back to concerts-list | back to discography

June 21 - USA - George (WA) - the Gorge Amphitheater - Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour

emporer's new clothes
thief of your heart
i am stretched on your grave
john, i love you
in this heart
fire on babylon
last day of our acquaintance
nothing compares 2 u

by Dana;

Well, I went to Lilith at the Gorge in Washington state, where Sinead opened, and it was all-around fantastic, as was, of course, Sinead.
Her set was basically the same as the others, starting w/Emperor's New Clothes and ending w/Last Day of Our Aquaintance, except it didn't include Jackie and she used NC2U as her "encore".
I was really far back in General Admission, but had really good binoculars, so I got a good look at her performance the whole time. Whe was wearing a plaid short-sleeved shirt and black cargo pants and these sort of platform clog shoes which she kicked off very soon into the set (this was kind of funny b/c later Erykah and Natalie did the same thing onstage). She looked even tinier than last year, but not unhealthily so. She did her funny little dance where she plants her feet and sways.
Anyway, she started out sort of weak----Emperor's was really quite unimpressive which is unfortunate b/c it's one of my fav songs. Thief of Your Heart did not rock as well as it could/should have, either. John I Love You was gorgeous, and the crowd was pretty close to dead silent listening to her sing In This Heart (not as good as last year's, but still very moving). She dedicated John I Love You to John Reynolds for his 40th birthday which happened to be that day. She dedicated the set to the men of the world b/c it was father's day. Fire on Babylon rocked with real power (her voice was truly amazing on this one)----she had finally really warmed up. She did again only mouth the Rasta Man lyrics. Too bad!!!!
For NC2U, she told people to feel free to sing along if they knew "this one". I had begun to think that she wasn't going to play it. People were definitely singing along, and she smiled a little cynically at them, but she really got into the song, and sang with loads of emotion. The best part about it was that she gave a very slightly new sound to the song by giving it a more bluesy feel, less chilly than the album version. It was hugely enjoyable.
The whole time she seemed very comfortable and in good spirits. Although she was still shy (almost embarassed) at the moments of applause. She was so incredibly cute!!!!
Anyway, as I ramble on......I wasn't expecting it, but later on, during the Indigo girls set she was in the wings admiring Erykah Badu's new baby and holding pieces of paper. All of a sudden she ran out and joined the Indigo Girls. She sang a short solo piece in the beginning. I am completely unfamiliar with the Indigo Girls' music, but it sounded like it may have been called My Lonely Child or something similar (not the Dreaming of the Bones I don't think). She stayed and sang the rest of the song. Later she came out w/Sarah M. and they all sang together. I was jumping up for joy!!!! Maybe someone else who was there would know the names of the songs.
Sadly, I didn't record the show as I can't afford to buy a recorder......
It was all glorious, although I agree Sinead wasn't as strong and powerful as last year.

---------------------

by Gogobooty3
so upon arriving we discovered sinead was FIRST on the main stage at 5:20. we found our seats, which were the best i have ever had for someone i really dig (i once had 2nd row tix for the CARS but who CARES?) we were in the 5th row, EXACTLY in the center. i was precisely aligned with sinead's microphone and i was smiling, hideously smug.
the previous paragraph about how beautiful it was on the drive had a reason, because one needs to understand how incredibly gorgeous (sorry!) the gorge ampitheatre is! directly behind the stage is sheer cliff going down 100s of feet. the river is huge and shining silver below and on the opposite bank the cliff rises up again, all these colorful bands of sedimentary rock. the breeze blows across the gorge and makes it comfortable even while it is warm. the storm was still lurking over the mountains we had passed through and if you watched you could occasionally see lightning bolts jutting through the clouds while the sun shined on us. this was the setting for the show, and i was already feeling happy and fortunate before i saw any performances!
so miss Sinead came on...(for mandy:) she wore loose black pants, sort of army camoflauge style with big side pockets on the legs, black thick soled slide shoes with a short sleeved red & gray plaid shirt. i think the length of her hair (1/4-1/2") is perfectly yummy and fuzzy and suits her face. her nails were short & painted and so were her toenails, a dark color like "vamp" by chanel. she had on a gold ring on her left hand, 3rd finger, appearing suspiciously married while also sporting the extremely cute "baby dyke" look.
she was very smiley and sweet, welcomed everyone & said since it was father's day she wanted to dedicate the show to all the great men of the world (i am paraphrasing throughout). she said this as if expecting to take some shit for the statement but those who responded did so positively.

overall i thought the sound was horrible. there were these tremendous shrieks of feedback that those on stage seemed oblivious to. in fact my ears had just been pierced when sinead gave the sound guy a big thumbs up, so apparently all was well in the monitors & her earpiece. (jeez). her crew did a long ass soundcheck, i don't see why they can't get it right...
there were some funny moments and stuff i wanted to remember better to relay to you all, but i hafta say, beyond jotting down the song titles & the scantiest of notes i just don't have it in me to be a fabulous journalist when i am watching her sing. i couldn't even think of anything to yell! again i was weepy through many songs, except during NC2U & last day, which feels sentimental to me now.
when she introduced "john, i love you" she dedicated it to john reynolds her drummer & best friend & the father of her son, because it was father's day and also his 40th birthday. she then sorta started pimpin for him! she said he's a great guy and he's AVAILABLE and HUNGRY! she was walkin away as she said this and kind of turned her head back to us and said he's my EX-husband with a really big smile and a smarty pants grin that was totally genuine.
while sinead seemed happy and at ease (she kicked off her shoes and danced a little) i thought she was not singing her best. the air was very dry and she did quieter arrangements of emporer, stretched and last day. in this heart sounded wonderful but it was 100 times better with the screaming orphans last summer. her band is made up of good muscians, but they are not great singers for her. she didn't hit the last high of FIRE, she didn't ad lib at the end of it or much of anything else (i am forgetting something here). she thought she was out of time after last day and came back sort of sheepish, saying oh we have 5 more minutes left. she invited everyone to sing along to NC2U and laughed when one section sang the "aahhh" parts at the ends of the lines.
later she came back & sang with the indigo girls. i don't know much of their stuff after their first album but sinead sang some part of a chicken guy song?! sinead & sarah maclachlan sang on some other song at the end of their set (again i don't know the song title.)
sinead did not come back for the big end of the show finale---i think she had left already...i wanted more more more. her 40 minutes seemed so much shorter than everyone else's!