Concert Reviews

By the time I learned who Sarah McLachlan was, she had already passed through town once at the beginning of her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy World Tour, so I didn't think I'd get the chance to see her. When I found out she would be back again, I was thrilled. I had already fallen in love with her siren's voice, and the only thing I could imagine that would be better than listening to her music on CD would be to listen to her music live. So as soon as tickets went on sale, I was there. Unfortunately, up until that point, my experience with general admission tickets had been that they were "pit tickets," and therefore right by the stage, so that is what I bought. When we went to the concert, though, I found out that they were lawn seats, and behind the pavillion. Oh, well. I was too happy to be there to care. Besides, the Evans Amphitheater at Cain Park is pretty small, so we weren't all that far away. The people around us were pretty cool, too. The guy in front of us shared his ugly fruit with us, and then stuck the "ugly" sticker on his wife, which was funny, but he ended up telling her it was there, so she smacked him good-naturedly. When the show finally started, a hush fell over the crowd. I was amazed at the respect the audience had for her. She talked a lot at that concert, about how someone had stolen her clothes out of her friend's car and that's why she was wearing her silver pants, about her jilted love songs and how she had written "Plenty" about a past lover who she had expected to be with forever, about how she got the idea for "Elsewhere" when she was sick and on cold medicine and just wanted to be left alone. She talked about the boy she had written "Ben's Song" for, and she played a new song for us, one on who's name she couldn't decide: "Full of Grace" or "Fall From Grace." She dedicated "Mary" to "her sister, the Moon," and encouraged everyone to sing along to "Ice Cream" in her encore. She played all of "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" except for "Circle," and a lot of her older songs, too. She was incredible, and her band was in rare form, as well. It was a privilege to be there. That concert was the first one she did after taking a break from touring, and everyone seemed at their best. I can't imagine a better way to spend a summer evening than on a blanket in the grass with Sarah's voice gliding like silk on the warm, rain and honeysuckle night air up to her sister, the Moon.

At last, after over two years of waiting, Sarah was going to be on tour again by herself, and I was going to see two of her Ohio shows. The first one was at Cleveland Music Hall, a relatively small venue, and I knew I wanted good seats for that show. On the day they went on sale, I was up early and waiting so I would be first in line to get tickets. The guy at NRM Music where I got my tickets was awesome. I told him what I was waiting for, and he was ready before Ticketmaster opened at 10. He explained that there were only two seats available in the center section front row, and that all of the center section was pre-booked back to row L. He asked if I wanted to try for the center seats, which I probably wouldn't get, or for something off to the side, where I would probably get good seats. I decided to go for the front row center seats. The risk was worth it; after all, there are really no bad seats at Music Hall. He began keying in the request before the system went up so that he could be the first one in, and believe it or not, he was. We got those two front row tickets. I was so excited I could have kissed the guy. When the day of the concert came, my husband and I drove in to Cleveland and were there a little early. They were playing Delerium's "Karma," which is an awesome album. I was curious to see who would be sitting near us, since all of those seats never went on sale. I figured they were all people who "know" Mike Belkin. (I think everyone in the Cleveland area "knows" Mike Belkin, or at least knows someone who knows him...even a friend of mine used to babysit his kids. I think that man must have more friends than God.) So we talked to a few people, and everyone was cool and excited about seeing Sarah. I was totally unprepared for the person who came and sat down next to me. The man was a complete jackass. I couldn't believe for a minute that this man even knew who Sarah was, let alone that he was a fan of hers. He was there with some friends, and they were loud and obnoxious. He was one of those people who like to show off that they have good seats by sitting on the edge of the orchestra pit and shouting to everyone he thought he knew, facing the rest of the audience. As if this weren't bad enough, he then proceeded to "drum," banging his hands insanely on his lap and kicking the seat next to mine, which was attached to mine. I told him to cut it out, and he gave me some lame excuse about being a drummer for so long he just couldn't stop. Um, if that man is a drummer, then my grandma married Axl Rose. I was concerned that I would have to push him into the pit to shut him up when the show started, but he settled down, much to my relief. Madeleine Peyroux was the opening act, and I thought she was pretty good. Her music wasn't exactly my style, but her voice was awesome. The audience was polite, but not very enthused. That changed when Sarah came out. Instead of a hush, everyone screamed. She played a long set that included most, if not all, of "Surfacing," a lot of "Fumbling," some of "Solace," and a song or two from "Touch." I think she was ready to devote her attention to her own tour. It was amazing being so close to her, knowing that she could see me any time she looked down. I could see everything: the wood grain on her guitar, the beauty mark on her chin, the frown of her eyebrows when she didn't think something sounded like it should, the fat diamond on her left hand. This is going to sound corny, but its true, I swear...the coolest part of being in the front row was that twice, I know she looked at me. I mean, I felt that shock of recognition that you get when you know someone is looking at you. The second time it happened, I smiled at her, and she smiled back. That is probably boring to those of you who have been lucky enough to meet Sarah and talk to her, but that is the closest I have come, and I thought it was pretty cool. There were some neat highlights to that show, such as the fact that it was Sean's birthday, and they brought out a cake for him and everyone sang happy birthday, while Brian Minato captured it all on video. The songs I most enjoyed were "Ice," "Witness," "Plenty," "Possession," and "Building a Mystery." I especially liked when Ashwin played his Fred Flintstone drums, and during "Ice" how it was just Sarah, Ash, and Camille melding the music together. It was a wonderful show; different than the first one I went to, but I think it was the audience who changed, and Sarah and the band who stayed the same.

Photos from the Cleveland show courtesy of Scene Magazine. See their review of this concert here


Columbus, Ohio--October 31, 1997

Two days later, I got to see Sarah again, this time at the Veteran's Memorial Hall. The venue was kind of ugly, but I had front row center tickets to this show also, and even though the stage was farther away, I was psyched. I already knew it was going to be a good show. There was no one that was unduly strange sitting by us this time, even though there were a lot of people in costume since it was Halloween. The show started with Madeleine Peyroux again, and she and her two musicians were painted up for Halloween. It was fun, and this crowd was much livelier than the one in Cleveland had been. Everyone was excited for Sarah to start, and when she came out, it was a big surprise. The whole band was in costume! It was hilarious. Sarah and Camille were dresed like men (and Sarah looked eerily like my brother-in-law), Brian was dressed like a guy from KISS, Sean was dressed like a friar, Vince, on keyboards, was dressed like a woman (and let me tell you, I saw my share of his underpants!), and Ashwin was dressed like a skeleton. And Rex was dressed like a black lab. There were some ladies in the audience a little too excited about Sarah being dressed like a man, though. I would have had a picture for you, but unfortunately, my camera doesn't have a flash I can turn off, and I didn't want it to get taken away. Plus, I didn't want Sarah to see me taking her picture, and there I was in plain sight. Niether of the two I managed to take from my lap came out. One was unrecognizable, and the other one is a great picture of the lights over the stage. I guess I overestimated the angle a little. Oh, well. I have my memories. There were lit Jack o' lanterns on the stage, and that awesome burning pumpkin smell was in the air. One thing I was impressed with is that even though the songs were in the same order and even though some of the things she talked about were the same, it was obviously a different show. It was still spontaneous. She talked about different things and she reacted differently to things, and I think they had a good time doing that show. For example, Sarah messed up twice on the words suring this show. Once during "Ice Cream," and once during "Do What You Have to Do." It was funny, because for "Ice Cream," she said, "everyone here knows how to cr--fight," and laughed because she messed up. With "DWYHTD," it was funny because here she is singing a sad song, and in the middle she yells out, "that's not right!" when she said one of the parts wrong. It was kind of cute. At the end of this show, Brian had one of those fake blood capsules in his mouth, which he broke to the full KISS effect, and Vince caught it all on tape for him. Rex came out and sniffed around, a few people threw flowers, and it was over. It had been a fantastic show, and after two encores, the audience went home completely satisfied. When we were walking out, we saw Madeleine Peyroux's guitarist by an exit, so we talked to him for a while, and he was going to try to get us in to see Sarah. He had already given the two meeting passes he had to a couple of girls, one of whom was on the verge of tears and fainting, but he was going to see if they could be switched out, or if Sarah would agree to have us all back. I bet we would have been able to, if not far Scott, #76, bad ass concert staff. I almost feel bad for the guy. He's not even allowed backstage, but he thinks his little minimum wage job gives him such power. Anyway, he provoked me and because I didn't silently accept his abuse, he said I had to leave. It made me so furious, because even if we couldn't go back, that was the door she would be leaving from. Everyone else came out that way. We would have been able to meet her, and I could have thanked her for all she's done for me by making her beautiful music, but no, thanks to Mr. Scott. Oh, well. There's always next time. One of these days I'll be able to meet her. It was a hell of a show, anyway, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.


As I said before, all three of the Sarah concerts I have been to were fantastic, but I kind of miss the way the crowd was at the first show I went to of her's. Now that she is so well known, there are a lot more people who go to the shows that know only one or two of her songs, or who have heard of her and want to see who she is, and those people don't have the same respect for her that her true fans have. They are loud at her concerts when they should be quiet, they take up space that people who really appreciate her music could have been in. Like that guy at the Cleveland Surfacing show. He wasn't a fan of hers, and yet there he was in the front row. I bet there are a million people out there who would have given almost anything to have that seat, but there he was. It's a shame. I am glad she's gotten so well reknowned and popular, for her sake, but I still miss the old style of concert. As I said before, it isn't she who changed, it's the audience.

I'm sure a lot of people have stories about seeing Sarah McLachlan in concert, probably better than mine, but I had a good time. A Sarah concert is one I would never miss for anything. If you like reading reviews of Sarah's concerts, there is a page dedicated to just that. If you'd like to visit it, just click here.

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