Joan Baez – legendary folk singer, songwriter, activist, peacenik and cultural icon for over fifty years – returns to bewitch New Zealand audiences touring to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland mid October 2015. This concert series follows 2013/2014’s triumphant world tour that saw Baez receive standing ovations across four continents.
In the anniversary year of the historic walk from Montgomery to Selma in which Baez took part, her tireless work to fight for people’s rights continues to resonate and inspire. On May 21 this year, Baez will receive Amnesty International’s highest honour, its Ambassador for Conscience Award for 2015. The award recognises Baez’s lifelong commitment as an outstanding, courageous activist whose beliefs can't be separated from her music. Equally her music is celebrated this year with the USA’s Library Of Congress selecting her 1960 debut album, Joan Baez – which jettisoned her onto the front cover of Time Magazine – to be included in the National Recording Registry as a crucial part of America’s history.
The new live album, Diamantes, features previously unreleased recordings in Spanish, English and Portugese, including covers penned by Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Simon & Garfunkel and Sting. Her previous album, Day After Tomorrow, was nominated for a Grammy Award and described by The Boston Globe as “songs that evoke the spirit and message of her defining early work…Baez has never sounded wiser, or more deeply human”.
“ It’s been a long time”, Joan said, “ since I’ve had an entire album of songs that speak to the essence of who I am in the same way as the songs that have been the enduring backbone of my repertoire for the past 50 years.”
For the New Zealand Tour, Baez is backed by both her son, Gabriel Harris on percussion, and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell on banjo, guitar, keyboards and fiddle.
AUCKLAND Tuesday 20 October - Auckland ASB Theatre
Book at www.ticketmaster.co.nz or 0800 111 999
