Music Review - At Lilith Fair, Sisterhood Remains Powerful, if ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/arts/music/03lilith.html?sq...

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August 2, 2010 Sisterhood? Still Powerful, if a Bit Stressed By JON CARAMANICA HARTFORD — “I don’t believe in anything but myself” were the first words sung on the main stage of the Lilith Fair revival tour, which arrived at the Comcast Theater here on Sunday. They came from “Soldier,” by Ingrid Michaelson, the soundtrack-friendly folkie from Staten Island, and they encapsulated the Lilith worldview established during the tour’s initial run from 1997 to 1999: direct, empowered, emotive, a little sullen.

A couple of minutes later, though, Ms. Michaelson sneaked in a familiar and unexpected refrain: “Can’t read my/ Can’t read my/No he can’t read my.” It was “Poker Face,” by Lady Gaga, the hyperperformative, hyperstylized pop cyborg who would seem to embody all the things Lilith fights against. Et tu, Ingrid?

Not really. That was about as much dissonance as this year’s Lilith Fair allowed. The slate on the main stage — there were two side stages operating earlier in the day — was as close to the platonic ideal of vintage Lilith as possible. (The tour, which ends on Tuesday night outside Washington, featured varying lineups in each city.)

There was the mildly cheeky piano pop of Ms. Michaelson and Sara Bareilles; firebrand roots-rock from the Indigo Girls; and moments of brilliant spite mixed with tepid spirituality by Sarah McLachlan, the durable Canadian melodramatist who is the tour’s organizer and figurehead.

The outlier was Chan Marshall, who performs as Cat Power, though performing is, in her case, a loaded word: she is legendarily challenged onstage, and here was no different. “That’s all,” she said after 30 minutes of indolent, hazy country and furtive conversations with the sound guy. “Sorry about the bad performance. Hope you have a great time.”

At least Ms. Marshall demonstrated that not all female performers are alike in temperament, a valuable lesson in diversity that was sometimes lost during this show.

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(Speculating on whether Ms. Marshall would return for the customary end-of-show all-artist jam became a fun parlor game; of course she did not.)

Elsewhere, even the rage was optimistic. The Indigo Girls were precise and devastating, their sound overwhelming, even though they had the most bare-bones setup of the day — just Amy Ray and Emily Saliers on various guitars, and Julie Wolf, playing keyboards and accordion. By now, songs like “Galileo” and “Shame on You” have become smooth from use, each rendition effortless.

Ms. McLachlan, the headliner, appeared as if in a sea of bliss, whether singing drowsy takes on comforting anthems like “I Will Remember You,” frantic older hits like “Possession” or darker songs from her most recent , “Laws of Illusion” (/Arista). Talking about the Lilith Fair vision, she exulted, “For a brief moment, we all get to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.” (Unless you are Ms. Marshall, that is.)

That moment may be brief indeed: all summer long, Lilith Fair has been hit with setbacks, casting doubts about whether this revival can continue beyond this year. About a dozen shows were canceled because of soft ticket sales — here, the theater appeared to be a little more than half full at its peak — and several big names who would have diversified the tour either saw their dates axed or withdrew. That meant no Kelly Clarkson or Rihanna and, in Hartford, no Carly Simon or Selena Gomez, who each cited health reasons for not performing.

What Lilith Fair needs to sustain itself is a new generation of performers who hew closely to its ideals. That was where Ms. Michaelson and Ms. Bareilles came in. While more urbane than their older tour mates — their prominent placement in television commercials helped cement their fame — they were still game for the tour’s communal spirit.

Ms. Bareilles, in particular, was promising, with a strong voice that emerged in unlikely places during her own set, though not on her cover of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” which was less fun than Ms. Michaelson’s cover of Britney Spears’s “Toxic.” Still, she shone on two guest appearances: during the show’s finale, performing Patti Smith’s “Because the Night,” and during the closer of the Indigo Girls’ set, “Closer to Fine.” Singing the verse about the futilities of higher education, Ms. Bareilles was grinning widely: a little excited, a little embarrassed, embracing it anyway.

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