I was 19 and a fan of just about anything that played at Place des Nations. Actually my buddies and I would just go and see whatever was playing that night.

That evening we went to see Johnny Mitchell and waited for a long time under the rain with the help of pot, folded plastic sheet and 2 smuggled bottles of asti spumante.
We had no idea who she was.
The sky cleared, she came on the stage and I fell in love hard and immediately. I still am in love with this beautiful lady, listen to her most every day and will sherish the memory of this evening to my last day.

I was 21, a big fan of Joni and her music. Four of us drove up to the show, and were afraid it might get cancelled. The winds picked up and it started to rain. The show delayed, and we were getting more and more worried. The band finally came on, but it seemed that they were so nervous about playing electric instruments in the rain, that they started off at a fast paced clip. I had just gone to a Jackson Browne show where he had wanted to cancel but was denied so he started late, played fast and quit early (rip-off). I thought "here we go again". All of a sudden, Joni slowed the band down. She started to talk about growing up, where she was in her life when she wrote the songs and sang with such emotion. I sat through 3 hours of rain, and didn't realize how soaked I was. It was the most personal concert from any performer I have ever witnessed . I'll never forget that.

I was an avid fan of Joni Mitchell's. It was my first Joni show and there was no way that we werw going to let the rain wash out the occasion! Place des Nations was a cool place to be in a show. You had the summer breeze coming in from the west on the river (on Ste-Hélène Island), and the skyline and mountain on the other side as a backdrop behind the stage. In the crowd, Québec's folk-rock and prog-rock's who's-who was present... these were effervescent times in the indie business in my town - remember seeing Serge Fiori (singer-songwriter in Harmonium) standing up and looking around to see... i dunno maybe if somebody else was seeing him? If he was looking for someone to join his mates: good luck! Cause it was jammed packed and evervbody was sitting packed like gummy bears in a box. First time I saw so many gay people in a show, litterally going wild on Joni and remembering (in all the wisdom my young age could afford) being confused about how they could correspond with her... being clearly heterosexual, signing about love, men...
Well.
She seemed into it, despite the late start - and I remember feeling good and playing nothing else but Joni songs on the guitar for the next month!!!   [ed.]  [ed.]

I was not quite 17 that summer, living in northern Vermont. My older sister and her boyfriend decided to drive up to hear this Joni Mitchell outdoor concert at Place des Arts in Montreal, and I got to go too. I brought a platonic friend, Dennis, who was warned heavily by my sister's boyfriend not to bring pot across the U.S./Canadian border. He promised that he would not, but it turned out he had some hash in a pipe and I think he stashed it in his shoes for the border crossing. My memory of the concert is the wind, which made all of the flags of all of the countries at the plaza come alive. We sat on the ground for many hours. I remember Tom Scott and his band and of course I remember Joni, who was such a part of my life then. She was so beautiful, talented, sensual, mesmerizing...an amazing night....I also saw a boy I had a crush on, also from our Vermont town, at this concert with a slim blonde whose hair was long and straight and perfect even in the winds, whereas I had Janis Joplin wild frizzy auburn hair which had blown itself into some kind of nest during the windy night. I don't really remember the rain, oddly, just the wind and the sounds, and the music. It was a long drive home late at night and my friend fell asleep with his head in my lap in the backseat. Very platonic, very innocent, very beautiful. How wonderful to see photos of this night! Thank you, mingo!

I was a 17 year old lonely girl. Listening to CHOM FM on a boring sunday afternoon. In the suburbs. I heard a Joni Mitchell song on the radio. A revelation the lyrics, the melody. They mentionned that she was in concert that evening at Place de Nations in Montreal. I had to be there. My life depended on it. I was alone, took the bus. Firt time i had done something on my own. Bought a ticket. It was a musical awakening for me the songs, the lyrics, the music something i could relate to. I will remember this all my life. A magical evening, met some freinds but i had to experience this all by myself. Went home happy.