August 06, 1998

Publication title: Rolling Stone, vol. -, Iss. 792, pg. 34
Place: New York
Writer: Neva Chonin

Civic Stadium

SARAH MCLACHLAN began her Lilith Fair set with a gesture of pagan gratitude. “I’d like to thank the gods and goddesses for today’s sunshine,” she said, beaming as 18,000 fans whooped their approval. The week before the festival had seen this notoriously damp city blanketed in rain, and the day’s clear skies were an unexpected treat.

Last year, Lilith was one of the summer’s top draws, with a repertoire favoring Gaean singer-songwriters over rock and rap’s more raucous girls. Now, after complaints about its whitebread folkie focus, Lilith Fair has stretched a little by addine artists such as Liz Phair and Missy Elliott to the bill. Neither of the above was present on this day, but there were others keeping things lively. On the second stage, Jamaican-Brit singersongwriter Billie Myers delivered a gutsy, rocking set, while Sinéad O’Connor opened the main stage with a serene, riveting performance of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Erykah Badu combined earthy ruminations on childbirth with an affected but classy R&B-diva delivery. Natalie Merchant, meanwhile, played petulant chanteuse, bashing on her piano, curling into a ball and skipping across the stage as she sang songs like “Kind and Generous” and The Wizard of Oz’s “If I Only Had a Brain.”

McLachlan’s own set was cut short by Portland’s 10 P.M. noise curfew. But she earned extra points with a pungent line from “Building a Mystery”: “You’re such a beautiful/A beautiful fucked-up man.” The ensuing audience roar reaffirmed that for all their talk of love and nurturing, sometimes the goddesses just wanna kick ass.