Lilith Proves Everybody Wrong

Home icon Home»Concert Reviews»Lilith Proves Everybody Wrong

Written by Laura Smith

Despite all the hurdles this year’s Lilith Fair has been dealing with, by all accounts tonight was very successful. Almost anything that could go against the tour has, from timing and the economy (I mean, if the American Idol tour has canceled 10 dates you know the economy sucks), to artists like… wait for it… Kelly Clarkson canceling, to other headlining artists only scheduling a few dates (if that) on the tour. The Lilith Fair, while having some 100 artists on the website, has had an average of 10 artists performing at any one location. The website, however, appears a bit misleading at best by featuring “big names”, only to find out after some searching on the site that most of the headliner acts will only appear on less than a handful of stops.

But that didn’t matter today – the day Kelly Clarkson should wish she could have performed. A day filled with great music and a lot of fun.

Starting off with a bang with Los Angeles local Jes Hudak performing first at 2:50 on one of the side stages to some 200 or so lucky people who got in early. I think the good thing about these fairs is the fact that they invite local people to perform, and I am glad I got a chance to see her live. Jes’s set included original songs “No One In This World”, “Break Up Song”, and “Dirty Filthy Liar” – all of which can be found on her myspace, or youtube page – but also included a special surprise that made me wish I had a video camera. A fun mash-up that combined a bit of Lady Gaga with Justin Timberlake, Timbaland with some Black Eyed Peas- and I am sure I missed a few (or messed up a few) other artists as it was a bit hard writing notes while dancing. Note to self, don’t have so much fun that you forget to write! Jes finished her crowd pleasing opening set with “National Holiday” and “Another Day”.

The side stages also featured Susan Justice, you might know her from a song that’s been featured on The Hills, “Forbidden Fruit”, which she played at the show, or from seeing her on Oprah. Singer song-writer Moly Jensen came out with her guitar to play original songs “Give It Time” and “When stars go blue” before doing a beautiful cover of John Lennon’s “All You Need Is Love”. Elizaveta, with a distraction of an outfit which looked more like a wedding dress than anything else – impressed the crowd with her stunning vocals.

The main stage started off with Brandi Charlie, who had no problem getting the crowd alive and on their feet, even before her cover of Jonny Cash’s “Folsom prison”, had everybody singing along with their beer cups in the air. The 12 time Grammy award winning Emmylou Harris took the stage with more of a relaxing tone getting a respectful applause but being forgotten very easily once Mexican-American hit sensation Jenni Rivera took the stage.

Jenni came out in party mode wearing bright blue and yellow, professing that she can “drink like a chola” while swigging a bottle of patron two times during her set. Covering “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was a hit among the crowd along with her original “Before The Next Teardrop”. One interesting observation was Jenni had more people on their feet (without being asked to stand) and partying than anybody earlier in the day. Jenni is a big crowd pleaser!

The stage was now setup perfectly for rock n roller Miranda Lambert who pleased crowds with her high-energy and even more personality show. Even her slower songs like “Easy From Now On” was done with more power than expected to keep the night going strong. Her entire set was filled with excitement. “Dead Flower” and “The House That Built Me” got most of the crowd on their feet and chanting along. Lambert’s friend , Brandi Carlile, also came out to do a duet with Lambert of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”. She ended the set with “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, a good ending to a high energy set. For some reason after the song I felt a bit scared being the only guy in the venue….

When the real superstar, Sarah McLachlan came out, most people were on their feet trying to inch their ways to the front of the orchestra section and scattering to find closer seats to the front to get a better view. Sarah McLachlan shined tonight with a one hour long set that even had me singing to a few of her songs. Sarah, admittedly wanting to share some new songs with the audience and almost warning the audience beforehand, was received with screams of “I love you Sarah” and “Sing whatever you want Sarah!”.

Her set started off on the Piano with a touching version of “Angel” and just got better from there with some new and old songs. The first new song, also seen on David Letterman as the unofficial advertisement for Lilith, “Loving You Is Easy” showed the audience that she is better than ever in 2010. She of course sang other hits like “I will remember you”, “Adia”, “Sweet Surrender” and “Out Of Tune”. Another song from her new album that Sarah proclaimed as her favorite, “Forgiveness”, was also a hit among screaming fans. Her set ended with a two song encore, “Ice Cream” and then she invited all the artists from the day to the stage to join in and sing “Because the Night” to end the 2010 Lilith Fair in Irvine.

A part of Lilith Fair that nobody saw, and not many usually talk about, was the donations it provides. In the last three events Lilith Fair has been responsible for $10 Million dollars in donations to various women’s charities nationwide. This year was no different with today’s donation of $9,000 to the Downtown Woman’s Center in Los Angeles. The charity provides permanent supportive housing for women among other things in the Southern California area.

If Lilith comes back again – and, according to McLachlan we should see it again, I would like to see a stage dedicated to local woman bands and not just one “local winner” that is lucky enough to play. Also, the charity check ceremony should be for everybody to see and not just the press who has failed to cover that part of the fair thus far this year.

Till next time.