VANCOUVER -- Sarah McLachlan considers
herself too much of a "control freak" to let anyone
else revive Lilith Fair, all-woman musical festival.
As the superstar singer launched the final tour
Thursday, she left open the possibility of a new
edition on terms that would include her controlling
the ground rules.
"I think it would be really, really hard to let what
we've worked so hard on for the past three years go
to somebody else and not have the same control
over the integrity of it," McLachlan told a news
conference, held as hundreds of fans gathered for
the tour's kick-off concert here.
"I'm a control freak and a perfectionist," said a
tanned, relaxed McLachlan, laughing during the
session in a white, airy tent on the concert grounds.
McLachlan, flanked by other performers including
American star Sheryl Crow, would not rule out a
revival of the tour, named for the fiery first wife of
Adam who is banished from the Garden of Eden.
"I don't want to close the door on it," said
McLachlan, 31.
"It might happen in five or 10 years. I'm not sure.
Life changes a lot. Things are unexpected."
What appears expected in McLachlan's own life is
children. The Vancouver-based singer is taking a
break from music to focus on other priorities that
include starting a family with her husband, drummer
Ash Sood.
"The whole three-year plan was basically because
we do want to have babies at some point," she said,
alluding to the fact that Lilith Fair began in 1996.
"We meaning myself and my (business) partners.
We all want to have kids. It's a good time."
McLachlan, whose seven albums have sold millions
of copies, launched Lilith Fair in 1996 as a feminine
alternative to the male-dominated festival concert
market.
Observers have praised the concept for providing a
platform that allowed an attack on negative
stereotypes against female performers such as
concerns about putting more than one woman on a
concert tour.
On Thursday, McLachlan and Crow agreed any
new edition of Lilith Fair would have to embrace the
female artists of its era.
A conventional reunion tour would be impossible,
said Crow, because the lineup is always changing.
"You would wind up having to start the thing up
again and incorporating all the new artists," said
Crow.
This year's tour begins at Thunderbird Stadium, on
the campus of the University of British Columbia, a
few kilometres west of downtown Vancouver. After
travelling across North America, it ends Aug. 31 in
Edmonton.
As performances began, hundreds of fans streamed
onto the concert grounds, basking in a mellow tone
set as much by falafel, veggie burgers and "funky
handmade wirework" jewellry booths as the musical
program.
McLachlan's fans said she deserved a break.
"It's been so hectic for her," said Mari-Anne
Custodio, 18, who came from the provincial capital
of Victoria to attend the singer's last likely
Vancouver show for awhile.
In addition to performing commitments that included
a new album, McLachlan has been facing a lawsuit
by a Vancouver producer who is seeking cash and
credit for work on four songs that appeared on her
1988 debut album, Touch.
The judge in the case, heard in Vancouver, is
expected to hand down a decision in the fall.
Custodio's friend, Jennifer Klassen, said she's
looking forward to McLachlan's eventual return.
"When she comes back, it's going to be great," said
Klassen, 18.
Between its launch and its finale, McLachlan's idea
has grown into one of North America's most
successful summer tour festivals, pulling in $28.3
million US last year.
The tour assembles a varied group of female
performers.
Participants in its swan song include Crow, country
mavericks the Dixie Chicks, rapper Queen Latifah
and rockers The Pretenders.
Canadian acts, beyond McLachlan, include R&B
singer Deborah Cox, alternative singer Bif, Cree
Summer and the group Wild Strawberries.
Lilith rookie Cox said she hoped the project would
endure somehow.
"This is really setting a precedent," she said of the
tour. "I hope this isn't the last of the concept or idea.
I hope it continues in other formats."
McLachlan, who has been honoured with Junos and
Grammies, recently released her latest album,
Mirrorball, while preparing for the Lilith tour.
It has not been all rosy. Some have said the lineup is
not sufficiently ethnically diverse. Others have
rapped the festival's support for Planned
Parenthood.
Recently, the Rev. Jerry Falwell suggested the tour's
namesake helped make the tour a pagan festival.
Facts on the final Lilith Fair concert tour, which
began Thursday:
ORIGIN: Launched in 1996 by Vancouver-based
singer Sarah McLachlan to provide a platform for
female performers amid male-dominated festivals.
IMPACT: Top-grossing festival concert tour in
1997, taking in $16.4 million US. In 1998, scored
$28.3 million US. Average 1998 attendance: 18, 500.
DATES: 40, beginning in Vancouver. Ends in
Edmonton on Aug. 31.
CANADIAN DATES: Aside from Vancouver.
Toronto, Aug. 21-22. Edmonton, Aug. 31
PERFORMERS: Include McLachlan, Sheryl
Crow, Dixie Chicks, Deborah Cox, Bif Naked.
FUTURE: Uncertain. McLachlan wants to take a
break, start a family.
QUOTE: "There were so many people and so
many promoters saying this couldn't work, and I was
like, 'Well, why the hell not?'" -- McLachlan to
Reuters.
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