Sarah McLachlan on Lilith Fair legacy: ‘There was so much joy every night’

Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan will forever be known as the creator of the Lilith Fair, a groundbreaking late-1990s tour that directly countered the testosterone-laden festivals of that era like Ozzfest and Lollapalooza.

The creator of classic ballads like “Angel” and “I Will Remember You” is entirely fine with that.

“It was such a big blur,” said McLachlan, who is now on the road promoting her latest album “Better Broken” and a return to Synovus Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park Friday, with tickets starting at $47.50 on Ticketmaster. “We were putting these shows on in different cities every day. We faced challenges and just rolled with it. It was kind of exhausting and exhilarating. There was so much joy every night.”

McLachlan happily cooperated with documentarians who last year released “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery,” a thorough look at how McLachlan created the tour and what it meant to the dozens of females artists who took part as well as the fans who attended.

She recently watched the doc again at a screening.

“It’s an amazing time capsule I get to keep and have,” McLachlan said. “I felt really proud.”

At the same time, she admitted to some “PTSD” after watching footage on protests against the festival hosting abortion rights groups like Planned Parenthood and the lack of diversity in the lineup in its first year. In 1998, there was even a bomb threat at the Atlanta Lilith Fair date at Lakewood Amphitheatre, the documentary noted.

“I think I forget things like that because my brain tends to focus on the positive,” McLachlan said.

She was thrilled when Brandi Carlisle told her she was in the audience at age 16 during the opening date of the 1997 Lilith Fair in George, Washington.

“She said very plainly that she has taken a lot of what she learned at Lilith and created her own world around that,” McLachlan said. “That is the most important and fundamental thing: We were celebrating each other and lifting each other up. There is strength in unity, in following joy and embracing diversity.”

Sarah McLachlan sings at a recent concert at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain. (Rodney Ho/AJC 2024)

The Canadian singer said the world could use Lilith Fair again “to remind us that we are part of a shared humanity. Everything is geared these days to divide us, to tear us apart and keep us separate.”

She said some of her Canadian fans have asked her why she even tours the United States given the political climate: “My job is to build bridges. My job is to spread joy and love and compassion in its simplest form. It’s what we need. It’s not Canada good, America bad. We need to remind ourselves what connects us.”

After McLachlan spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 23-year-old Olivia Rodrigo announced her own inaugural all-woman music festival she dubbed Daisy Chains Field Aug. 29 at Great Park in Irvine, California. It sold out in 30 minutes.

The lineup is a mix of acts Rodrigo considers peers like Doechii and Chappell Roan but also acts she admired growing up such as Garbage, the Breeders, Steve Nicks and, of course, McLachlan.

Rodrigo told “Good Morning America” that she was inspired by Lilith Fair. “The first person I decided to call when I decided to do this festival was Sarah McLachlan,” she said. “She’s a total trailblazer, an incredible artist and a friend.”

Sarah McLachlan, with her band, takes a bow after at two-hour concert at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain on June 30, 2024. (Rodney Ho/AJC)

At McLachlan’s last Atlanta concert at Chastain in 2024, she noted on stage that people were not at tables in the front sipping chardonnay and eating hummus by candlelight. Live Nation, which oversees Chastain, ended its concert subscription packages in 2019 and has since made regular seating the default choice, with most concerts prohibiting outside food and drink.

While some artists over the years found the table set-up distracting and unnecessarily noisy, McLachlan enjoyed the atmosphere. “I suppose they can cram more people in the front this way,” she said. “But I do miss it.”

Despite living in the temperate climate of West Vancouver, McLachlan has no issue with the heat and humidity of an outdoor venue in Atlanta in the summer: “It’s a little damp, but that’s OK. It’s great for my vocal cords so I’m not complaining.”

And after some illness and struggling with her voice the past couple of years, she decided last year to cut out sugar from her diet. It worked.

“I haven’t been sick since November,” McLachlan said. “My kids have been sick. My friends have been sick. I also do vitamin IV drips every few weeks. I’m sure that helps as well.”

And she has to be more careful while on the road, she said. Friends ask her to hang out before concerts when she visits different cities but she now has to say no.