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| There were two paths for America and Lilith Fair was one of them. Sadly it chose the other | There were two paths for America and Lilith Fair was one of them. Sadly it chose the other |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| The all-female tour was a counterpoint to the era’s misogyny. We could do with some of that promise today | The all-female tour was a counterpoint to the era’s misogyny. We could do with some of that promise today |
| There’s an argument to be made that the first person in the US to spot the oncoming freight train of the Maga movement – fully 17 years before the first election of Trump – wasn’t a political forecaster or a bearded contrarian but the rock star Sheryl Crow. In 1999, Crow appeared at a press conference backstage at Lilith Fair, the all-women music festival, during which she was asked about a disastrous appearance she had recently made at Woodstock ‘99. This was the Woodstock reboot in upstate New York marred by violence, sexual assault and an angry male crowd that heckled the few female artists present with, “show us your tits.” Crowe, smiling bleakly, said, “I’m hoping it doesn’t represent our future as a nation or the youth of America.” | There’s an argument to be made that the first person in the US to spot the oncoming freight train of the Maga movement – fully 17 years before the first election of Trump – wasn’t a political forecaster or a bearded contrarian but the rock star Sheryl Crow. In 1999, Crow appeared at a press conference backstage at Lilith Fair, the all-women music festival, during which she was asked about a disastrous appearance she had recently made at Woodstock ‘99. This was the Woodstock reboot in upstate New York marred by violence, sexual assault and an angry male crowd that heckled the few female artists present with, “show us your tits.” Crowe, smiling bleakly, said, “I’m hoping it doesn’t represent our future as a nation or the youth of America.” |
| Well, as they say: ha. Crow’s comments feature in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary by Ally Pankiw on Disney+ and a mind-blowing introduction to the festival for those of us who missed it. Before seeing Pankiw’s film this week, I had only the vaguest idea of what Lilith Fair was, which for someone who came of age in the 90s makes me both very uncool (what else is new?) and a terrible lesbian (ditto), but isn’t a particularly unusual oversight. Lilith Fair, which at the time won a huge amount of publicity, has in the decades since faded almost entirely from view – and for the uninitiated, it is hard to overstate just how extraordinary, thrilling, genuinely radical and extremely gay the festival, which toured the US for three summers in the late 1990s, appears from this distance. The all-female lineup featured some of the biggest names in music, including Sinéad O’Connor, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Fiona Apple, the Indigo Girls and Tracy Chapman, as well as Sheryl Crow, but watching the documentary, the main take away is the alternative version of history it offers – and how agonisingly far it is from where we are now. | Well, as they say: ha. Crow’s comments feature in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary by Ally Pankiw on Disney+ and a mind-blowing introduction to the festival for those of us who missed it. Before seeing Pankiw’s film this week, I had only the vaguest idea of what Lilith Fair was, which for someone who came of age in the 90s makes me both very uncool (what else is new?) and a terrible lesbian (ditto), but isn’t a particularly unusual oversight. Lilith Fair, which at the time won a huge amount of publicity, has in the decades since faded almost entirely from view – and for the uninitiated, it is hard to overstate just how extraordinary, thrilling, genuinely radical and extremely gay the festival, which toured the US for three summers in the late 1990s, appears from this distance. The all-female lineup featured some of the biggest names in music, including Sinéad O’Connor, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Fiona Apple, the Indigo Girls and Tracy Chapman, as well as Sheryl Crow, but watching the documentary, the main take away is the alternative version of history it offers – and how agonisingly far it is from where we are now. |
| Pankiw does a very good job of putting Lilith Fair (the Lilith of the title refers to Adam’s first wife before Eve – who knew?) in the context of late 1990s misogyny, always a shocking trip down memory lane given how recent it was. In the documentary, talking heads remind us that two female artists wouldn’t be played back-to-back on many US radio stations in case it sent a signal that the station was too female. At music festivals, the same rationale kept women in the minority and low down on the bill. Meanwhile, on TV, we revisit a parade of grotesques in the form of Howard Stern telling musician Suzanne Vega that men don’t respond to her sexually (she shrinks so far into her cardigan she seems to disappear), Bill Maher describing the Monica Lewinsky scandal as Bill Clinton “humping the fat chick”, and David Letterman chewing Jennifer Aniston’s hair while interviewing her. That guy. | Pankiw does a very good job of putting Lilith Fair (the Lilith of the title refers to Adam’s first wife before Eve – who knew?) in the context of late 1990s misogyny, always a shocking trip down memory lane given how recent it was. In the documentary, talking heads remind us that two female artists wouldn’t be played back-to-back on many US radio stations in case it sent a signal that the station was too female. At music festivals, the same rationale kept women in the minority and low down on the bill. Meanwhile, on TV, we revisit a parade of grotesques in the form of Howard Stern telling musician Suzanne Vega that men don’t respond to her sexually (she shrinks so far into her cardigan she seems to disappear), Bill Maher describing the Monica Lewinsky scandal as Bill Clinton “humping the fat chick”, and David Letterman chewing Jennifer Aniston’s hair while interviewing her. That guy. |
| Into this environment, Sarah McLachlan, the Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-Grammy award winner, who was in her late 20s at the time, came up with the idea of a touring festival featuring only female musicians. It was immediately and roundly mocked, a chorus that only got louder as the festival took off. Received wisdom at the time was that concert-goers wouldn’t show up for an all-female lineup, but from its first tour, Lilith Fair was a huge hit and the top-grossing touring festival of 1997. | Into this environment, Sarah McLachlan, the Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-Grammy award winner, who was in her late 20s at the time, came up with the idea of a touring festival featuring only female musicians. It was immediately and roundly mocked, a chorus that only got louder as the festival took off. Received wisdom at the time was that concert-goers wouldn’t show up for an all-female lineup, but from its first tour, Lilith Fair was a huge hit and the top-grossing touring festival of 1997. |
| The concert footage is glorious, but it’s the behind-the-scenes stuff that stays with you. Lilith was referred to in the press – not in a fun way! – as Lesbopalooza and mocked by various mainstream comedy shows that, in the documentary, serve as a useful reminder of how wrong Saturday Night Live sometimes gets it, and how right those of us who always hated Will & Grace were. McLachlan was under intense pressure to invite men on to the bill, and almost did – until Emmylou Harris counselled her to stand firm. This is how the festival worked: as an informal mentoring environment, a vibe that spilled out beyond the stage. Audiences not welcome in other settings, music or otherwise, sensed the difference at Lilith. The actor Dan Levy, who coproduced the documentary, went to a Lilith gig as a closeted teenager and felt at home for the first time. | The concert footage is glorious, but it’s the behind-the-scenes stuff that stays with you. Lilith was referred to in the press – not in a fun way! – as Lesbopalooza and mocked by various mainstream comedy shows that, in the documentary, serve as a useful reminder of how wrong Saturday Night Live sometimes gets it, and how right those of us who always hated Will & Grace were. McLachlan was under intense pressure to invite men on to the bill, and almost did – until Emmylou Harris counselled her to stand firm. This is how the festival worked: as an informal mentoring environment, a vibe that spilled out beyond the stage. Audiences not welcome in other settings, music or otherwise, sensed the difference at Lilith. The actor Dan Levy, who coproduced the documentary, went to a Lilith gig as a closeted teenager and felt at home for the first time. |
| And a lot of the naysayers came around. Chrissie Hynde thought she was too cool for Lilith but was persuaded to turn up and was smitten. Sandra Bernhard initially said no, “because I assumed it had a ‘ladies of the canyon’ vibe – the earnestness of it.” Then she looked at the playlist, realised she wanted to hang out with everyone on it, and understood it was radical, not earnest. Lilith Fair was well organised, mutually supportive, entirely without crowd control problems and, from its profits, gave $10m to charity. Meanwhile, over at Woodstock ‘99, Kid Rock was encouraging people to throw water bottles at the stage and the crowd burned down concessions stands. | And a lot of the naysayers came around. Chrissie Hynde thought she was too cool for Lilith but was persuaded to turn up and was smitten. Sandra Bernhard initially said no, “because I assumed it had a ‘ladies of the canyon’ vibe – the earnestness of it.” Then she looked at the playlist, realised she wanted to hang out with everyone on it, and understood it was radical, not earnest. Lilith Fair was well organised, mutually supportive, entirely without crowd control problems and, from its profits, gave $10m to charity. Meanwhile, over at Woodstock ‘99, Kid Rock was encouraging people to throw water bottles at the stage and the crowd burned down concessions stands. |
| Two versions of the future at the turn of the millennium – we know which way America went. In 2010, McLachlan tried to reboot the festival at a time when the music industry was going through a bland patch and, with Barack Obama in the White House, the world seemed to have moved on to a more hopeful place. Someone call McLachlan; it’s time to put another show on the road. | Two versions of the future at the turn of the millennium – we know which way America went. In 2010, McLachlan tried to reboot the festival at a time when the music industry was going through a bland patch and, with Barack Obama in the White House, the world seemed to have moved on to a more hopeful place. Someone call McLachlan; it’s time to put another show on the road. |
| Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist | |
| Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist | |
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