In 1997, you couldn’t have paid me to go to Lilith Fair. Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, the Indigo Girls—all undeniably talented, but not even slightly to my taste. What was up with all the emo singer/songwriters? And, ugh, were they really using an image of a naked woman with a flower growing out of her head as their logo? No, that summer I was too excited to see Hole, Devo, and Beck at Lollapalooza to ever give the hippie dippiness of Lilith Fair a chance. Ditto for every summer until the concept of the all-female music festival fizzled out in 1999.
But then this year, Sarah McLachlan announced a rebooted Lilith Fair. The concept was the same but the lineup was truly off the hook, spanning a huge number of genres, ages, tastes, and aesthetics. For the top 40 lover, there’s Rihanna and Ke$ha. For indie rockers, there’s the Gossip, Metric, and Tegan and Sara. On the R&B tip, Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, and Erykah Badu. Not to mention my personal ’80s favorite—The Bangles. Keep reading »