On this day in 1997, Sarah McLachlan launched the Lilith Fair tour. What started as a simple all-female tour of singer/songwriters and folk-pop musicians became something that would be remembered fondly for decades.
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Sarah McLachlan organized the effort, but what really pulled the whole tour together was the huge lineup of incredible talent. Jewel, Emmylou Harris, Fiona Apple, Erykah Badu, Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, Paula Cole, Victoria Williams, and many more packed the lineup.
Lilith Fair was a response of sorts to Lollapalooza, a music event that, at the time, was mainly dominated by male musicians in the metal and electronic music spaces. McLachlan named the festival-like tour after Lilith, a woman from Hebrew folklore who refused to be subservient to man.
The festival boasted 35 stops around North America and three stages for musicians to perform at each stop. It was honestly the first of its kind; any semblance of convention when it came to the music industry was disrupted by Lilith Fair. And it was a huge success.
Lilith Fair Was a Massive Success but Ultimately Came to an End
The fact that Lilith Fair was a huge success is surprising, given all the roadblocks the tour faced. Back in 1995, McLachlan wanted Paula Cole to be her opener for her previous tour, but faced a lot of resistance from promoters. That’s when she came up with the concept of the Lilith Fair tour. She tested out the concept at four different concerts that year, namely in Vancouver, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It was a success, and thus, Lilith Fair was in the planning stages.
Tickets were pretty affordable for 1990s standards, and each stop included optional donations to local women’s shelters. In total, the tour raised $10 million for charity.
What also made Lilith Fair stand out was the fact that each individual stop on the tour had a different lineup. In total, about 61 artists participated in the tour, and most of the tour dates sold out. Naturally, about 80% of attendees were women.
Lilith Fair continued on into 1998, featuring additional artists like Sinéad O’Connor and Natalie Merchant, among others. The tour would return in 1999, but sadly, the age of the female singer/songwriter was coming to a mainstream end.
“This will be the last year for a good, long while,” McLachlan said at the time. “It could be ten years, it could be forever.”
She was right. Lilith Fair would not return until 2010, decades later. Janelle Monáe and Cat Power would hit the stage with McLachlan for the revival. Sadly, that revival was bunk, as there were too many date cancellations and musicians pulling out. The following year, McLachlan announced that Lilith Fair was done for good. It was good while it lasted.
Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty Images
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