Friday, August 13, 1999
Lilith Fair loosens up
BY LARRY NAGER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Pretenders had the pivotal set at Riverbend's Lilith Fair Wednesday.
Akron native Chrissie Hynde played up her roots, calling the crowd Buckeyes and singing about her town in “My City Was Gone.” The animal rights activist got most local as she happily announced Procter & Gamble had stopped animal testing.
But it was when she and her latest Pretenders (with original drummer Martin Chambers) rocked “Back on the Chain Gang” that they turned the hot, sedentary crowd into a huge Lilith Dance Party.
But the Pretenders' final Lilith show will be remembered for fair founder Sarah McLachlan's farewell gesture to Ms. Hynde, the '99 tour's designated foremother.
Wearing a red, sequined tube top, Ms. McLachlan joined Ms. Hynde for “Middle of the Road.” But she stopped the song dead when she suddenly faced Ms. Hynde and, back to the audience, raised her top to “flash” the rock veteran.
That bawdy camaraderie set the tone for the loosest, most celebratory Lilith yet.
The event had its serious side, as the predominantly female, multi-generational crowd strolled an “alterna-mall” that included booths for breast cancer awareness and other women's issues.
But the main stage was nothing but a party, as artists visited one another's shows.
Ms. McLachlan sang with everyone; Sheryl Crow and Ms. Hynde came on for the Indigo Girls; the Indigos joined Ms. Crow to jam the Who's “Squeeze Box.” Everyone, including Sue Vogel of Grace in Gravity, the local band that opened the day at 3:25, sang the finale, Bob Dylan's “I Shall be Released.”
Deborah Cox was the most flexible main stager. She opened the stage with tight, modern R&B, returned to duet the delicate “Angel” with Ms. McLachlan, then stole the finale with full-throated gospel.
Ms. Crow and band delivered a world-class rock show with a blazing “Every Day is a Winding Road” (bongos by Ms. McLachlan's drummer/husband Ashwin Sood) and, with Ms. McLachlan, “Strong Enough.”
The Indigos' meandering hootenanny was the only disappointment, a far whimper from their arena-rocking '97 Lilith.
The friskiness Ms. McLachlan displayed to Ms. Hynde carried to her own set. Uptempo tunes rocked harder, while her ballads, such as the unplugged “I Will Remember You,” dripped with languid sensuality.
Maybe the solar eclipse inspired her. “That would have been a cool party,” she mused. Even without solar activity, she threw one pretty cool party herself.
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