Folk legend Joan Baez made her way through Western New York last Friday playing a strong 2 hour set. Performing a mix between her own material and covers, Joan was also accompanied by the highly talented Dirk Powell who played banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar, piano, accordion and anything else he could get his hands on.
Joan is still going strong at age 67 and her voice shows no sign of wear. Her vocals proved a constant strength throughout the show. She was also engaging; telling a story of how she used to live in a suburb of Buffalo called Clarence Center in her early years and visited the house earlier in the day. She also talked about how she used to climb a tree in the front to watch a neighbors TV with her sister. It was just Joan and her acoustic guitar for the first 3 selections of the evening until Dirk joined her on almost every other song thereafter.
Another timeless story was when Joan was traveling with Dr. Martin Luther King and she sang the Fisk Jubilee Singers cover Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to him in Grenada, Mississippi to wake him up in the morning. He commented to her that he heard a song from an angel, and then said, Lets hear another one Joan. She dedicated the Phil Ochs cover There but for Fortune to the Occupy Wall St. citizens, currently protesting around the U.S.
Its a wonder why Joan, who has such history behind her, isn’t a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Regardless, the audience got a set worthy of high honors from a true Hall of Famer in every sense of the word!
Set List:
God is God
Sweet Sir Galahad
Angelina
Lily of the West (Flora)
Dont Think Twice, its All Right (Bob Dylan cover)
Mary Magdelene
Catch the Wind (Donovan cover)
Scarlet Tide (Elvis Costello cover)
With God on my Side
Just the Way You Are
Jerusalem (Steve Earle cover)
Un Canadian Errant (Antoine Grin-Lajoie cover)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Fisk Jubilee Singers cover)
There but for Fortune (Phil Ochs cover)
Joe Hill
House of the Rising Sun (The Animals cover)
Suzanne (Leonard Cohen cover)
Long Black Veil (Johnny Cash cover)
The Salt of the Earth
Diamonds & Rust
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Imagine (John Lennon cover)
Blowing in the Wind (Bob Dylan cover)
We would like to thank Mike Montoro for setting up the credentials for Backstageaxxess to review the show.
