LILITH FAIR / KELLY CLARKSON:
What went wrong with Lilith Fair this summer? Everyone I know has been ecstatic for the return of The Mothership, Miss Sarah McLachlan, back with her first album in 7 years, and finally relaunching the summer music festival that celebrates the power of women in rock. Maybe it’s the high ticket prices, maybe it’s the lineup of artists, or maybe it’s hard to re-create the pure artistry that happened from 1997-1999 when we’re now living in a Ke$ha world. The original tour featured singer-songwriters, girls with guitars and pianos including Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, Jewel, the Indigo Girls and Tracy Chapman. Subsequent years added bands like then-newcomers The Murmurs and Tegan & Sara into the mix.
The 2010 version features many of the same originals with a few big pop production names thrown in like Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson. But then a bunch of dates got canceled:
“We are in the midst of one of the most challenging summer concert seasons with many tours being cancelled outright,” says Lilith co-founder Terry McBride. “Everyone involved with the tour would like to apologize to the fans and artists scheduled to play in these markets, and express appreciation for all the support for the festival’s return. Lilith remains the only tour of its kind, and we are confident that fans will be amazed by what each date has to offer.”
They’ve been forced to cancel 13 shows (Salt Lake City, 7/12; Montreal, 7/23; Raleigh, 8/4; Charlotte, 8/6; West Palm Beach, 8/10; Tampa, 8/11; Birmingham, 8/12; Austin, 8/14; Houston, 8/15; and Dallas, 8/16) on the original 35-date schedule. So what’s going on? Everything looks good on these videos! That being said, omg Houston in August? Someone was gonna die of heatstroke, maybe it’s better this way.
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Kelly Clarkson writes on her blog:
“With the news of canceled Lilith dates and my current progress in the studio, we’ve made the decision not to tour this summer. I’m going to miss seeing y’all, but I hope that when you hear what we’ve been working on, you’ll be as excited as I am. I’ve been working with some amazing people and am stoked about this next album!”
On the other side of it all, you can check out their beautiful photostream on flickr and wish they were still coming to your city. It looks like fun!
So what went wrong this summer with Lilith Fair? What is keeping you from checking out the show in your city?
GLEE:
To the surprise of no one, everyone who’s ever stepped foot on the Glee set got an Emmy nomination this morning including our very own Jane Lynch! Who do ya think has the best shot of winning an Emmy for Glee?
Lea Michele (Actress in a Comedy)
Matthew Morrison (Actor in a Comedy)
Chris Colfer (Supporting Actor in a Comedy)
Jane Lynch (Supporting Actress in a Comedy)
Kristin Chenoweth (Guest Actress in a Comedy)
Neil Patrick Harris (Guest Actor in a Comedy)
Mike O’Malley (Guest Actor in a Comedy)
(@latimes)
MELISSA ETHERIDGE / TAMMY LYNN MICHAELS:
Our hearts really went out to these two, and we hoped that they would work this out privately, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. Tammy has written two reactionary blog posts after Melissa filed for divorce last weekend. She also describes, in detail, conversations she had with Melissa in 2001, where they discussed Tammy giving up her career to stay home with Melissa’s two children from her prior relationship with Julie Cypher.
“I was always the house wife after that. The only thing i hated about it was not bringing in money- i have made my own money since i started babysitting at 10, and having a newspaper route at 11. having no steady paycheck killed me for those years with her. and now it’s really killing me.”
Now court documents reveal Etheridge is seeking joint custody of their children and asked the court not to award financial support to Michaels.
They appeared together as recently as last summer in an episode of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, where they invited the cameras into their home to make cookies and prep Kathy for her big gay rights speech.
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SCISSOR SISTERS:
Jake Shears, Ana Matronic and the crew are back on the road later this summer in support of their brand new album, Night Work.
ADAM LAMBERT:
Check out outtakes from Glambert’s album cover shoot.
LINDSAY LOHAN:
Warning: this is really depressing! The complete guide to Lindsay Lohan‘s incarceration. (@gawker)
JOHNNY WEIR:
Johnny Weir talks to Out about officially coming out when his book is released in January.
“I’ve always been comfortable with who I am. When it comes to my sexuality, I just finished the chapter in my book about my sexuality and my idea of it. I haven’t discussed it — not because I’m ashamed of anything you’ll read about when my book comes out — I just don’t want to put it out there in a way where someone can twist my words. While I don’t believe in masculinity and femininity, I don’t believe in a purely gay person or a purely straight person. I have a very clear opinion of my own sexuality. I’m not saying anything about my sexuality because I want it to be out there in my own words.”
(@out)
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT:
This really annoying USA Today article on The Kids Are All Right focuses entirely on the romance between Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, completely ignoring the fact that the movie is centered on the relationship between Moore’s character with Annette Benning.
Is that Melissa Etheridge malarky real life?
Way to be a dbag, M-Dawg.
Werd on the dbaggery.
What went wrong for Lilith Fair for me is in my area, there weren’t any of the people I wanted to see, like T&S. Hell, even Kelly Clarkson would have been nice. But I guess no one is seeing her now. While I sort of don’t mind the people on the So. Cal. schedules, I don’t want to pay $50+ to see people I sort of like. I’d rather wait till Brandi Carlile, for example, plays a small club for $20 a ticket.
same here, the people i was stoked to see weren’t coming to the show in my area. and i’m going to new york for the first time for a week anyways.
P.S.
i really want Chris Colfer to win.
Chris Colfer should win everything forever.
My gf and I actually had tickets, and the day before decided we just weren’t all that excited for it anymore. We simply just didn’t go (also, she was PISSED that we had bought tix right away, and then later could have gotten the same tix for half the price. Left a bad taste in our mouths.)
My wife and I did the same thing…skipped the SF Bay Area concert on Monday and lost money. Granted, we were exhausted from a backpacking trip in Yosemite, but the lineup also seemed ho hum. Couldn’t sell the txt because they were going for dirt cheap from Ticketmaster the night before. Bangels and Heart are great and all, but the lineup generally sucked.
I bought tickets to the Holmdel, NJ Lilith Fair when they were on sale for half price. Afterward my NYC friends informed me that it was a bitch to get to and declined to buy tickets (even at super duper cheap!) I guess I’m going to be stuck with a sketchy CL rideshare like the one I did to Montreal where the driver told me, “Every time you see these punk-ass Canadian teenagers thinking they’re so cool, just think to yourself, ‘Well, you may look cool, but I’m American.'”
I couldn’t believe there would be no NYC or Long Island (Jones Beach) show. I probably would’ve gone too, but I ain’t trekking my ass to Jersey.
I had tickets to Lilith in Charlotte and am completely bummed that it was cancelled. Looking at the list of performers, no, I wasn’t drawn in to seeing them all, but I looked forward to it, thinking I might enjoy seeing someone I’d never heard or watched before. And the performers that I DID want to see, justified the cost, otherwise I would have ended up paying MORE money at some point to see all of their show’s individually. So I thought it was a good deal for all the performers involved. Having said that, I’ve been to festivals that have charged maybe $100 more, but really offered a better deal because of being a two day event and having an insane amount of bands, REALLY justifying the cost.
I do think that having the line up changes at particular venues might have been a turn off. For instance, I had Charlotte tickets and that was the only show I could afford to attend and the names on the bill were a draw. Now, another show has been announced that’s closer with maybe one performer that I would be really excited to see, but I’m not going to shell out more money just to see that one person, even though i would like to go. It’s kind of like an either/or choice. If the line up had maybe been the same in each city…? I understand the draw to offer different performers at different stops, but at the same time, some cities might be less of a draw because of it or people might be disappointed because they won’t have the chance to see the performer they were hoping for, thus not buying a ticket.
The final two thoughts could be:
1. Tickets + hotel + gas + food, etc…
2. SO many concerts and festivals right now, lots of money already spent, not enough for more shows.
I’m really picking and choosing this summer and fall because of money. If I’ve already seen a performer in previous years, even if I love them, I’m holding off. Staying closer to home and seeing new bands on my radar at “before anyone knew them” prices and choosing only a couple of big name shows (Lady Gaga, HELLO!) seems to be working for me.
Being a music addict, this is hard, but being in debt to Mastercard is NOT priceless.
Oh, don’t forget, Jane also was nominated in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series category for her role as a Charlie Sheen’s therapist on Two and a Half Men! So that’s two nominations. Finally.
Re: Lilith Fair. Jessica Herman over at Slate had an interesting article about whether we need a Lilith Fair anymore – http://www.slate.com/id/2258360. (For those who don’t want to read the article, her answer is No, but I’m still going.). And FYI to Lilith Fair organizers – no matter how many ways you cut it, Irvine is NOT Los Angeles. Irvine is in Orange County, Los Angeles is in Los Angeles County. So, not only does the line-up for the “LA” stop look meh, the venue is in a totally different county. Great.
I went to Lilith in 97 and 98…in Houston…yes it was crazy hot! That being said, the venue was packed. Hell, I still have my t-shirts!
I can only imagine the crappy economy adding to the lack of sales.
Honestly, both myself and my partner were not too thrilled about going to an outdoor venue in the middle of summer (we’re not in our 20s anymore and sitting on a hill in 100 plus heat is a no go) this go around.
Hooold up – Johnny Weir is gay?
The Chicago Lilith Fair lineup (Mary J. Blige, Meagan Smith, Courtyard Hounds, Kate Nash, Vita Chambers, Vedera, Katie Todd, Sarah McLachlan, La Roux, Heart) didn’t seem worth the ticket price & drive to/from Tinley Park, although I do like several of the artists, but then I signed up to volunteer with Reverb to work at either a recycling or a photo booth, so I’ll get to see a good chunk of the show for free.
Let’s not forget that bit of a “mix up” (read: WTF WERE THEY THINKING???), when Lilith had the “vote for a women’s charity in your town, and we’ll donate to them” and they picked anti-choice, anti-women “crisis pregnancy centers.” Talk about a slap in the face.
I had been really excited about the tour up until that point, then I realized this was NOT the same show it had been… then it kept going down hill. What an ill planned, ill prepared mess!
I was excited about Lilith Fair until the lineups came out, and the one for my area straight up sucked. No one I really cared to see at all.
I got 4 free tickets to Lilith Fair in Seattle last weekend (well, really, George, Washington which is 3 hours away) and went with my lady and two great friends. We saw Colbie Collait, Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, Erykah Badu and Sarah McLachlan. It was a TON of fun, and I would highly recommend that people suck it up and go! That said, I did get free tickets, so that may have added to my enjoyment of the concert.
Too expensive, not great lineup.
i’m actually happy lilith got cancelled in montreal, now i don’t have to feel like i missed anything.
They took forever to announce the line up for Austin and didn’t even really have a venue lined up. I can’t believe they canceled all 3 texas dates, too.
I would be more likely to throw down money and even travel for lilith if it had more performers. Why not an all female or mostly female festival on the scale of acl or bonnaroo?
I planned on going to a show in either Philly or DC. I just checked concerts in my area and only saw one artist that really, intrigued me, and that was Janelle Marie. What happened to the multiethnic lineup ? Nnenna is cool and all, but i was hoping we would get Mary J, Erykah, Queen La, and some others here in the DC/Philly area. I mean, i love Sarah and all, but sometimes you want various sounds during a festival. Shoot..i woulda been more than happy with Heart coming here. Maybe next year the lineups will be more diverse throughout the country.