lilith fair - beta edition

I was at Lilith Fair before it was cool (or uncool depending on your perspective). Actually, I was in the audience before it was even a fair. I’m not sure whose idea it was to go but one of my coworkers, I’m pretty sure a woman, asked if I wanted to go with a group to a concert across the U.S. border at Pine Knob Music Theatre outside of Detroit MI. I was living in Winsor, Ontario at the time. It was 1996. The lineup: Sarah McLachlan, Patti Smith, Paula Cole, Aimee Mann and Lisa Loeb. My first thought was: “Wow, Patti Smith? Count me in.”  My Canadian inferiority complex assumed Smith would be the headliner as well as: “Do Americans even know McLachlan?” They sure did. It was mostly full. Capacity was, and still is, about 15,000. Sarah was the headliner, and the crowd was most definitely there for her. Other than being a little disappointed that Smith was acoustic as opposed to the loud punk show I wanted, I walked away a happy music fan. My discovery of the night was Aimee Mann.  Little did I know that I was a witness to pop culture history. Lilith Fair followed in ‘97. I just watched the new documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery. Check it out.