Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, 4-6-2000

For a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the TNT TV network hosted a few annual "all-star tributes" to some music legends. I've already posted albums of such tribute shows to Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, and Paul Simon. Here's another one, celebrating the music of Joni Mitchell.

This concert actually featured Joni Mitchell herself, but she had a relatively minor role. At the very end, she performed one song and gave a short speech. Instead, the bulk of the concert consisted of famous musical acts performing her songs. Just look at the cover or at the song list to see the names. There also were some famous non-musicians who talked a little bit between songs, such as actors Susan Sarandon and Laurence Fishburne, and the main host, Ashley Judd. Plus, I never thought my music blog would have a track by Hillary Clinton, but here we are.

If I recall correctly, there was some more stuff to this concert that I edited out, such as testimonials about Mitchell's life and career, narrated by the likes of Goldie Hawn and Rosie O'Donnell. I kept the focus on the songs, and introductions to the songs.

The Stone Temple Pilots were also due to perform at this concert. However, the band's lead singer, Scott Weiland, blew his voice out by performing three full concerts the day before. They were due to perform the song "Woodstock." At the last minute, Richard Thompson stepped up to perform that song instead. That's why he's the only performer here to do two songs, because he also had been scheduled to perform the song "Black Crow." 

Note that the final song, "The Circle Game," faded out before it ended. Probably that's when the TV broadcast came to an end. I extended it a bit by repeating a chorus from earlier in the song and then fading it out. That's why that song has "[Edit]" in its title.

There's an amazing official Joni Mitchell website, www.jonimitchell.com. It has a webpage just on this concert, with lots of pictures and dozens of newspaper articles about it. Here's a link:

Joni Mitchell - 2000.04.06 | An All-Star Tribute To Joni Mitchell Hammerstein Ballroom | New York 

This album remains officially unreleased as an audio album. However, a DVD of it has been released. But this is about ten minutes longer. The sound quality is excellent. 

This concert is an hour and 18 minutes long. 

01 Raised on Robbery (Wynonna Judd & Bryan Adams)
02 talk (Ashley Judd)
03 Carey (Cyndi Lauper)
04 talk (Ashley Judd)
05 Woodstock (Richard Thompson)
06 talk (Hillary Clinton)
07 Chelsea Morning (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
08 Big Yellow Taxi (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter with James Taylor)
09 talk (James Taylor)
10 River (James Taylor)
11 talk (Ashley Judd)
12 You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio (Wynonna Judd)
13 talk (Susan Sarandon)
14 Help Me (k.d. Lang)
15 talk (Laurence Fishburne)
16 The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines (Cassandra Wilson)
17 talk (Ashley Judd)
18 The Circle Game (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
19 talk (Ashley Judd)
20 talk (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
21 Amelia (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
22 talk (Ashley Judd)
23 Black Crow (Richard Thompson)
24 talk (Richard Thompson)
25 talk (Ashley Judd)
26 Free Man in Paris (Elton John)
27 talk (Elton John)
28 A Case of You (Diana Krall)
29 talk (Ashley Judd)
30 talk (Tony Bennett)
31 Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
32 talk (Joni Mitchell)
33 The Circle Game [Reprise] [Edit] (Joni Mitchell & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/acNAjTY6

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/GVHWLt1ZTKXHMpu/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. From left to right, that's Joni Mitchell, James Taylor (in back), Cassandra Wilson, Shawn Colvin, and Elton John.

Cyndi Lauper - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 11-6-2003

Here's the turn of Cyndi Lauper to perform for the "PBS Soundstage" TV show. Her episode is from 2003. That's the year the show was revived after being dormant for over a decade.

Lauper is best known for his hits from the 1980s. After that, she struggled to get sales and attention. But she never stopped releasing music, and she has an excellent voice. In 2003, the same month as this concert, she released the studio album "At Last." IT was an unusual departure from her pop rock style, because it consisted entirely of jazzy covers of classic songs.

This concert heavily relied on that new album. Most of the songs come from it, with only four of her 1980s hits near the end. Personally, I think she did a good job with this kind of music.

This album is 55 minutes long. This album is unreleased and the sound quality is excellent.

01 At Last (Cyndi Lauper)
02 Walk On By (Cyndi Lauper)
03 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
04 Stay (Cyndi Lauper)
05 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
06 Until You Come Back to Me [That's What I'm Gonna Do] (Cyndi Lauper)
07 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
08 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Cyndi Lauper)
09 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
10 On the Sunny Side of the Street (Cyndi Lauper)
11 True Colors (Cyndi Lauper)
12 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
13 Shine (Cyndi Lauper)
14 Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)
15 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
16 Money Changes Everything (Cyndi Lauper)
17 Time after Time (Cyndi Lauper)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/42wZmwsw

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/G0u3tfjl3cUASqb/file

The cover image is a screenshot from a video taken from this exact concert.