Does anyone know whether the Gorge show will be released on BluRay or on a streaming service? I thought I remember reading that it was being filmed, but I haven't seen any notice that it is coming out

I have been trying to find the words to describe seeing Joni Mitchell at The Gorge Amphitheatre and all the Love and Good Vibes and the good energy in the air. I finally met some of the people from JMDL and other Joni Mitchell Groups that I have been a member of since their onset and I first discovered Joni Mitchell in 1971 through my older Sister and Brother and fell in love immediately. Her music and lyrics and vocals touched something deep in my Soul and was lucky enough to see her many times in Concert but the last time I had actually seen her perform in person was 23 years ago! I was at Joni 75 and have watched her sing BSN and Summertime at Newport probably a hundred times! But this was a real Pilgrimage and very few people were there just to go to a Concert at The Gorge! People flew in from all over the world. In fact my new friend Fernanda flew in from Argentina to see her and she gave me a ride to the airport on Sunday and we talked non-stop about Joni Mitchell and I was pretty impressed with the obscure knowledge about Joni that she had so it felt like it took less than an hour to get there. I am so grateful to my friend Autumn that I have known for years on Facebook but never met in person! And her wonderful husband Chuck. I spent a good deal of this adventure with the two of them and she convinced me to go to the Crescent Bar where I met some other great people who I always wanted to meet like Michael Paz and Bryan, Sue Tierney, Les and Jahida, Victor, and others but I am so sorry that I missed some of the music they played. From the video I saw of Sue Tierney performing "Refuge Of The Road" She sounded amazing! We stopped at Cave B to relax before the Concert which was quite a hike in the sun to get to the actual Venue! But nothing was going to stop me! By the time we arrived there, the beginning of a dream started to take over me when I saw the heart-stopping view of the Gorge! On the way to our seats I saw Cameron Crowe sipping on a margarita and I just had to say hello to him since I have been following his writings since I was a young teenager! We chatted for almost 20 minutes and he was so great to talk to and so easy going! I asked him why he wasn't in the VIP section and he said that he liked to wander around. And of course before I left him I had to ask about the bio-doc!
-I kind of feel like I am still in a dream from it all and haven't found the words to describe it other than it felt magical and spiritual and full of really special moments that I will cherish forever. I have to admit when she started singing Night Ride Home I was moved to tears.
-Michael Paz was sitting near me and when I looked over at him it was obvious that he was feeling just as emotional as I was! And my good friend Jody was sitting next to me which made everything perfect! Chris Coccaro was sitting next to her and I could tell that he was feeling it. Also I ran into Chris Chapman and Andrew McFarlane and Kevin Doheny as well!
-I didn't know what to expect, from the concert or what her set List would be, but she ended up singing lead on the majority of the songs which is what I prayed she would do. Not to downplay the other performers because they were amazing! Annie Lennox blew me away and Sarah McLachlan was breathtaking and Marcus Mumford did the most marvelous rendition of California! And hearing Wendy & Lisa, Lucius, Celisse (who did an incredible rendition of "Help Me") and of course musicians like Mark Isham on Trumpet and Blake Mills on electric guitar were all amazing. Brandi Carlile sounded great and was the perfect host and her love for Joni was very apparent and Joni Mitchell obviously was very fond of her. And I haven't seen Joni Mitchell so happy and joyful like she was that night! And they played for 3 hours! And omg when Joni sang A Case Of You I was moved to tears again. I was so tired of so many other people singing it over the last 23 years that to hear her sing it I was a mess it was so beautiful! Also I cried when she sang BSN because her voice is so much stronger now and she is hitting notes that she couldn't the year before. But even when she couldn't, her phrasing and timing were so masterful that it didn't matter! Love Potion No 9 was so much fun, I loved it! It was so great when she sang in a deep voice "I took a drink"! (And I saw Sam Stone jiving and singing along to it on the large screen!) But when she came back for an Encore and played Just Like This Train on guitar AND Then moving from that to singing one of my favorite songs ever "IF" and singing And playing guitar at the same time my head almost blew up! I never in a million years expected that and I was in Heaven! And then ending the Show with "Young At Heart" was perfect! Which was also totally unexpected but it was such a feel good song the way she sang it and my favorite line was when she sang "And here is the Best Part!"...and it felt like she was about to impart some real sage advice the way she said it!
-After the Concert as we slowly meandered our way up the path, out of nowhere, Fernanda spotted me in the crowd and yelled out my name and we hadn't even met yet! And she joined us up the hill where we also ran into Leslie Watts when we sat down for a minute to rest!
-I don't know what else to say except it was one of those great life experiences!'I wish I had tried to get into the After Party but I had to get up early. But it would have been great to see Joni and Brandi and I was supposed to meet Daisy but it wasn't meant to be this time!
-I have been home for over a week now and my internal clock is still thrown off and it feels like it happened just a few days ago! I can't get some of the songs out of my head and I can still hear her singing certain lyrics that keep popping in my head out of no where! I really hope that there will be a DVD of this concert!
-P.S. I loved the NYT article where Lindsay Zoladz said it felt like we were hearing the song of a thought to be extinct bird again! That was such a perfect description of one of the most amazing concert experiences of my life!

Joni Mitchell is a language. This language is not made of words and sounds. It's a language of understanding. It is the language of people with the most crusty and guarded hearts but never be fooled by that protective layer - it's only disguising and shielding wonderfully open and expansive hearts.

Through Joni Mitchell's music we were given a road map to understand the furthest and darkest corners of the human experience - and our own experiences. Packed away in our emotional garages are all our terrors, traumas, hurts, fractures, and bruises. These are both the most meaningful and the least meaningful things in the world. It's everything and nothing. It all matters and it doesn't mean shit. Through Joni's music we were given a compass to understand the importance and futility of it all.

When Joni had her aneurysm in 2015 it seemed to be the final chapter in the story. She'd left us a body of work to forever return to but I remember feeling lost without her to lead me forward. Even when Joni retired from music for the tenth time I still felt a kinship with her as she gave those snarky and bitchy interviews. She might have quit releasing new songs of truth but damn there was a lot of truth in those interviews. In a world that's increasingly scripted, curated, and cautious, Joni never hesitated to verbally let it rip. She was the high profile lighthouse of truth in a deep dark society of bullshit.

Then we had a lot of years without Joni. We were always looking for her, and wondering, and worrying. And we continued to play the old songs. Sometimes we made new memories to the old songs. Often we found a new truths in old lines that hit differently at a different age. Joni is the gift that keeps on giving.

All of us Joni fans know the story of the last few years - the increasing public appearances, the emergence of Brandi Carlile, the archives, singing one line at a show, then the Newport Folk Festival, then the announcement of Joni's first headlining concert in twenty years. In a world where the magic seems to be ever-shrinking and the hope seems to be ever-fading - Joni Mitchell emerges for one more glorious curtain call.

And who are we now since the last time Joni was with us? How have we all changed and grown in that last decade? The scabs over our bruises are thicker. The flesh has healed over our wounds and hidden some scars. In this age of division and anxiety we have scuttled off to the protection of our tribes, or to seclusion, or to complete silence. It's been a hell of a ten years. In the past ten years so many people I know have died. Addiction. Suicide. Covid. And we are the ones who survived. Through we all bring a different story to the table - a new and unexpected relationship forms with Joni Mitchell as we get the opportunity to experience today as survivors alongside each other.

And damn I needed that hope. If Joni can survive all of that - then hell yes I can survive all of this. The lighthouse has returned. The dark and dank sea once again has a beacon.

All of us Joni fans of course were going to be at the concert. This became our Hejira. And we came from every corner of the globe. We flew into an airport in a far corner of this expansive country. We drove three hours through mountains and gullies and desolation. I felt a kinship with the barren and gloomy landscapes of Washington State. The view outside my window felt a lot like the pieces of myself I keep tucked away inside. And I'll always keep them tucked away - I'd torture no audience with an emotional purge. We all have that desolation inside ourselves. Joni Mitchell gave a voice to it. Joni also gave us the blueprint on how to not be defined or defeated by our desolation.

And that was the power of spending a weekend with people who spoke the language of Joni Mitchell. The biggest f-ing smiles in the world. The snarkiest good hearted jokes. Razor-sharp wit and cutting retorts. We came together as a fierce tribe of survivors (though we'd never probably actually call ourselves survivors out loud) to eat, drink, and be with Joni. There is no need to acknowledge the muck that lies in all of us. We all know it's there. We've carried it our whole lives. But the sheer magic is to share space with people who never have to say it because we all just know.

I knew this moment could possibly be the best moment of my life. I was sitting on a blanket in front of a van on top of a mountain. My friends were playing guitar and singing. I was drinking a Coke Zero and doing my Natalie Merchant hippie dance to Joni Mitchell covers. The sky was blue with puffy white clouds. The air was fresh and innocent. I'd never felt so strongly in my life that this was my tribe and this was a moment to commit to memory second by second. I was on top of a mountain with my people and we were about to see a Joni Mitchell concert in the year 2023. This is the best that life will ever get.

I'm not going to bother to find words that can properly capture the moment Joni Mitchell emerged on stage. No words are sufficient. And Annie Lennox. And Wendy and Lisa. And Sarah McLachlan. And Brandi Carlile showing sincere warmth and protectiveness as she sat across from Joni. Sorry it took us so long to trust you Brandi, but Joni is our most sacred treasure. It took us seeing it in person to feel relief that she is in good hands.

Lots of laughter on the van ride home. And in the diner the next day. And on the ride to the airport. The greatest barometer of someone's genuineness, depth, experience is how funny they are. I sat in the presence of greatness.

Then the highway turned into the airport which turned into a plane ride which turned into work on Monday back on the other corner of the country. I sat and cried at my desk today. I had forgotten how great the world can feel. But just like she did in 1993, 2003, and 2013, Joni Mitchell reminded me.

All of us who speak the language of Joni Mitchell - we might never want to bother saying how battle worn we are out loud, but one thing we can always say is how much we love Joni. And each other.

Yes Joni - we love you.

It is very hard to articulate the feelings I have about this experience of witnessing Joni Mitchell's return to the stage. I have been a Joni Mitchell fan since Summer of 1971 when I was 16 and I met a girl named Julie on the streets of Paris and she turned me on to the songs Marcie and Michael from Mountains. She played guitar and sang and we spent many days together singing and playing in the streets of the Latin Quarter. When I got back stateside I picked up Joni's albums to date and became an instant fan and followed her and studied her guitar tunings and chord shapes ever since. I joined an internet group called JMDL (Joni Mitchell Discussion List) in 1996 after my mother passed. The first thing I ever typed into a search engine was Joni Mitchell. I was grieving my mothers death and I spent a lot of time listening to music and I was searching for bootleg recordings of Joni's music, is really how it all started. After over 25 years of being a member of the JMDL, I have made some everlasting friendships with a lot of the members of "The List" and we have had get togethers we have called JoniFests all over the country as well as in the UK. I hosted 4 so far ion New Orleans that I called PazFest's as we raised money for the public concerts that I produced 3 at the Howlin' Wolf and the last one at The Civic Theatre. No gathering would ever quite be like the one we just experienced.

On March 30, 2015, my birthday, we were home at the dinner table enjoying a bday celebration when we got the news that Joni had been found unconscious on the floor of her home in California and apparently had been there for days after suffering a double aneurysm. We had no idea what would be come of our hero and it was a worrisome time that we felt that this voice, this amazing artist might have come to the end of the road. But not our Joni! It was been a long journey of recovery having to learn to walk and talk again as well as to sing and play the guitar.

One June 8 Freda and Andrea Tullos and I flew to Seattle to meet my long time dear friends Sue Tierney, Les Irvin, Jahida Esperanza, Bryan Thomas, Alison Einerson, at the airport along with new friend Jeremy Gloff and drove three hours to Wenatchee where I had rented an AirBnB for us to stay the weekend. Also relatively new but good friends Pam and Tim Runkle and their son Jackson who met us at the house. We were joined on Friday by Enid (Carol Goodman) from Canada. In all I am told that we were 95 people + from the JMDL and associated folks from FaceBook groups. We spent hours talking and laughing and playing songs together for the entire weekend. We arranged to rent a place in the park in Wenatchee to gather and play music and spend time together with many other friends who had made the sojourn to The Gorge to witness history. Many of us went to the concert on June 9 with Brandi Carlile, Allison Russell, and Marcus Mumford which we enjoyed very much. I wish Allison could have played a longer set as she was brilliant and Brandi's set was also stellar with a guest appearance by Sarah McLachlan. I am so sorry I did not get to say hello to everyone that came and we were spread out amongst 27,000 of our closest friends...

On June 10, the big day, we rented another spot at a park called Crescent Bar on the Columbia River that was gorgeous and we played music and SO many friends stopped by from the JMDL to gather and picnic and party with us. At 3pm we made our way down to the Gorge and got parked and spent another hour or so playing music in the parking lot as people gathered before they opened the doors to the venue. The anticipation was such that I was really more pumped than I have ever been to see a show and the show did not disappoint one bit.

The set list was:
Big Yellow Taxi
Night Ride Home
Raised on Robbery
Come in From The Cold
Amelia
Carey
Sex Kills
Summertime
Ladies of the Canyon (Annie Lennox)
Help Me
Where There's a Will (original tune by Joni jammer Rick Whitfield)
Love Potion # 9
A Case of You
Strange Boy
Cactus Tree
California (Marcus Mumford)
Blue (Sarah MacLachlan)
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
Shine
Both Sides Now
The Circle Game
Just Like This Train
If
Young At Heart

By now you have probably seen many of the clips people have posted from the show so I won't go into details on that as you also be able to see the full show on video as they were recording it like they did in Newport when Joni made a suprize appearance on Brandi Carlile's set for the first time since 1967. As I write this full videos have been emailed to me that someone recorded on their cell phone.

The concept was simple. Recreate the Joni Jam sessions that have been taking place at Joni's house over the course of her recovery. Propelled by Brandi this became a very special healing of the most remarkable artist in the history of music, oh and she paints too! So many people came to the Jams that were held about once a month at Joni's place. People like Elton John, Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan, and allegedly Paul McCartney and so many more made their way to the wine fueled jam sessions.

While the performance at Newport was a bit quirky and not perfect, it was a sign that she is back and getting better all the time!

At the Gorge for the first 20 minutes or so of the concert I was so emotional I was openly sobbing as many people were around me including Freda. It was stunningly beautiful! I felt she thankful for her recovery and so inspired by her genius and by the time she sang Night Ride Home it was evident that Joni was back stronger than ever and her voice has a new tone and texture. Her voice of course has changed over time especially evident when she released the Both Sides Now orchestral album in 2000 that had a reimagined version of that song that had grown into a glorious anthem and now "a standard" then the high pitched first version we heard when Joni was in her early 20's.

The show was 3 hours + long but it all went so fast for me. I wished it would never end and wanted more and more. I was still shocked at how much she did sing and collaborate with all of the musicians on stage and there were so many moments that I will not spoil trying to recount them in hopes that you will be able to see this concert video when it comes out. I was especially happy to hear the song "If" that she sang and played guitar, which is one of my faves from the Shine album.
Shout out to everyone who made it from the JMDL! It was amazing to see so many old friends and some new that had come from as far as Ireland and UK and all over the USA. The overall feeling with the crowd was one that was magical and inclusive. So many close friends amplified the feeling of camaraderie that I have never felt before at any concert or experience. Strangers were suddenly friends and the love in the air was electric. It has taken me a week to be able to sit down and put these few thoughts together and I am still emotional and feeling quite humble by the magnitude of this grandeur coming true.