The relative intimacy of the Storytellers stage is appropriate for an artist like Sarah McLachlan, who in the course of this 10-song, 55-minute performance establishes an easy and close rapport with her audience. In truth, empires will neither rise nor fall, and few lives are likely to be changed, on account of McLachlan’s music. But the guiding light of Lilith Fair is an honest, unpretentious artist with a lovely voice (those distinctive little swoops at the end of melodic phrases bring to mind fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell) and a passel of tunes that reflect the self-professed influence of writers like Cat Stevens, Joan Baez, and Peter Gabriel. There’s no “I Will Remember You” here, but McLachlan and her excellent band (incl [Read More...]
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Having had the rare opportunity to attend this show with many other “Fumblers” (Sarah fans for those who may not know), this show holds a lot of memories for me. Not only because I attended it with friends, but because this taping was by far one of the best performances I have ever seen of Sarah. Of course, being two feet away might have clouded my judgement a bit.
Recorded on her 30th birthday, it also captured Sarah at the height of promoting “Surfacing”, having just finished the first year of Lilith Fair the year before. A consummate performer, Sarah’s performance was not only technically brilliant but also filled with extreme passion.
Among the songs performed at the taping include “Good Enough”, “Hold On”, “Sweet Surrender”, “Possession”, “Elsewhere” (featuring a guest appearance by Paula Cole),”Ice Cream” and “Adia”. Also hopefully making the DVD will be “Angel” (which was later used in heavy rotation on VH-1 as a video to promote the single release) and “Witness”, which were cut for time restraints.
Aside from the music, the Q and A and between song banter shows McLachlan with a good sense of humor. She is one of those rare performers who doesn’t display a sense of ego while doing what she does best. A must-have.
If you taped Sarah McLachlan on “VH1 Storytellers” when it originally aired know that the reason to get this DVD is not just because music on DVD sounds better than music on videotape, but also because this is an extended version of the show that includes a pair of bonus tracks for “Witness” and “Angel.” These follow the performances of “Good Enough,” “Building a Mystery,” “Ice Cream,” “Sweet Surrender,” “Hold On,” “Elsewhere,” and “Possession.” The show provides as intimate venue for the artists to perform and having seen McLachlan live four times (once in a “normal” concert and at three Lilith Fairs), the smaller setting is appealing. You can compare these performances to the “Mirrorball” or “Afterglow” concerts preserved on DVD and see some subtle differences in McLachlan’s singing. Of course, this will just be preaching to the choir for her fans who are really the only ones interested in picking this DVD up and do not need to be persuaded.
In between the songs McLachlan talks about some of them and answers questions from the audience. She does not talk about the songs as much as I would like, but that is a constant complaint of mine when it comes to the “Storytellers” series (I had the same thoughts watching Bruce Springsteen recently). The concert dates from January 29, 1998 and for me the highpoint of the evening is when Paula Cole joins McLachlan onstage to perform “Elsewhere.” After hearing their duet that became the only way I wanted to hear the song and getting to see the two of them do the song again at Lilith Fair that year was the highpoint of that concert (now if only McLachlan would go back to the hard rock version of “Hold On” that she did on “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: The Home Video,” because I prefer that one as well and I want everything to be the way I want it to be). The pictures are letterboxed (1:33:1 aspect ratio) but since the concert is on DVD it is worth listening to even if you are not watching it. The only real down side is that the DVD is 43 minutes long because, well, “VH1 Storytellers” only runs an hour with lots of commercials (and on the DVD they have been edited out for your convenience).
As a hardcore Sarah fan, I thoroughly enjoy this DVD, and anything else she has done. But as an audiophile, I need to hear more from the mix than lead vocal, bass guitar and drums. Those three components were recorded and mixed very well, I might add, but Camille’s beautiful voice (backup singer) and some keyboard tracks were sometimes nonexistant in the final product.
I give this DVD four stars - an average between Sarah’s five-star performance and a three-star audio mix.