Sarah McLachlan is definitely the best singer/songwriter to come out of Canada in recent years.
I first got hooked on Sarah McLachlan's music in early 1998 when a friend of mine in Canada sent me a tape of Canadian and Québécois music. Luckily, he included two of Sarah's songs, "Building A Mystery" and "Sweet Surrender" - both from her 1997 album, "Surfacing". Out of all of Sarah's songs, these two songs are still my favourites.
I bought my first Sarah album, "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" in 1998. "Surfacing" followed in October of that year, and "Mirrorball" about half way through 1999. I purchased Sarah's first album, "Touch" in 2000, and "Remixed" and "Solace" last year. I've now got her latest album, "Afterglow". The first single from that album, "Fallen", is actually getting a decent amount of airplay here in New Zealand, not surprisingly. The other tracks on the album are brilliant. "Stupid", "Time", "Trainwreck" and "Push" are those that stand out.
• Sarah McLachlan's Official Site
• Nettwerk Records
• Sarah McLachlan News Site
• Sarah McLachlan FAQs
The Sarah McLachlan concert that I attended on Saturday 05/06/2004.
I, along with my sister, attended Sarah's Wellington concert, at Wellington Town Hall, on Saturday, 05/06/2004. It was an awesome experience!
Firstly, Sarah's supporting act, New Zealand singer Amber Claire, and her guitarist came out and did a few pieces. That was very nice, and she got a good response. Then after Amber Claire did her thing, it was time for an interval.
When the interval was over, people returned to their seats. At that point, I realized how packed the venue was - I heard that 2,500 people attended. The atmosphere in the place was palpable - everyone was waiting for Sarah and her band to come out on stage. She walked out on stage first, and everyone gave her a rousing applause. Then her band members took their places and went right into the first song, "Fallen".
Over the course of the show, Sarah performed hits from her last three albums, "Afterglow", "Surfacing" and "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy". It took her a couple of songs to get into the "swing" of it, but when she did, she started moving around the stage, dancing around and approaching her band members. The between-song banter was incredibly witty and funny (Sarah had obviously done her research), and she made the audience laugh.
I started crying when she started singing a few songs, including "Push" - an ode to her husband, and drummer, Ashwin. It's a very sweet song, made all the sweeter by her beautiful voice. "Hold On" was another song that made me cry - Sarah even added a new intro to the song. "Black and White" was the song that had changed the most from the album version - a new "funky" beat was added, along with some keyboard effects.
The first time that Sarah and her band left the stage, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) gave a huge applause. We were all clapping in time (LOUDLY!) and stamping our feet - it was almost like an evangelical gathering! She came back out on stage and said (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Now, you've all been good, so it's time for your dessert." She sang "Ice Cream" - a crowd favourite that we all knew the words to (and I think we did a good job of singing it!). Her and her band lined up on the front of the stage with their instruments to do that. Then she performed "Stupid", and "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy".Sarah and her band left the stage again, so we did all we could to make her come back for a second encore. She finally sang "Angel" - she was on stage alone, with her piano. Her voice was getting a little rough by that stage (understandably), but as ever, still beautiful. After that, she wished us all a good night, and left for the last time.
Overall, it was a fantastic concert, and a wonderful experience - one that I'll compare every other concert to.