I grew up listening to her songs.
Back in the winter of 1984/1985 she decided to break her long leave away from the concert scene and did an European tour. Nervous about the come-back, how she'll perform, how she'll be received, she decided to start the tour at an unimportant place, somewhere where she can fix the last glitches, warm up her voice, etc. - she started the tour in Belgrade.
The hall in Sava Centar houses about 4000 people in the audience. It was packed every night. She had to extend the visit.
She was supposed to make us cry. Instead, we made her cry. Every song she sang, she had 4000 voices singing along, in perfect tune, everyone knowing every word of every song. She was astonished. And played many more songs than she planned to, late into the night. It was magic - the best concert I have ever been to.
I saw her again about 10 years later, in Raleigh. We came to listen to her. But the #1 spot on the program was Lyle Lovett (and Bella Fleck and others) who I also like, not Joan. That's just not right. Joan is the legend. She can never be #2 to anyone.
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I grew up listening to her songs, too - my dad played them all the time. I wish I could have seen her in concert!
I used to play guitar at parties - a lot. But I felt like trying to sing her songs would be, I don't know, a travesty - who am I to ruin her songs? But I played Diamonds And Rust. Often. I went to Joan's concert in Belgrade with a girlfriend I "won over" by singing Diamonds And Rust one evening, so the concert had a special importance for us.
I saw her on that tour, in Wurzburg outside at the castle. She was fabulous.
I've got tickets to see Joan play at the Royal Albert Hall here in London in October. It'll be my first time seeing her. I'm pretty excited about it.
Very cool, thanks for sharing that. Too bad your concert has not made its way to Youtube.
I believe the song she is singing here is about Bob, yes?