorgeous Johnny Cash was (you all know how much I agree with that), before launching into a fantastic version of Long Black Veil (her "country song of the night"). Not surprisingly, although her between song banter was short on anything truly political, she didn't go the night without saying anything, dedicating the song Joe Hill to the Occupy movement.
Funnily enough, recently I was telling someone how much I loved Leonard Cohen's song Suzanne and its numerous covers and Joan sang it tonight (she had obviously overheard me!), and there were also fine interpretations of House Of The Rising Sun and the joyous Spanish number Gracias A La Vida. She kept all the big hits for the finale though, ending the main set with a rousing Diamonds & Rust, easily her greatest moment as a songwriter and arguably her best ever song full stop. She then returned to the stage after a standing ovation to treat us to a fun singalong of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Dylan's classic Blowing In The Wind, which wasn't on the setlist.
It was a wonderful show from a true legend. Amusingly though the woman beside me obviously had had a hard day and kept falling asleep during each song and would jerk up, awoken by the applause at the end of each tune and try and pretend as if she had been listening all the while, not just snoring away beside me. I would have shook my head in disapproval but it was so funny, and you had to feel sorry for her because she really missed a fantastic show.
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