My first concert ever was Sarah McLachlan at Radio City Music Hall in 1995. The Canadian singer-songwriter was on tour in support of her U.S. breakthrough, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and had enlisted a then-unknown artist, Paula Cole, as the opening act despite protests from tour promoters, who claimed nobody would pay to see two women.
Of course, they were mistaken, and a few years later, McLachlan helped reimagine the touring music festival with the all-female Lilith Fair. She continues her mission to share the spotlight with other female artists on her latest trek, in celebration of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy’s 30th anniversary, with fellow Canadian Leslie Feist warming up the audience at the Hollywood Bowl last night as the marine layer rolled in and the temperature dropped.
After opening with a mini-set of popular hits and fan favorites (“I Will Remember You,” “Building a Mystery”) from subsequent releases, McLachlan launched into a track-by-track performance of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. The singer’s early work was heavily inspired by the folk music of the 1970s she grew up on, with Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush in particular informing her first two albums. By 1993, though, McLachlan and producer Pierre Marchand had developed a distinct sound of their own, and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was a decided contrast to the grungy alternative rock that was dominant at the time.
The album is polished and richly detailed, marked by gothic touches and poetry about lust, loss, and…ice cream. This is McLachlan’s first tour with a full band in a decade, and—in addition to the blistering “World on Fire” and a bluesy rendition of “Witness,” from 2003’s Afterglow and 1997’s Surfacing, respectively—they faithfully recreated the lush but electrifying sound of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.
Despite blowing out her voice during rehearsals for the tour, McLachlan’s vocals were strong and crystalline throughout the 24-song set. Her voice was especially stunning on the Fumbling deep cut “Ice,” a gospel-tinged version of the elegiac “Answer,” and a new piano ballad, “Gravity,” which resulted in a rare moment of total hushed silence from the audience.
McLachlan’s only fumble occurred when she slipped into her head voice during the tricky chorus for “Circle,” a song, it should be noted, that she hasn’t performed on tour in 30 years. “What kind of love is this that keeps me hanging on despite everything it’s doing to me?” she sang, her voice searching but not quite finding what she was looking for. It was a fitting, human moment on a song (and tour) dedicated to the thrills and perils of desire.
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