Lilith Fair – Building a Mystery Doco: An Idea that Changed Music History

The mid-late 90s was a bit of a wasteland after Kurt Cobain’s death and the rise of corporate rock like Limp Bizkit. However, under the surface, hip hop, alternative and women in music were building and waiting for their breakthrough moment. For some this came with Lalapalooza, while with women musicians this big moment came with Lilith Fair. After a trial run in 1996, Lilith Fair was astronomically successful from 1997-1999. So successful that the impact of Lilith Fair can still be seen today.

As a college junior I frantically tried to find a way to get a ticket and get transport to Milwaukee. Unfortunately, a lack of a car…and money…proved too much to overcome and I had to settle for the CD. I poured over that CD and discovered Dar Williams, Patty Griffin and Joan Osborne. I had friends that went and jealously listened to tales of Indigo Girls playing with Sarah McLachlan and how great Tracy Chapman and Sheryl Crow were live. I was never able to make it to Lilith Fair, but my wife went to the 2nd last show and speaks about it fondly.

I have always had a soft spot for Lilith Fair and often listen to the two soundtracks, which are expertly produced live records. You can imagine how excited I was to hear about a Lilith Fair documentary on Disney+. It was very informative with tons of footage and excellent performances. I am going to break this down into 3 parts: a bit of the history, what really stood out to me and the legacy of Lilith Fair.

Most music festivals come from the counter culture. There is a anti-mainstream movement bubbling away and someone tries to harness that energy in a massive musical celebration. Both Lalapalooza and Woodstock came out of some counter culture movement…either anti-corporate/fuck the system 90s or love/peace/fuck the system 60s. Lilith Fair came out of a similar counter culture movement. The documentary does a great job exploring how Sarah McLachlan was sick of women musicians being treated as lesser artists in the toxic male 90s and wanted to prove a point to both the music industry and society. That point was that women musicians were talented and could sell…what better way than to have a whole festival featuring women artists.

The documentary paints a great picture of how the early days came out of a tour with Paula Cole opening for Sarah McLachlan. Having two women on the same bill was unheard of and the success of that tour led to a handful of dates with Patti Smith, Amie Man, Lisa Loeb, Sarah and Paula all performing on the same bill. This grew to 100s of artists playing 40+ dates per festival from 1997-1999. The sheer scale of the festival was well documented in the film and went far beyond what I thought. The weight of putting on such a huge show for months on end ultimately took its toll on Sarah McLachlan, who ultimately stopped Lilith Fair after 1999. Lilith Fair is something you only try to undertake if you don’t know what you’re in for…otherwise you’d never take it on.

The documentary has some great interviews with Erykah Badu, Sarah McLachlan, Lisa Loeb, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Suzanne Vega and many others. They talk about the impact of Lilith Fair on them and the empowering environment of being on tour with all women. Artists also explained how this festival led to commercial success for them and exposed them to wider audiences. There are also amazing performances from Erykah Badu (complete with incense on stage), Missy Elliott, Sinead O’Connor, Indigo Girls, Sheryl Crow, the Pretenders, the Chicks and Sarah McLachlan. So, if you are a Lilith Fair fan, these interviews and performances are worth the watch alone.

Ultimately, Sarah talks about how the backlash and logistics took a toll on her and Lilith Fair needed to end. There is a montage of people talking in a video booth at the concerts in the ’90s and you can see what an emotional experience it was for people to attend a festival of all women. People felt safe, seen, represented and loved the music. They talk a little about how the attempt to re-ignite Lilith Fair again in 2010 flopped, but this was not given enough time. It was a bit hand waved away and there was an opportunity to really explore how society shifted and festivals were no longer viable. Instead of a 90 minute doc, it could have used another 30 minutes or so in this third act to really explore what happened.

Having said that, this is an amazing documentary that touches on the millions of dollars Lilith Fair donated to women’s charities, how it responded and changed in response to criticisms of being mainly white artists, the festival’s impact and some amazing performances. This is an engrossing music doc with some top notch production…thank God Sarah decided to film everything during Lilith Fair. I think Lilith Fair has led to the rise of such a diverse musical landscape of women artists and will forever have its mark on music history.