December 30, 2010

Publication title: Cleveland.com, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Cleveland
Writer: John Soeder

Sarah McLachlan ready to field questions in concert

After making the rounds last summer with a revamped Lilith Tour, Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan is on the road again with bandmates Melissa McClelland and Butterfly Boucher for a “Sarah and Friends” Tour. McLachlan, 42, recently filled us in on the details by phone.

Where are you at the moment?
I’m in my bed in Vancouver. [laughs] I’m under the weather.

Nothing more therapeutic than doing press, right?
In bed! Yes.

How does the “Sarah and Friends” Tour compare to Lilith? Is your set different?
It’s much longer. The whole show is about 2 hours and 45 minutes, with an intermission in the middle. It’s reminiscent of Lilith in the sense that two of the people in my band are great singer-songwriters, and they opened on Lilith. When I was putting this tour together, people were talking about opening acts. I thought, “Why would I need them to open up for me when they’re already in my band?”
So I play a bunch of songs, then I introduce Melissa McClelland, my guitar player, and Butterfly Boucher, my bass player. They’re amazing. . . . It feels good to be able to give them a better opportunity to be heard by more people. Then I play a bunch more. I also wanted to figure out a way to engage the audience more. So I’ve asked people to write down questions. There are notepads at the merch table. You simply go there, write down whatever you want to ask and stick it in the box, and it goes into my hat. Throughout the show, I randomly pluck out questions.

Any interesting questions so far?
“Interesting” is an interesting word. Let me think. A very serious one was: “How do you view spirituality?”
I was like, “Oh, man — do you have a bottle of wine and three hours?” I’ll answer anything. . . . I’m brutally honest, actually, which gets me in trouble.

Thanks to social networking, artists and fans seem more connected than ever. What impact does fan feedback have on your career?
As far as my writing, it has absolutely no impact whatsoever. As far as when I go out to play shows, it has a great impact. When I went out to do Lilith, I put out a questionnaire to my fanbase and said, “What do you want to hear?” “Path of Thorns” was way up there, and that was one I hadn’t done for years. So I brought that back.

You had to cancel several Lilith dates because of poor ticket sales. Overall, do you regard that tour as a success?
It was a financial disaster. But it was a great success as far as my personal experience, because I’m an artist, first and foremost. I hadn’t played with a band in five years, and I hadn’t been around that energy in five years, that communal and inclusive energy. It was powerful and profound and amazing.
A big part of my love and passion for making music is playing it live.

How about your latest album, “Laws of Illusion” — did you nail it?
I’m really proud of this record.

I feel like I hit a lot of emotional peaks and put forth, as best I could, the journey that I was taking, finding myself at 40 with two small kids and single. Like, “Holy crap! How did I get here?”
The album is about picking up the pieces. And dealing with the loss and the anger and the sadness. And how to rebuild.