March 12, 2010

Publication title: Billboard.biz, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Toronto
Writer: Robert Thompson

@Canadian Music Week: Lilith Tour Details Revealed

Specific tour dates for the relaunched Lilith Fair tour will be announced on Tuesday, Nettwerk Music Group chief executive Terry McBride said today at Canadian Music Week.

McBride, who was involved in a mentoring session at the conference, says the 37-show tour will have its first dates announced with full lineups on Tuesday. Ticket presales will start the following week, he says, and be staggered over a period of time.

“Not 37 shows on sale at the same time,” he says. “That would be a nightmare.”

McBride says part of the show is being done with promoter Live Nation, while other dates will be done with secondary promoters dependent on the venue.

“Most of it will be through Live Nation, but not everything,” he says, adding most shows will seat around 20,000, while some will be upwards of 30,000. “It is venue-based and we want to get the best venues.”

McBride says he’s confident a new album by Vancouver singer Sarah McLachlan, who headlined most of the previous Lilith shows, will be ready in time for the summer tour.

McBride says he has no expectations for the tour, but was pleased with the artist response he received both from acts that had played Lilith before it went on hiatus in 1999 after three years of tours, and newer acts.

“The older artists knew what it was,” he says. “The younger artists had a lot of questions. But once they heard the answers they said, ‘My God.’”

Acts like Loretta Lynn, Norah Jones, Cat Power and Gossip have already been confirmed as participating in some shows on the tour. Cities named for the tour include Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. Dates in July for Chicago and Seattle, on July 3 and 17 respectively, have already leaked on the Internet.

As for McLachlan’s new album, McBride would not confirm details or even name whether she is again working with longtime producer Pierre Marchand, who has helmed every one of her albums since 1991.

“I’m not going to comment on it,” he says. “When Sarah’s album is delivered I will comment on it. Otherwise I put her in a box that I’m not going to do. I’m not going to talk about it until the album is finished.”