Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
August 4, 1999, Wednesday, Replate Edition
SECTION: ARTS & FILM; Pg. E1
LENGTH: 713 words
HEADLINE: It was a Lilith kind of day; Music Review; LILITH
FAIR;
With Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, the Pretenders, Mya, Me'Shell Ndegeocello,
and others;
At: the Tweeter Center, yesterday
BYLINE: By Joan Anderman, Globe Correspondent
BODY:
MANSFIELD - The goddess smiled on Lilith's spiritual heirs
yesterday, gracing the Fair with blue skies, warm sun, no humidity, and
nearly 20,000 fans primed for 7 1/2 hours of music. Sheryl Crow spoke passionately
at a preshow press conference about Lilith being the antidote to the "out-and-out
anger" she experienced at Woodstock a couple of weeks ago. Indeed,
the Lilith Fair overflowed with good vibes, good causes (Lilith founder
Sarah McLachlan presented a check for $18,900 to Boston's Respond organization
to help battered women and their families), and, of course, good songs.
The festival was also a paragon of organization, a priceless feature that
the talkative Crow credited to the high concentration of women running the
show. The sets were not only punctual, sometimes even starting slightly
ahead of schedule, they were staggered so that fans could catch all 11 acts
if they chose. Pathways connecting stages were transformed into the Village,
lined with booths offering everything from ceramics to condoms, ankle bracelets
to cell phones, information to sundresses.
The nagging question of diversity that's plagued Lilith since it began three
years ago was, finally, answered this summer. Even the tiny Village Stage,
which was like a musical Welcome Wagon situated just inside the Tweeter
Center gates, offered a stylistic smorgasbord beginning with local talent
contest winner Lori McKenna - with lovely, folk-pop ballads and country-flavored
folk-rockers - and moving on to Norwegian nouveau-lounge singer Bertine,
and wrapping up with Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon, who played earthy confessionals
and gently edgy rockers from her upcoming solo album, due in January.
Newcomer Kendall Payne, a next-generation McLachlan, opened the B stage
with a set of spry, sensitive pop-rockers, energy and volume cranked way
up from her more introspective Paradise show several months ago. On her
heels the Dance Hall Crashers replaced the originally scheduled and mysteriously
silenced Lamb, moving the crowd to pogo with wonderfully energetic pop-punk.
And what of the wonderful Aimee Mann? The former Bostonian
is still writing some of the smartest hooks and acerbic, literate lyrics
in pop, and she's still struggling to be heard. Mann loosed a handful of
new and weird little gems that will be out in September . . . she hopes.
The Main Stage - draped in gold and purple banners depicting nude women,
lutes, peacocks, and swirly doodles - was for the most part a triumph. McLachlan
visited each set in long dresses and Birkenstocks like a doting aunt dropping
in on her nieces. Her husband/drummer Ash Sood followed suit, contributing
percussion to multiple sets throughout the day, including Me'Shell Ndegeocello,
who can do, as she pointed out during the press conference, "whatever
genre I want. I'm not the black contingent." She is, however, a truly
original bassist who draped deep, gauzy vocal melodies over a sinuous, color-blind
fusion of rock, jazz, funk, and R&B.
Mya was the weak link here, offering pedestrian rhythm 'n' blues, 30 little
girls dancing with Sarah McLachlan to a Rugrats song, and a freaky tap-dancing
segment. Then Chrissie Hynde, Pretenders in tow, sauntered out in gold lame
and black denim to rock Lilith's world with a searing, strutting, greatest
hits-heavy set ("Ohio," "Chain Gang," "Middle of
the Road," "Brass In Pocket") that was the high point of
the day. Sheryl Crow, against all odds, held her rootsy own on Hynde's heels.
She's no captivating showperson, but rather let song after great rocking
pop song churn for themselves. Hynde attempted to duet with her on "If
It Makes You Happy," but didn't know any of the words. Crow and McLachlan,
though, traded gorgeous harmonies on "Strong Enough," and later
on McLachlan's hymn-like "Angel."
As for the Lilith Fair creator herself, suffice it to say McLachlan's aura
preceded her. Familiar radio hits seemed to take on holy meaning to this
audience of galvanized women and a few hardy males - as if the goddess herself
had descended to lift them up in song. A finale of Dylan's "I Shall
Be Released," sung by the entire company of this summer Fair plus surprise
guest Judy Collins, ended the proceedings on a sweetly soaring, and powerful,
note.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, 1. High point Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders
rocked Lilith's world.
2. Mya was the weak link, offering pedestrian rhythm 'n' blues.