During a star-studded performance branded as Brandi Carlile and Friends, the 78-year-old superstar took the stage.
Since the turn of the millennium, she performed her first full set.
When Joni Mitchell performed a complete concert on Sunday at the Newport Folk Festival—her first since the early 2000s—the crowd was stunned.
For a set that had previously included Wynonna Judd, Holly Laessig of Lucius, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, and
Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, among others, the 78-year-old singer joined Brandi Carlile and Friends.
In 2021's Kennedy Center Honors event and this year's MusiCares Person of the Year gala, Carlile, 41, honoured Mitchell's work with those of many other musicians.
After the MusiCares concert, which also featured performances by Beck, St. Vincent, Mickey Guyton, John Legend, Cyndi Lauper, and
Sara Bareilles, Mitchell remarked, "That was such a fantastic musical evening for me, to hear my music done so brilliantly by everyone that was on stage."
"Retire now and just let other people do it," she said. Mitchell had been seen as retired since she suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015,
but the comment sparked the idea that she might be thinking about performing again.
Mitchell's 13-song set included the classics "Big Yellow Taxi," "Summertime," and "Both Sides Now." Her show ended with The Circle Game.
Mitchell's final concert took place at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969.
Her website states that she last performed an entire concert in 2000 when travelling the country as part of the Both Sides Now Tour of America.
She also performed as the main performer at a show benefiting The Walden Woods Project at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles in 2002.
At the MusiCares event held in her honour, Mitchell sang "The Circle Game" and "Big Yellow Taxi" alongside Carlile and others.