November 11, 2014
Publication title: thespec.com, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Hamilton
Writer: Amy Kenny
Sarah McLachlan Shines On
Grab a seat and a glass of wine – Sarah McLachlan’s here to have a chat.
That’s what it felt like when the singer came to Hamilton Place on Monday night, halfway through a cross-Canada supporting her eighth studio album Shine On. The sold-out crowd of 2,200 (the vast majority with a glass of wine in hand) was eager to have her.
“I brought my living room with me,” she said early on, gesturing to a couch at stage left. She explained she would be inviting a handful of social media winners onstage throughout the night, to watch from the wings.
What she didn’t mention was that she’d also be wandering into those wings to hang out with them. From the soft seats of the theatre, even if you couldn’t see McLachlan, you could hear the conversations she had with her fans. They were excited and, in some cases, holding back tears as she talked to them.
There was a couple whose early dates were to McLachlan’s Lilith Fair festival, who danced to I Will Remember You at their wedding, and who named their daughter Sarah. There was a man who thanked McLachlan for her School of Music, which provides free music lessons to at-risk and underserved youth in Vancouver. There was a woman struggling with turning 40 who laughed as McLachlan, 46, promised her things would improve.
She brought out additional guests over the course of two sets that pulled heavily from Shine On, 1997’s Surfacing and 2003’s Afterglow. Hamilton musicians Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland helped with guitar (Doucet, married to McClelland, played guitar with McLachlan’s band since the ’90s) and backing vocals on songs including Adia, Building a Mystery, Possession, Sweet Surrender, Angel, Ice Cream and more.
Throughout, McLachlan talked about her experience as a musician over the last 26 years. She explained how she struggled with Shine On because she felt her previous album, Laws of Illusion, had flogged to death the heartbreak genre (it was written in the aftermath of a divorce). She talked about the recent death of her father which inspired the new album’s themes of life and loss.
McLachlan also answered audience questions drawn from a hat. She said her pre-show ritual is hot water, honey and lemon. Her favourite song to cover is Joni Mitchell’s The River. She thinks the best voice out there right now is Adele’s. Peter Gabriel is her favourite singer because at 16, she heard him and thought “I want to make people feel the way he makes me feel.” Her seven-year old daughter had a Linda-Blair-in-The-Exorcist-level meltdown 45 minutes before McLachlan’s pre-show meet-and-greet.
Hamilton’s Tina Bender and her daughter Madelyn were at that meet-and-greet.
Tina bought the special passes for Madelyn’s 18th birthday. Tina has been a fan of McLachlan’s since she was Madelyn’s age. Madelyn inherited the musical taste from her mother.
Both said McLachlan was warm and gracious in person, offering hugs and words of encouragement to Madelyn, who wants to be a singer herself.
Neither had seen McLachlan live before Monday night and it’s a safe bet neither was disappointed.
There are some singers who don’t translate live — whose voices don’t seem quite as unbelievable when there’s no studio magic behind them. McLachlan isn’t one of those. There’s a reason her songs have lasted. For the nearly three hours she sang (with a 20-minute intermission), her voice was acrobatic, slipping in and out of register as easily as she moved between piano and guitar. People connected with her lyrics. She connected with her audience. Her singing was effortless and electric and her fans smiled, sipped their wine and sang along.
