Joni Mitchell Says ‘F–k Donald Trump’ at Hollywood Bowl, Urges Votes

Blue (1971) is easily Mitchell’s most acclaimed, enduring album, while Court and Spark (1974) is her highest-charting studio LP (No. 2 on the Billboard 200, boasting her sole Billboard Hot 100 top 10, “Help Me”). But Hejira (1976) is her most enigmatic, alluring album (and easily one of her five best), so it was an unexpected, thrilling curveball when Mitchell & Co. delivered a Hejira-heavy setlist. “I don’t want to freak anybody out, but you just heard Joni Mitchell sing ‘Hejiri’!” Carlile emphasized after the night’s third song. The evening ended up including no less than half of that moody, contemplative classic (“Refuge of the Roads,” “Coyote” and “Amelia” were also performed) born of a peripatetic period in Mitchell’s life.

Mitchell gave several of her late-career tunes their stage debut at the Bowl on Saturday, and two of them – “If I Had a Heart” and “The Sire of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)” – were pointedly about the confusion and bitterness that can result from trying to make sense of a brutal, hateful world. But Mitchell, according to Carlile, had been “worried” the subject matter was too sad, so she directed the band to follow the latter tune with her playful, jazzy “God Must Be a Boogie Man,” a loose, Charlie Mingus-inspired song that found Jacob Collier letting loose on the keys. “’God is dead’ – Nietzsche. ‘Nietzsche is dead’ – God,” Mitchell said at the conclusion of the song, laughing heartily.

The show was divided into two sections with an intermission, and the songs Mitchell chose to end each one were the most emotionally gutting moments of the evening: “Both Sides, Now” and “The Circle Game.” While the setlist included songs that were more lyrically dour, those performances demonstrated the way time, pain and experience can deepen and enhance art. Both frequently covered tunes are deceptively simple meditations on the passage of time and our insignificance in the greater scheme of the things, written in the ‘60s when Mitchell was in her twenties. Six decades later, Mitchell’s weathered voice imbues them with a wistful wisdom; arguably, they’re more of an emotional gut punch now thanks to the years of experience she brings to her phrasing. When “Both Sides, Now” wrapped, the waning gibbous moon, as if on cue, began to peep out over the Hollywood Hills; only Joni could convince a celestial object to gamely participate in her show.

The second half of the evening brought out even more musicians, who delivered a forceful performance of Mitchell’s ever-relevant environmental ode “Big Yellow Taxi” – an all-smiles Jon Batiste sitting next to Collier at a baby grand while hammering away on the keys was a standout moment. Soon after, Marcus Mumford took lead vocal on “California” (though British, he was born in Anaheim, Calif.), with Mitchell blending her voice with his on a few key lines. When Annie Lennox took center stage to thunderous applause for a soulful take on “Ladies of the Canyon,” Mitchell herself was rapt during the performance, only piping up at the very end to sing the final lyric of the song with Lennox.

When a member of the crowd shouted out a Trump diss, Mitchell chuckled and took a moment to give her piece. “’F–k Donald Trump’ – I love that song,” Mitchell said, unexpectedly referencing YG’s 2016 hip-hop banger “FDT.”  It didn’t come out of nowhere – Mitchell had just sung “Dog Eat Dog,” a track about powerful people who “lie, cheat, skim, scam,” and after the lyric about “big-wig financiers,” Mitchell tossed out the aside, “Like Donald Trump.” She went in deeper after the song wrapped, putting in her two cents on the Republican presidential candidate. “F–k Donald Trump,” Mitchell reiterated. “Everybody get out and vote. This is an important one. I wish I could vote – I’m Canadian. I’m one of those lousy immigrants,” she said, cackling. At that point, nearly everyone in the 17,000-strong crowd was on their feet applauding.

It was a shocking moment that took a beat to soak in — not that Mitchell detests a race-baiting former president who has 34 felonies to his name, but the fact that she’s a fan of YG’s music.

Earlier this year, Mitchell was one of the artists on hand to salute Elton John and Bernie Taupin as they received the Gershwin Prize in Washington, D.C. Laughing, Carlile told the crowd that Mitchell accepted the invite to perform, but only after doing “the most Joni Mitchell thing ever” by asking to rewrite their song to suit her. “That was audacious,” Mitchell agreed with a chuckle. The song in question was “I’m Still Standing,” which Mitchell, who remained seated until the very end of the night, did not stand up for. “I’m still sitting after all this time,” she sang, casting Carlile a sideways glance and giggling. Mitchell did, however, remain faithful to the original words during a cover of Gershwin’s “Summertime,” which may have been her strongest vocal of the evening. “You just sang the sh-t out of that Joni,” Carlile raved after the song concluded.

Mitchell’s last studio album to date, 2007’s Shine, received positive notices but certainly isn’t among her best known. Even so, the title track yielded a marvelous moment of camaraderie and unity when well over half of the venue put up their cell phone lights to wave along to the hopeful, graceful plea. “Oh, boy. What a spectacle,” Mitchell marveled. “Everybody turn around and look,” she instructed the crowd. “It’s so beautiful.” People were happy to oblige — giving an iconic talent a moment of wonder and joy toward the end of an emotionally rich evening was the least anyone could do.