November 14, 2014
Publication title: thechronicleherald.ca, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
Sarah McLachlan turns Halifax into her ‘living room’ for intimate concert
Openness and intimacy are the operating themes within the songs on Sarah McLachlan’s latest album, Shine On, and her fans can expect more of the same when she returns to her hometown this week.
Billed as An Evening With Sarah McLachlan, the Halifax-bred singer-songwriter brings a smaller four-piece band and a cozier stage setup on Wednesday to the Scotiabank Centre, which she last filled in March 2011 in its pre-sponsorship days as the Halifax Metro Centre.
“No matter what happens, I’ll always call it the Metro Centre,” laughs McLachlan over the phone from Vancouver, remembering seeing her first show there with Twisted Sister and Iron Maiden in 1984.
“I was 12, my poor brother had to take me, but it was a pretty awesome concert. There was a LOT of pot smoking.”
Thankfully, her Halifax fans don’t say they’re not gonna take it and run to the hills when McLachlan brings her soothing songs of romance and resilience to the downtown rink, especially when she’s playing large theatres on many of this tour’s dates.
“We’ll pare it down and drape it off, and it’ll look nice. My guy does amazing sound in arenas and it’ll sound good, but the idea is that we’re creating intimacy no matter where we go.
“We’ll also do a Q&A with the audience; I basically brought my couch and my living room with me and we put it on stage.”
Before the tour got underway, McLachlan held a social media contest, asking her audience how they “shine” in day-to-day life, and at each show a lucky few get to be her guests onstage.
It might not carry the same kind of cachet as an opening slot at Lilith Fair, but so far she’s enjoyed the spontaneity and humour that’s come out of interacting with her fans.
“It’s creating an avenue for conversation about people’s stories, and we read them and selected people in every city, and invited them to come sit in the living room while we perform,” she says.
“I’ll go in and sit down and talk with them and take pictures and so on. For me, I wanted to do something different and try and engage the audience in a different way than just me being up onstage and them being down in their seats with no physical connection, you know? I love people, and I love being around people; I do a meet-and-greet every night, and I get to hug 60 people before I go onstage, so it’s a big love-in and it feels fantastic.”
There’s nothing like some unconditional fan love after a couple of years of ups and downs that included the passing of her father and brother, and a new romance with former Vancouver Canucks left-winger Geoff Courtnall in the wake of her 2008 separation from husband and former drummer Ashwin Sood.
Produced with longtime collaborator Pierre Marchand and new friend, hitmaker Bob Rock, Shine On directly addresses these changing elements in McLachlan’s life in a series of songs that show her at her most emotionally wide open.
“I love that description,” she concurs. “I’m 46 years old, I’ve got nothing to hide. I am who I am.
“There’s not a lot of obfuscation, and it just kind of happened that way. I guess I’m just at a place in my life where I went through this cycle of writing that started with feeling pretty messed up and damaged and came around to feeling whole and strong again.
“I think that’s fairly well-represented on the record. I’m the kind of person that tries to find the silver lining in every cloud, so I am very hopeful, and even though there are some dark things in the songs, that’s just life. You don’t get to this point unscathed; it’s how you manage your disappointments and your failures and all that stuff. That’s the meaty stuff where you learn and grow and develop as a human being.
“For me, that’s the stuff that’s exciting, and I think there are moments of hope and euphoria to balance the heaviness.”
So McLachlan forges ahead on a new label, Verve Records, and with new management in the form of Sam Feldman, after leaving Nettwerk, the company that discovered her in Halifax, performing with her band the October Game over 20 years ago.
She also has a management role herself as the titular head of Vancouver’s Sarah McLachlan School of Music, which provides training to at-risk youth.
Founded 13 years ago and relocated to a new building in 2011, the school continues to inspire kids with instruction in guitar, percussion, piano and voice, and McLachlan says she has saved dozens of letters from parents who’ve written to tell her what a difference the school has made in their children’s lives.
“Stories like that are so powerful,” says the singer, who considers the institution her legacy.
“It’s my proudest achievement. I absolutely love it, to be able to give these kids access to a musical education and, beyond that, give them a community where they can … shine, basically.
“Where they can recognize their own worth, their own value, and become emotionally connected with themselves and each other. It’s awesome. I can’t go on enough about it. I love it.”
Show time for McLachlan at Scotiabank Centre is 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $59.75 to $79.75 at the Ticket Atlantic box office (902-451-1221 or ticketatlantic.com) and Atlantic Superstores.
