When was the last lilith fair

Missy Elliott performing in the infamous trash bag suit. Photograph by Steve Granitz for Getty Images. Photograph by Tim Mosenfelder for Getty Images. Photograph from the Hulton Archive via Getty Images. I mean, it was really exciting. So there was always a drama. It was a crazy, frenetic day every day. I have photographs of us standing around different booths. I tried! And I realized that I will continue to fail if I try to please everybody.

Which is kind of where I got to when pro-life [activists] were picketing [our booths]. Ricky Martin exploded. Suddenly it was all about J. It was still a great turnout, but it had a different energy. The record label wanted a new record. And I have to have a life. In the decade that followed the final year of Lilith Fair, pop and hip-hop acts largely replaced singer-songwriters on the charts. Music festivals exploded in popularity, thanks in part to newcomers such as Coachella and Bonnaroo.

In , after repeated requests over the years from artists and fans alike, McLachlan agreed to headline a revival, but it failed to meet expectations. I was a punk teenager taking drugs and going to raves. I was not listening to that music. I left it completely to [Terry and Marty] to organize. It flopped, and I take responsibility for that. I heard about it as I got older, and I started watching interviews with all these great women that I looked up to, and Sarah McLachlan was one of them.

Now we see women supporting other women, which is because of things like Lilith Fair. You are f-cking smart, and you are a leader.

Show me that on Instagram, you know? That would definitely hold up today. I basically just described my office, where I streamed Coachella last weekend. This is fun! Unfortunately for women, [the music industry] is very visual and objectifying. The objectification of our bodies and using our bodies to sell things needs to change. A lot of this marketing stuff comes from men, so we definitely need [more] women behind the scenes.

The box has been ticked by Corinne Bailey Rae. SZA: We should let women be multifaceted. Women should be a boss without being [labeled] arrogant or being a bitch. It was later rebooted in , but failed to garner the same amount of buzz.

McLachlan named the concert after the Jewish biblical character Lilith, the first wife of Adam who refused to follow his orders to exit Eden. Vogue mentioned the festival in a cheeky charticle in the August issue, depicting the Lilith Fair—goer as a granola girl who attended UC Berkeley, carried a hemp book bag, and wore Missoni knits.

The tours were legendary, as they should be. Lilith came to a close in , and its attempted return in proved frustrating, with 10 canceled dates and performers like Kelly Clarkson dropping out. McLachlan still has people asking her to bring Lilith back. Her response? But a larger-scale Lilith reboot, or a festival that operates in its image, would make a statement, especially since some of the prevailing attitudes that led to Lilith being such a watershed festival still dominate music in the s.

The tomatoes of our salad are the females. Club and theater tours are more balanced, with a few lady-forward bills traveling the country — chugging indie rock act Waxahatchee is touring with Boston trio Palehound, while daughter of Lilith Michelle Branch is taking Brooklynites Haerts on the road — but the overall idea of women as some sort of musical other that should be taken in regimented doses still prevails.

Back when it started, some observers took potshots at Lilith for creating a space that was focused on women; others critiqued the festival for being too focused on female-fronted acts and ignoring women who were playing instruments. And I get to see that every day now. And you guys showed me that I could do anything.

You all inspired me to understand that I could actually do anything that I wanted to do.