After a long night of tribute, Joni Mitchell takes the stage at Musicares

Clutching a cane with a deal with within the form of a wolf’s head, Joni Mitchell made her means slowly to the stage at Friday evening’s MusiCares Particular person of the Yr gala — it was nearing midnight, however the Particular person of the Yr was her, so individuals might wait — then peered out on the ballroom stuffed with admirers earlier than her.

“Wow,” stated the 78-year-old singer and songwriter. She’d simply watched a succession of artists carry out her songs as a part of this annual pre-Grammys occasion meant to laud a musician’s philanthropy and cultural affect; now it was time for her to say just a few phrases about … properly, about what? she puzzled aloud.

“I don’t need to say I used to be honored — I imply, that’s apparent,” she advised the black-tie-ish crowd on the MGM Grand with slightly snicker. “However I used to be very impressed with the standard of the expertise that appeared right here.” She requested if we’d loved it, and the response appeared to please her. “OK, I’m going to go and sit down now.”

Almost seven years into her restoration from a mind aneurysm that made it troublesome to maneuver and use her voice, Mitchell’s transient speech — to not point out the few strains she went on to sing throughout a show-closing group rendition of “Huge Yellow Taxi” — was heartening to behold. However it was additionally basic Joni Mitchell: witty, sincere, exact. Simply because everyone had gotten dressed up didn’t imply she was going to begin throwing round a bunch of fairly, empty phrases.

The MusiCares profit was the most recent in a sequence of current accolades for Mitchell, whose 1971 album “Blue” was hailed as a groundbreaking work of folk-rock introspection in numerous suppose items tied to its fiftieth anniversary final 12 months. In December she was feted on the Kennedy Middle Honors; early this 12 months she drew widespread reward for becoming a member of her outdated buddy Neil Younger in pulling her music from Spotify to protest what she views because the streaming service’s distribution of COVID misinformation. After which there’s the essential position Mitchell’s music “Each Sides Now” performs in “CODA,” which simply received greatest image on the Oscars.

Friday’s three-hour live performance was curated by Brandi Carlile, an avowed Mitchell stan who’s lined “Blue” in live performance in its entirety, and Jon Batiste, the jazz composer and “Late Present with Stephen Colbert” bandleader who’s up for a number one 11 Grammys at Sunday’s ceremony. The lineup they assembled — together with Herbie Hancock, Beck, St. Vincent, Yola, Sara Bareilles, John Legend, Angelique Kidjo, Cyndi Lauper, Leon Bridges and Black Pumas, amongst others — was respectable if predictably lengthy on the kind of rootsy middlebrow Recording Academy faves that all the time populate this stuff. (How Pentatonix, the deeply irritating a-cappella troupe, wangled an invitation, I’ll by no means perceive.)

Allison Russell, left, and Mickey Guyton carry out “For Free.”

(Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Highlights got here from Lauper, essentially the most emotionally dedicated performer of the evening, singing “The Magdalene Laundries” as she accompanied herself on dulcimer; Carlile roaring by way of “Woodstock” with assist from Stephen Stills on guitar; Mitchell’s fellow Canadian Allison Russell doing “Free Man in Paris” with a Joni-ish mixture of tenderness and swag; and Russell’s team-up with Mickey Guyton on a gorgeously harmonized “For Free.”

Billy Porter chewed his means by way of “Each Sides Now” in a showy cabaret-style efficiency that was as a lot about appearing as singing; Beck mystified all of the high-rollers in a throbbing punk-jazz tackle “The Jungle Line.” Weirdly, no person talked about Mitchell’s singing within the little testimonies they gave earlier than their songs; individuals saved repeating the identical cliches about Mitchell’s incisive lyrics and her difficult melodies, as if her phrasing had been in some way much less radical than her writing.

The evening was poorly programmed, with too many B-list acts in a row doing deep cuts that every one blended collectively. And although Meryl Streep, Lionel Richie and Elton John despatched in touching video messages — Streep even sang slightly bit — you needed to surprise why no less than a few Mitchell’s friends couldn’t have schlepped to Las Vegas to be there in individual.

Nonetheless, Mitchell seemed to be having enjoyable each time a roving cameraperson confirmed her seated at a front-row desk subsequent to Hancock and Cameron Crowe. No one had topped her variations of her songs, and wasn’t that one thing to have fun?