Pretenders, Sarah McLachlan And Some Men Play Lilith
Sheryl Crow, Luscious Jackson share each other's stage.
Correspondent Richard B. Simon reports:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. On what is being billed as its
final go around, the Lilith Fair tour is proving to be not just
for women anymore.
The tour, headlined by Lilith founder Sarah McLachlan,
rock singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow and rock veterans the
Pretenders on their first U.S. outing in two years drew
more male fans than in years past to the Shoreline
Amphitheatre on Tuesday, and found several female
singers fronting mostly male bands.
Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde took a stab at men
in general during her band's hit-filled set 霠"What do you
call that useless bit of skin on the end of a penis? It's
called 'a man.' "but the jabs went both ways over the
course of the day.
Comedian Sandra Bernhard knocked
two of the most popular women
rockers, Alanis Morissette and Jewel,
calling for a return of female hard-rock
role models in the mold of Joan Jett
and Heart. "I mean, will somebody
please give me an old-fashioned, slutty,
big-ti--ed bitch of rock 'n' roll?" Bernhard
quipped.
Even some concert-goers got into the act. Ron Pardini, 47,
of Fremont, brought his wife and two daughters to the
family's first Lilith Fair. "I've got a house full of women; I
might as well be surrounded by 'em here, too," he said.
Daughter Sophia, 11, said she was looking forward to
seeing McLachlan, but added that it was "kind of sad" that
this would be the festival's last year.
At a preshow press conference, McLachlan explained why
she intends to stop the tour after three years. "I want my
life back," she said. "I want to be a musician again, I want
to be a songwriter again, and I want to have babies," the
recently married singer/songwriter said.
The bill ranged from Beth Orton's folk to Luscious
Jackson's funk, from the old-school rock of the Pretenders
to the top-40 pop of Mya. McLachlan, Crow and the
Pretenders were the main-stage favorites, while Orton and
pop band Sixpence None the Richer 霠currently enjoying
airplay with "Kiss Me" 霠drew the biggest crowds on a
smaller stage just outside the amphitheater.
The artists cross-pollinated freely. Crow joined Luscious
Jackson for a version of their "Naked Eye," and they in turn
joined her for a version of the Who's "Squeeze Box," with
Crow playing an accordion. McLachlan's percussionist,
Ashwin Sood, and pop-punker Bijou Phillips jumped on the
main stage whenever possible. Most of the artists 霠with
the visible exception of Hynde 霠joined McLachlan to end
the show with Jackie DeShannon's 1969 hit "Put a Little
Love in Your Heart."
While the feeling in the air was amiable, Hynde poked fun
at the current crop of women rock stars during the
Pretenders' set, singing "Don't make 'em like they used to/
Should have stuck with me."
Rocking in full force, the Pretenders played a few new
songs from Viva el Amor and ran the gamut of their hits,
including "Message of Love," "My City Was Gone,"
"Middle of the Road" and "Back on the Chain Gang"
(RealAudio excerpt). After a midsong breakdown in
"Don't Get Me Wrong" that led to a lounge-y ragtime
sendup of the chorus, Hynde, in a gold lamjacket,
stopped to goad the audience, saying, "You don't have to
take that kind of sh--. ... Be real."
Crow 霠backed by an all-male band 霠turned up the light
show, morphing Lilith into a full-throttle rock concert. She
paced the stage in tight leather pants and sported the
short, dyed blond hairdo also popular with Pearl Jam's
Eddie Vedder and Red Hot Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis.
She switched between guitar and bass as she played such
songs as "Change" and "My Favorite Mistake" (RealAudio
excerpt), bringing up a cellist and violinist for a moment of
tripped-out intensity.
McLachlan began her set on a grand piano with the
instrumental "Last Dance." Focusing on love ballads, she
sang the crowd favorites "Sweet Surrender" (RealAudio
excerpt) and "Ice Cream," fusing her tremolo vocals with
techno-flavored rhythms and glassy slide and pedal-steel
work by guitarist Sean Ashby. McLachlan sang "Angel"
alone, again on grand piano, and was joined by her
tourmates for "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," trading
verses with Luscious Jackson's Gabrielle Glaser, Crow and
members of the Australian group Eden AKA.
Earlier in the day, the smaller stage hosted six acts of
various styles.
Local talent-search winner Deborah Pardes presented a
set of folk tunes cut with a dose of swing. Phillips picked
up the pace as the crowd grew, ordering the audience to
get up and dance.
Swedish singer Tekla, looking like the physical
embodiment of Lilith in long, flowing brown hair and Indian
print dress, said, "This is the first time I've played my
songs outside of Sweden. This is a big adventure for me."
She said she hoped McLachlan would revive the festival.
Eden AKA blended acoustic guitar and mandolin with
intricate three-part vocal harmonies, sounding like a Down
Under answer to Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The tour came under fire recently from the Rev. Jerry
Falwell's National Liberty Journal, which published an
essay claiming that the Lilith Fair celebrates a pagan figure
(according to Jewish lore, Lilith was Adam's first wife,
before Eve) and promotes abortion and contraception.
"It's a free country," McLachlan said Tuesday, "and it's a
beautiful thing that everybody gets to voice our opinions,
and we have our opinions, and I stand by them personally.
I believe in a woman's right to choose over what she wants
to do with her body. I also believe in free speech ... and
that's what we're here to support."
[ Wed., July 14, 1999 8:02 PM EDT ]
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.twbbs.org)
◆ From: 192.192.50.103