October 12, 2014
Publication title: The Sunday Telegraph, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Sally Browne
Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan plans on getting audience members on stage to perform with her in Oz
IT’S BEEN 10 years since Sarah McLachlan visited Australia and this time audiences are in for a treat, as she invites them on stage.
“I’ve been inviting people from the audience to come up and hang out with me,” the 46-year-old Grammy-winning Canadian singer says.
“It’s trying to figure out a way to further engage with people, because for me I love playing live, it’s such a beautiful, intimate, freeing situation where you’re part of something bigger than yourself, and I’m always trying to figure out ways we can break down that barrier, of us and them. I’m on stage, you’re down there and there’s a line you may not cross, it’s like, no, to hell with that, we’re all in this together.”
She has also been giving audience members the chance to ask her questions during her shows. “Before the show I ask the fans to write down on a piece of paper any question they want,” she says. “Those pieces of paper end up in my hat and during the night I answer the questions. It’s super fun.”
The singer, notable for starting the popular Lilith Fair concerts, also does a meet and greet before her show.
“That’s fun too, because then afterwards I’m looking out from the stage and I see people and I think oh, hi, I met you, we chatted for a little bit so I kind of know you. So, it’s a different kind of connection.”
Her latest album Shine On reflects a positive mood, since McLachlan shed her skin after the painful experiences of the break-up of her marriage and the passing of her father.
The upbeat record is filled with beautiful harmonies, rockin’ beats and the gorgeous melodies the 46-year-old singer has become known for.
Songs include the uplifting In Your Shoes, which was partly inspired by young Pakistani Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai.
“She’s just so incredibly strong and brave at 15 years old to continually stand up to an organisation that is threatening your life,” McLachlan says. “I found her story so powerful and moving. She survived and did exactly the opposite of what they hoped.
“They were trying to snuff out a light and instead it became this huge spotlight on her all around the world.”
The other songs on Shine On she says are “postcards from her emotional journey”, everything from coming up against the “monsters” in your life to dealing with losing her father to cancer.
“I feel I’m in a stronger, better place now,” she says. “I feel whole, and there’s a lot of joy on this record and a lot of hopefulness as well.
“You don’t get to this point in your life unscathed. We go through a ton of struggles and a ton of strife. And it’s how you face those challenges that you learn who you are.”
McLachlan says her dad was always a rock in her life.
“Losing him was a really hard thing to navigate,” she says. “It was compounded by separating and divorcing my husband, making the decision to leave my record label and management after 24 years, a lot of really important male anchors went at the same time.
“My dad, in particular, he was my rock. He was always there for me if I needed him. That was a hell of an adjustment and just recognising, who am I now that he’s not here? Who do I have to lean on now? I had to look inward a lot. I have to do this for myself now. I have to do this for my own kids and for me and I have to be the rock now.”
McLachlan says the greatest gift her father taught her was to approach every moment of life with gratitude. And now it’s those values she hopes to pass on to her daughters, aged 12 and seven.
It was a shock to realise that now she is the oldest living generation in her family.
“I’m an orphan, my mum’s dead, my dad’s gone. My oldest brother died in November, which was awful, and now it’s just myself and my other brother, who’s four years younger than me, but we’re it now. It’s wild.”
“But one of the greatest gifts my dad taught me is just to enjoy every moment that you’re still alive.”
