December 13, 2008
Publication title: AZStarnet, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
McLachlan, Crowd Revel In Her Hits
“Damn, it’s dry here.”
Late into her Thursdaynight performance at Tucson Arena, Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan interjected that point about our desert climate in the middle of a vocal solo for her song “River” from the 2006 holiday album “Wintersong.” McLachlan hadn’t had to adjust to our parched lifestyle since her last show in town in 1994. This was a lapse in time she apologized for profusely throughout her headlining set for the Annual Listener Appreciation Concert presented by local radio station The Mountain (92.9 FM), which also saw, albeit somewhat abbreviated, performances by Alanis Morissette and Augustana.
It’s not just the Old Pueblo McLachlan hasn’t visited for a while — the Grammy winner rarely tours these days in favor of being a stay-at-home mom. Despite her limited live performance schedule, McLachlan looked stunningly natural back in the saddle of her grand piano, visibly relishing the experience as much as the 3,500 or so in attendance. McLachlan opened her nearly hourlong set with her smash “Building a Mystery” from the 10-times platinum 1997 album “Surfacing.” She gave the crowd what it was looking for — namely hits, like a particularly tender, set-closing “Angel.” She encored with 1993’s “Ice Cream,” playing acoustic guitar and radiating a brilliant smile that reflected gratitude. McLachlan reveled in the informal atmosphere, playing both alone and with a backup singer and acoustic guitarist.
The stripped-down approach was a theme of the night, as earlier another singer-songwriter originally from Canada, Morissette, sat cross-legged on a stool backed by acoustic guitars and a keyboardist. Morissette, wearing a black sequined top and gray jeans, sang some of the most famous tunes of the last 15 years, her lipsticked mouth opening as wide as her impact on pop music. She began with “Hands Clean” from 2002’s “Under Rug Swept.” Morissette propelled her distinctive voice in different dynamic directions with her tongue, mouth agape, as her body jerked and writhed from the waist up.
She got vocal help from the crowd during two of her anthems, “Hand in My Pocket” and “Ironic.” On the former, the audience filled in the “bay-bee” lyrical punctuatations, and on the latter, Morissette just pointed the microphone in the crowds’ direction from the outset, as it sang the entire first verse into the chorus. Perhaps the biggest surprise of her performance was its brevity: five songs in just under a half-hour before saying good-night. San Diego five-piece Augustana opened the event with wistful, radio-friendly folk rock.
