Live Review: Joan Baez @ Royal Festival Hall.

by | Sep 22, 2014

Joan Baez live at the Royal Festival Hall (Marilyn Kingwill)

Joan Baez live at the Royal Festival Hall (Marilyn Kingwill)

Joan Baez saunters alone onto the stage of the Royal Festival Hall, sits at the microphone and strikes up with Handsome Molly, a song with the opening line ‘Well, I wish I was in London..’. If that’s not savvy song selection, I don’t know what is.

This legend of folk music hardly needs to sweeten her audience, however, who are rapt from the moment she arrives all the way to the end of a nearly two hour set.

Baez has no new record to push – the last studio album being Day After Tomorrow released in 2008 – but with more than 50 years of performing and recording under her belt, she’s hardly in dire need of even more songs from which to select tonight’s setlist.

She tells us that she’ll be playing some songs she hasn’t sung for 30 years and, perhaps encouraged by this, as the night flows along the audience become more and more confident in shouting out requests.

Switching between performing solo and with a band of two musicians and a backing singer, Baez runs through classics and less familiar tunes. There’s the ever essential nod to Bob Dylan with songs including Farewell Angelina and It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, a smattering of songs in Spanish, including the rousing singalong Gracias A La Vida and her interpretations of traditional works such as Lily Of The West and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

Highlight of the night for me was a dark, earthy, haunting retelling of The House Of The Rising Sun complete with bass solo and and exotic vocal flourish at the final line.

Joan Baez live at the Royal Festival Hall (Marilyn Kingwill)

Joan Baez live at the Royal Festival Hall (Marilyn Kingwill)

Baez acknowledges how much her voice has changed over the years and explains how she’s had to rearrange her songs for ‘the new voice’. The lower and deeper quality of her tone is wonderfully appealing, although she still belts out some high notes when required.

Between songs, we hear tales referencing a spectrum of subjects including Johnny Cash, Lech Walesa, Woodstock, torture victims in South America and letters of complaint from the British public during her first UK tour. She even breaks into a dance with a bandmate during one track, leaving only the percussionist to carry the song.

Ending the set with one of her rare self-penned songs, the evocative and warmly received Diamonds & Rust, Baez is quickly brought back by a standing ovation. With an encore that starts with John Lennon’s Imagine and ends with Dylan’s Forever Young, she leaves the audience with a wave and says ‘See you next time!’, as though she’ll be back soon. We can only hope she will.

Words by Imelda Michalczyk, photographs by Marilyn Kingwill.

Joan Baez @ Royal Festival Hall, 20 September 2014.

 

Sabrina Carpenter (Press)

Sabrina Carpenter Unveils Full Star-Packed Line-Up For Sold-Out BST Hyde Park 2025 Shows

American Express presents BST Hyde Park has announced the full supporting line-up for pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter’s sold-out headline debut on Saturday 5th July, as well as her follow-up performance on Sunday 6th July. The eagerly anticipated shows mark a major milestone in Carpenter’s meteoric rise, as she joins a coveted roster of BST Hyde Park headliners for 2025.

Taylor Swift @ Wembley Stadium (Kalpesh Patel)

Taylor Swift Triumphs: Pop Icon Buys Back Rights To Her Original Master Recordings

In a landmark move sending shockwaves through the music industry, Taylor Swift has officially bought back the rights to her original master recordings, marking a triumphant and deeply personal victory in her years-long battle for artistic ownership. The deal closes a turbulent chapter that has fuelled global conversations around creative control, artist rights, and the power dynamics of the modern music business.

Santana (Press)

Carlos Santana Teams Up With Grupo Frontera For Norteño-Rock Fusion ‘Me Retiro’ — Ahead Of UK Tour Dates

Rock legend Carlos Santana has surprised fans yet again—this time by merging his iconic guitar-driven rock sound with...
Blink-182 @ Reading Festival 2024 (Nick Allan)

Reading Festival 2025 Preview: Glitter, Guitars & Glorious Chaos Incoming

Hold on to your bucket hats – Reading Festival 2025 is about to blow the roof off Richfield Avenue from August...

Iggy Pop’s Raw Power Hits Ally Pally

There’s some shows you just can’t miss in good conscience. Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk, last hit the UK for Dog Day Afternoon with Blondie two years ago, and he’s back for a short run of dates. When other punks from the same era are slowing down, settling into nostalgic anniversary shows or stately home summer shows, Pop is sticking to what he knows best: his iconic back catalogue, spread out across a full band, tied together with hypnotic charisma.

Chesney Hawkes (Press)

Chesney Hawkes Announces 2026 ‘Smash It To Pieces’ UK Headline Tour Following A Triumphant Year

Chesney Hawkes, once dubbed the quintessential British pop prince of the early ‘90s, has proved he’s more than just The One And Only. With a creative fire that burns brighter than ever, Hawkes is celebrating a year of musical and personal triumphs as he announces his 2026 Smash It To Pieces UK headline tour — a bold new chapter in a career that continues to evolve far beyond its nostalgic beginnings.

James Morrison (Tom Oxley)

James Morrison Announces Long-Awaited New Album ‘Fight Another Day’, UK Headline Tour This September

BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter James Morrison returns this autumn with his most personal, soul-stirring work to date. His sixth studio album, Fight Another Day, lands on 3rd October 2025, marking his first full-length release in six years — and with it comes a UK headline tour this September, including dates in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London.

Calva Louise (Henry Calvert)

Calva Louise Walk The Edge Of The Abyss With Cinematic New Single ‘Impeccable’

If the edge of reality had a soundtrack, Calva Louise just wrote it. With new single Impeccable, the genre-fluid...

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing