JOAN BAEZ | LIVE REVIEW
St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Sat 23 Feb
On Saturday evening, while Welsh rugby fans were celebrating a win against England, a different crowd wrestled their way through the streets of Cardiff towards St David’s Hall to see legendary 1960s folk singer Joan Baez on her Farewell tour. Referencing her popular cover of the Bob Dylan song Farewell Angelina, this will be her last ever international tour.
With a quick “noswaith dda” and a nod to the rugby success, she launches into solo renditions of some of her most popular songs. Baez is a good folk guitarist, but her main appeal has always been her voice. Despite suffering chest problems which cause her to cough onstage, she sings surprisingly well. In fact, while age can be a concern for some singers, the passage of time suits her. The higher, piercing end of her range has gone, but in its place is a rich, even tone, and a voice that carries decades of life experience.
She sounds even better live than on her 2018 album Whistle Down The Wind – not just vocally, but also due to the excellent onstage chemistry when her band joins a few songs in. Her son Gabriel Harris is adept at understated percussion, while Dirk Powell, switching between fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass and piano, is absolutely brilliant, his notes both harmonising with and filling in the spaces of Baez’s guitar plucking. The further addition of Grace Stumberg’s bluesy backing vocals complete this first-class lineup.
Making her way through a selection of some of the best songs ever written, from Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Woody Guthrie, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel and John Lennon, Baez introduces each one, subtly placing them into a modern context. Besides a brave but unsuccessful rendition of Antony And The Johnsons’ Another World – a band whose sound relies so strongly on its singer’s unique voice – each song is faultless, and full of poignancy. Retaining her interest in protest music, she dedicates one song to refugees, and later gives an a cappella rendition of The Bells Of Rhymney, in which Pete Seeger’s tune fits alongside the words of Welsh poet Idris Davies, with references to the areas in and around the 1926 General Strike, including Merthyr, Caerphilly and Cardiff.
Inviting the audience to sing along in the encores, she changes the lyrics of Imagine (“They may say we’re dreamers, but we’re not the only ones”), ending her visit to Cardiff with a communal celebration of political hope through the medium of song. On the second standing ovation, in amongst the stalls a couple waves a Welsh flag. Joan Baez may never return to Wales again, but she is given a passionate farewell.
words ISABEL THOMAS photos EMMA LEWIS