Garden concert, pay-per-view, album — Mitchell sparks a revival

Joni Mitchell will play her first full-fledged Manhattan concert since the '70s on Nov. 1, at 7:30, opening for Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden.

Tickets go on sale next Monday at the Garden box office and TicketMaster, with prices set at $75, $55 and $35. Mitchell also will be seen in a pay-per-view concert special Nov. 6.

The TV special, taped in Los Angeles on May 29-30 after her West Coast dates with Dylan, breaks up its musical performances with an extended chat with the star and a showcase for her paintings.

Mitchell, who made her first New York State appearance in 15 years at Woodstock last month, features a jazz-inflected four-piece backup band on the pay-per-view show.

The band includes ex-husband Larry Klein on bass, drummer Brian Blade, pedal-steel player Greg Liesz and trumpeter (and movie soundtrack mainstay) Mark Isham on trumpet.

The set list for the show includes oldies like "Big Yellow Taxi," "Woodstock" and "Just Like This Train" from her most popular album, "Court & Spark."

At the tapings for the show, Mitchell also recorded five songs from what many critics consider her finest work, 1976's "Hejira," including the title track, "Amelia," "Black Crow" and the rarely performed "Song for Sharon."

In addition, she plays three songs from her new LP "Taming the Tiger" (in stores today), along with covers of Billie Holiday's "Comes Love" and Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man."

Mitchell also turns up Oct. 20 as part of the Herbie Hancock tribute album to George Gershwin, giving her takes on "The Man I Love" and "Summertime."

The singer has enjoyed a media comeback in the last few years, sparked by her 1994 album "Turbulent Indigo," which won two Grammy Awards and her best reviews in more than a decade. At that time, she made a one-stop, unannounced appearance at the downtown club Fez.

The legend's influence on a new generation became clear when "Big Yellow Taxi" was sampled last year in Janet Jackson's hip-hop hit "Got Til It's Gone." Her catalogue of albums has sold nearly 1 million copies since SoundScan began an accurate accounting in 1991.