29. September 2026
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The Joni Project (27th September 2026, Pulheim)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

In November 2023, I reviewed the album Shades of Blue. The Joni Mitchell tribute album lead to a full 5.0 rating and later made it to my Albums of the Year. Since then, I am fascinated by the artists who recorded the album, the female trio The Joni Project. On 27th September 2026, I was finally able to see them live on stage. They played at the Rittergut Haus Orr near Cologne.

This posting comes with 450 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.

 

Rittergut Haus Orr – About The Venue

Rittergut Haus Orr (“House Orr Manor”) is an event venue in Pulheim, Northwest of Cologne. Orr is a borough of the city in its North. It is an historic place which has been initially mentioned in the 13th century. It is located in a park. Nowadays, only two of the presumably multiple buildings are still preserved. Nowadays, it can host events of up to 150 in two different venues. Despite it had been announced that the concert has been announced might be open air in case of good weather, it had been held indoors. You can reach the place by car. Public transport requires some walking. Driving there may be confusing as there is another event venue right opposite the road, which is a bit more active in marketing.

 

The Joni Project – About The Artists

The Joni Project has been formed in 2021 in Hamburg. At that year, Joni Mitchell’s legendary album Blue had its 50th anniversary. The three artists, Anne de Wolff, Stefanie Hempel, and Iris Romen, aimed to honor the album by a tribute show. All of them are known as multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters. Anne de Wolff, born on 9th February 1971 in Dresden, is famous for being a member of multiple successful bands or their live staff. From 1996 to 2011, she was part of the Rosenstolz live band, since 2014 she is a member of BAP. As such, the German artist is the only member of the trio I already in concert reports, on 13th December 2024 and on 10th July 2026, both times in Cologne.

Stefanie Hempel (born 1977) is a German artist, who is especially well-known for her The Beatles shows. Thereby, she is not only regarded being an excellent performer of the songs of the Liverpool band, but also a dedicated expert for their history. The third band member is Dutch artist Iris Romen. She is originally from Maastricht and nowadays lives in Berlin. She is known for hosting multi-faceted shows in Clärchens Ballhaus in Berlin, but also worked successfully in jazz and swing. Furthermore, she has been part of multiple Johnny Cash tributes. Shades of Blue is the only record release of the trio so far.

 

The Joni Project – The Show

The concert was scheduled for 18:00. A few minutes later, the trio had been introduced by the local host, before Anne, Iris and Stefanie stepped on stage at about 18:08. The first part of their set on Mitchell’s 1971 Blue album (or: on Shades of Blue) with the starting songs All I Want, Carey, and the title track. Thereby, the band, especially Stefanie, gave a lot of insights of their music. The intimate venue, which had some 100 visitors, gave a very special and lovely spirit – and the trio felt to absolutely enjoy it.

One of the highlights of the first set had been Free Darling, a song, which originally had been a Joni Mitchell snippet, but had been completed by The Joni Project in their own style. Later, they stated that they would love to release the song as a single, but do not have the clearance from the original artist yet. After some 70 minutes, the first set ended with This Flight Tonight – a Mitchell song, which has become popular in the 1973 Nazareth version. Stefanie stated that they felt lucky that Anne had some hard rock experience – together with BAP, she had played the Wacken Open Air in 2025.

 

A long, magical evening

After a some twenty minute intermission, in which the band connected with fans at the merchandise booth, the evening continued with Urge For Going, one of Mitchell’s early recordings. While The Joni Project is known to consist of three excellent multi-instrumentalists – they indeed brought a lot of equipment to Pulheim -, songs like that one underlined their vocal excellence as well. Their harmonic performance lead a magical atmosphere. Again, the trio made you learn a lot about Joni Mitchell, her bio – and her relationships. For example, you learned that A Case of You was a track dedicated to their connection, while the band added Winter Lady, which Cohen vice versa wrote after meeting her at the Newport Folk Festival. The James Brown cover How do you stop? has been another song the audience.

It was already roughly 20:30, when The Joni Project started Both Sides Now, the last song of the regular set of this evening. However, they still added a three song encore, starting with The Circle Game. They also dedicated the song to Dolly Parton, who had named this one as her favorite listen. Thereafter, the crowd sang along to Big Yellow Taxi, one of Mitchell’s most famous recordings. The set closed with You Can Close Your Eyes, a James Taylor cover, for which the three ladies made the audience sing along with them. The evening closed at 20:55 – excluding the introductory speak and the encore, this meant that Pulheim had enjoyed an almost 2:30 hour evening with The Joni Project at that time.

 

 

The Joni Project – The Gallery

Here are 450 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:

 

The Joni Project – My View

It took me that long to finally find a slot at which I am able to cover Anne, Stefanie and Iris and their The Joni Project. My expectations were high – but The Joni Project definitely exceeded them. They have fantastic musicians, as instrumentalists as well as as vocalists. The more you felt the passion for their music and their joy sharing it with any moment. On top of that, the Rittergut Haus Orr felt giving a lovely location in the intimate, but unique event location. I absolutely recommend having them on your bucket list – additional show dates are currently in my Tour Date Overview.

 

Concerts (Last 12 Months)

Here are the concert reports I published during the last twelve months:

 

Tribute & Cover Music

Here are all my postings related to Tribute & Cover Music:

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