Lilith Fair Founder Refuses To Shut Up And Sing

Sarah McLachlan heads into the fire after coming out as woke antifa.

There was a sigh of relief across Canada when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was allowed back on the air last week and not just because ABC’s affiliate Citytv chose to fill the empty timeslot with reruns of Hudson & Rex, an embarassing Canadian show about a policeman and his dog who solve crimes in Newfoundland.

Roughly 6.26 million people stayed up late to watch Kimmel’s triumphant if temporary return to televison on Tuesday, more than triple the average ratings and despite a quarter of ABC stations across the US not airing it, while his opening monologue is currently sitting at over 26 million views on YouTube. That’s more than three quarters of the population of Canada, plenty of whom might’ve tuned in for his musical guest more than the comedian’s thoughts on being sent to the penalty box for wrongspeak.

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Sarah McLachlan has resurfaced with her first non-Christmas album in more than a decade and performed the title track “Better Broken,” a song whose refrain “some things are better broken” doubled as a reminder of the current American administration’s approach to pretty much everything. It’s hard to imagine what concessions the Trumpified FCC might expect from her host but demanding he use his middle name for Jimmy Christian Kimmel Live! is surely under consideration. Or maybe just change the house band’s name to Cletus and the Cletones and make poor Guillermo wear temporary Tren de Aragua tattoos.

The appearance was booked well before the Fourth Reich eased off the gas after discovering even normies would notice if they started with the guy who made his name hosting The Man Show, and it’s sheer coincidence my fellow Maritimer was the first musician to return to the stage at the El Capitan Theatre. But she’d already put her money where her mouth is a few days earlier by refusing to sing at the Hollywood premiere of the new documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, which was released by ABC’s parent company Disney.

“I know you’re expecting a performance tonight, and I’m so grateful to all of you for coming, and I apologize if this is disappointing, but we have collectively decided not to perform but instead to stand in solidarity in support of free speech,” McLachlan told the crowd, who were hoping to also catch sets from Jewel and up-and-comer Olivia Rodrigo, who both appear in the film.

“It’s a gift for all of us to see [this film], but also I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with, the stark contraction to the many advances we’ve made watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech. […] I think we’re all fearful for what comes next, and none of us know, but what I do know is that I have to keep pushing forward as an artist, as a woman to find a way through, and though I don’t begin to know what the answer is, I believe we all need to work towards a softening to let in the possibility of a better way, because I see music as a bridge to our shared humanity, to finding common ground.”

The screening also highlighted Disney’s support for local non-profits such as the Downtown Women’s Center, queer rights group PFLAG, and the Geena Davis Institute, who should probably all expect to see funding from the House of Maus revoked so as to not poke the bear further.

It’s easy to forget what a ground-breaking experience Lilith Fair, a female-fronted summer music tour that ran across North America between 1997 to 1999, truly was at the time. For context, Chappell Roan wasn’t born yet, and Taylor Swift was still mastering her first song on guitar. (Which was “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer, a bit of trivia we learned from watching Jimmy Kimmel Live!) With 134 dates across 54 cities, it gave an empathy- and estrogen- laden alternative to the Lollapaloozas and Warped Tours that were the rage at the time and proved women were just as capable of filling arenas as men while also raising $3.5 million ninetiesbux for charity.

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The three-time Grammy-winner has a history of being on the side of the angels. While she’s best known for saving the lives of untold cats and dogs through a much parodied SPCA commercial (including one she played along with) using her soppy hit “Angel,” the number-one song written as tribute to the late Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin also deserves credit for saving a human life. Someone else you might’ve heard of.

Darryl McDaniels, the hip-hop icon better known by his stage name DMC, hit rock bottom while on tour in Japan in the late ‘90s and said hearing it come over the radio helped him decide against suicide. “She told me to walk this way” and whatnot. The two went on to bond over their shared experience as unwanted adoptees and even collaborated on a feelgood track sampling Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle” recorded at her home studio in Whistler.

Plus there aren’t many other mainsream artists who could make your eyes moisten over a montage starring a broken-hearted doll:

Sarah should probably expect a little side-eye at home for launching a tour of the USA — albeit mostly of blue states — starting in November at a time when sensible Canadians continue the unofficial boycott of non-essential travel to the mad king’s realm, but an argument could be made that attending a Sarah McLachlan concert very much is an essential service for some people right now.

[Hollywood Reporter / Hamilton Spectator / Full doc on CBC Gem / Wonketeers on BlueSky]