It was a case of two music legends.
T꧙hat was the awꦅe-striking scenario when Elton John joined Joni Mitchell on “I’m Still Standing” during her “Joni Jam” concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night.
Mitchell put a jazzy, witty spin on John’s 1983 hit, while Sir E🅷lton provided “Yea♍h yeah yeah” background vocals.
But the two true survivors — Mitchell, 80, made her debut with 1968’s “Songs to ꦚa Seagull,” while John, 77, made his with 1969’s “Empty Sky” — were both sitting instead of standing.
“This is called ” Mitchell said to the crowd. “But I think I have to sing, ‘I’m still 🍎sitting after all these years.’”
As if that weren’t enough, Brandi Carlile, Annie Lennox and Meryl Streep — yes, Meryl Streep — also joined in the fun for an all-star rendition of “I’m Still Standing” that drew cheers from the crowd of 17,000 at the amphitheat♐er.
It was a joyous highlight of Mitchell’s two-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl — her in Los Angeles in 24 years. And a host of musicians — from Marcus Mumford and Jacob Collier to Jon Batiste —🃏 came out to jam w♔ith the “Big Yellow Taxi” singer.
Mitchell — who released her “The Asylum Years (1♍976 to 1980)” box set earlier this month — played three songs for the first-time ever in her iconic career: “Harlem in Havana,” “The Sire of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)” and “If I Had a Heart.”
The also perform🎀ed such live rarities as “Hejira,” “God Must Be a Boogie Man” and “Dog Eat Dog.”
After suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her unable to speak or walk, Mitchell has been on the comeback since making a surprise return to the stage at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022.
She followed that up in 2023 with a headlining concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, Washington.
And then — after winning Best Folk Album for her 2023 LP “Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live]” — the singer-songwriter made her long-overdue Grammy debut in Febrཧuary with a stirring rendition of “Both Sides, Now.”
Earlier this year, Mitchell also saluted John and his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, when they received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in Washington, DC. During that tribute, sh൩e also performed “I’m Still Standing” in her own swinging style.
