“Her performance promises to bring even more souls into Joni fandom. And Katie fandom, if you weren’t already there.“
Kate Stratford
4 big yellow taxis
Katie Noonan is one of the few songstresses in Australia who could take on covering Joni Mitchell and win. Her voice has the range, depth, and textural intricacy to make it possible to listen and not compare. Noonan has been named as one of the greatest singers of all time and her prolific output covers opera, jazz, blues and pop and but it wasn’t until the naughties (as she herself admits) that she found folk. Or more specifically, Joni Mitchell. And speaking personally, once you find Joni, you cannot go back.
Mitchell’s voice has an unmistakable quality to it. She could gloriously find the upper fifth and slide into the lower register with ease. Her compositional work is peppered with experiments in single key structures, mixed modes and minor/major key changes. She wove patterns all her own and her genius was late in being acknowledged – unsurprising in a male-dominated industry. ‘Tis a brave artist who attempts a tribute.
Delivered in a cabaret setting, Mitchell’s Blue is covered from go to whoa with a few other popular faves thrown in to round out the experience. Supporting singer Jo Davie opens with Both Sides Now and Noonan closes with leading everyone in Big Yellow Taxi and The Circle Game. The journey between is a celebration of the album Blue, peppered with Noonan’s (often amusing) comments and explanations about the writing of various numbers. Mitchell herself has always been very honest about the deeply personal situations and emotions which are the origins of her experimental songs; acknowledging the tiny impressions that trigger expression – or as she called it “inspiration for inspiration”.
For this reviewer, who has been a die-hard Joni fan for many decades, it was a very special concert session. It is feels fitting when one great covers another so comprehensively. Joni Mitchell has always shown that it is the nature of the artist to respond creatively to the work of others and this is exactly the baton Noonan has grasped. Her performance promises to bring even more souls into Joni fandom. And Katie fandom, if you weren’t already there.
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
