The documentary explores Lilith Fair, a musical festival founded by Sarah McLachlan that focused on female solo musicians and female-led bands. McLachlan, Paula Cole, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Erykah Badu, Bonnie Raitt, Jewel, Olivia Rodrigo, Indigo Girls, Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, Liz Phair, Joan Osborne, and Suzanne Vega are among those interviewed. There are also old interviews with Tracy Chapman, Missy Elliott, Lisa Loeb, Chrissie Hynde, and Sinéad O’Connor. There’s lots of concert footage (worth it just to see Sarah McLachlan and Sinéad O’Connor sing Angel together!). Fellow Canadian Dan Levy is one of the producers.
The documentary is available on CBC Gem in Canada and Hulu/Disney+ in the United States. If you recently canceled your Hulu/Disney account, you can watch on the CBC website.
Some of the things Lilith Fair did:
* Specifically sought out female sound engineers and female techs to work on the tour.
* Lilith Fair was the first tour to provide extended health coverage to the stage crew. Sarah’s tour manager said that there were grown men who cried because they finally had dental coverage for their kids.
* Sarah donated $1 from each ticket sale to a local charity at each tour stop. In 1998, Lilith Fair donated $3.5 million. In 1999, the festival donated $2.8 million. Over three tours, Lilith Fair raised more than $10 million for local women’s shelters and non-profits.
* The fair had a “village” of about 40 tents/tables for groups like Amnesty International, the Sierra Club, RAINN, the Breast Cancer Fund, Planned Parenthood, and local feminist bookstores.
* In the months between the first and second Lilith Fair, many of the artists found mainstream success, disproving the music industry’s belief that having two female artists tour together would not be successful. Sarah McLachlan’s album Surfacing debuted at #2. Jewel’s Pieces of You had been released in 1995 to lackluster sales and then re-released in 1997. Following the first Lilith Fair, the album peaked at #4. Albums by Meredith Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, and the Indigo Girls were all charting. Six of the Lilith Fair artists were nominated for Grammys that year (Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Meredith Brooks, Sarah McLachlan).
* Some of the artists who performed on the smaller stages before they were famous: Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Nelly Furtado, Dido, Tegan and Sara, Sixpence None the Richer, and India Arie. The festival set up an area near the smaller stage so that these artists could sell their CDs and sign autographs after their sets.
A few of the garbage things that happened:
* When they were seeking sponsors for the first Lilith Fair, a water company declined to sponsor the tour because they were “focusing on a male audience.”
* In Houston, the Woodlands Pavilion did not want to allow the local Planned Parenthood affiliate to have a table. Joan Osborne was incensed by this, saying that it was deceptive of the venue to book the festival there and then refuse to let PP have a table or give out flyers at the event. The eventual compromise was that PP was allowed to have a table but none of the Lilith Fair artists were not allowed to mention PP. In response, Joan Osborne and everyone in her band wore shirts that said, “I AM THE FACE OF PRO-CHOICE TEXAS – PLANNED PARENTHOOD” during their set.
* Anti-choice protestors regularly came to the shows and tried to block the entrances to the parking lot, hold up signs about witches, and yell at audience members at the venue entrances. Jerry Falwell said the festival was named after a demon. The tour received multiple bomb threats.
