Joni Mitchell Delivers Moving Grammys-Debut Performance of “Both Sides Now” as She Continues to Return to Spotlight After Brain Aneurysm
Joni Mitchell made her debut Grammys performance at the age of 80, singing her classic song “Both Sides Now” onstage at the 2024 awards show.
For the moving performance a, Mitchell was seated in a chair and held a cane as she was accompanied by a line of musicians on, appropriately, both sides of her, including Lucius, SistaStrings, Jacob Collier, Allison Russell, Blake Mills and Brandi Carlile, who introduced Mitchell.
Mitchell began the performance with her back to the audience. The chair slowly turned around so she was facing the crowd near the beginning of the performance.
She received enthusiastic applause from the audience near the beginning of her performance and the CBS cameras caught Meryl Streep and Dua Lipa watching Mitchell intently. At the end of the performance, the Grammys audience gave her a standing ovation, with Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Lipa among those shown standing.
Grammys host Trevor Noah also walked onstage and gave a smiling Mitchell her Grammy from her best folk album win earlier Sunday.
Mitchell was on hand for that win at the premiere ceremony, where, again holding her cane, she thanked the Grammys and talked about how the joy felt during the performance carried over to the live album.
Mitchell, who has won 10 Grammys over the course of her career, suffered a “near-fatal,” as Carlile referred to it, aneurysm in 2015 that initially left her unable to speak.
Though she’s remained largely out of the public eye since then, Mitchell delivered her first full live set in nearly two decades with a surprise appearance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival. That performance, with Carlile and others, was turned into a live album that won best folk album at Sunday night’s awards.
