For the opener of her UK Tour, Martha Wainwright kicked off at Cadogan Hall in London. For the performance, she brought in The Who’s Pete Townshend from the audience to perform the last two songs of the night. For those who don’t know, Martha is the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to Rufus Wainwright and she grew up surrounded by legendary musicians like Leonard Cohen, Anna McGarrigle, Richard and Linda Thompson, Townshend and Emmylou Harris among others.
Along with a duet of Wainwright’s own song “Factory,” off her self-titled 2005 debut album, the duo also performed a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”. Wainwright and Townshend have performed their own track a couple of times before, once in 2006 and again in 2007. For the latest rendition, Townshend took up guitar duties while Wainwright passionately sang through the verses. As they finished up the cover, Wainwright turned to the former Who guitarist to give a round of applause alongside the crowd. You can view the full performance below.
Mitchell’s 1969 ballad has been making its way back to the live circuit in the last few weeks, with the Canadian songstress herself performing the song at the Newport Folk Festival. It was a rare performance for Mitchell, given that she has been mostly retired from music since she suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015.
Meanwhile, Townshend’s most recent work includes a new single “Lay on, Take Off” and an Audible Original project, Somebody Saved Me. The project was the 29th in the platform’s “Words + Music” series that has previously featured the likes of Eddie Vedder, Billie Joe Armstrong, Tom Morello, James Taylor, and more. According to Billboard Townshend said, “it covers some material he’s discussed in the past, but that the opportunity to create a long-form podcast, in which he can weave his story in between poignant performances of some of his favourite solo songs, was what convinced him to participate.”