For just under two hours on Saturday, February 25, 2023, the legendary 83 year old Judy Collins performed for an adoring audience at New York City’s Town Hall. Ms. Collins performed; she sang, she joked, and told fascinating stories between songs while seemingly thoroughly enjoying herself. The last time my wife and I attended a Judy Collins performance was at the Newport Folk Festival after she had completed a tour with Stephen Stills of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” fame. At Newport, we waited to meet Judy at the merch tent for an autograph signing she unfortunately never showed up for. I had wanted to tell her that we were at the Stills & Collins show at Westbury Music Fair when near the end she stepped backward and fell over some equipment onstage, landing on her derrière. Without missing a beat, and being the trouper that she is, Judy popped right up and gracefully finished the performance. After that concert, we went to the St. George Theatre to see them perform again, and quite unexpectedly, ran into Stephen Stills coming out of an alleyway making his way back to the tour bus while the warm up act was on.
On this night at Town Hall, a venue she first played in the early 1960,s, she performed her “Wildflowers” album in its entirety, and finished with Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns”.
Judy Collins was amazing; an iconic legend in the flesh. She is eight three years old but still performing at the highest level with a voice that is truly a freakish gift (David Crosby’s incredible pipes come to mind). Hopefully my wife and I can catch her one more time at this year’s Newport Folk Festival.

Both Sides Now

Folk on!

GQ