It was July 5th 1997: Opening night of the groundbreaking all-female music festival Lilith Fair.
"Like, I'd walk in and do an interview and they said, 'Well, we'd love to add this song but we can't add you this week because we had a Tori Amos or because we added Tracy Chapman or because we added Sinéad O'Connor,'" she recalls."And it was extremely frustrating. So the beginning of this was just born out of a desire to come together as a community. And it became this — we're going to break down some barriers.
The eclectic group of women artists included folk, rock, country and pop musicians and sold out nearly every single show its first year. But as Lilith's popularity increased, critics disparaged the festival as"mom music" and called out its mostly white bill of performers. By 1998, the organizers of Lilith had more money to work with, and could point to the marked success of the previous summer. The festival expanded from 37 shows to 57 shows, expanding its lineup to include more than 100 artists across three stages. Festival programmers challenged perceptions of Lilith Fair as a majority-white group of folk and alternative artists at a time when R&B, rap and hip-hop were gaining broader popularity.
"All of that second year, I think, is really significant because those were artists who were changing things in different worlds than the world that [McLachlan] occupies," saysa 2022 lens, we could say, 'Oh I wish it'd been even more diverse' ... but you got to give them credit." "To create an environment where everybody gets to be seen and heard and valued, and come as you are, you know, let your freak flag fly ... this is the place you get to do that and there is no judgment here,"Sarah McLachlan said that's exactly what Lilith Fair was always supposed to achieve.
Saw many wonderful female artists I never would have heard of without the Lilith Fairs. Enjoyed everyone attended.
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