Sarah McLachlan and her friends quickly exceeded all of my expectations at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater last night.
It can be argued that few pop stars can compete with her raw ability to craft songs with as much provocative emotion. I openly admit I'm an avid fan of McLachlan and very familiar with her body of work, but I wasn't so familiar with the music of her friends on the co-bill show. As it turns out, McLachlan has some very talented touring partners, and judging by the positive and vocal reception of the sold out crowd, the ageless multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning recording artist could have easily sold out a two or three night stand at the historic venue with little effort.
Butterfly Boucher and Melissa McClelland, otherwise known as Sarah's friends, provided sturdy musical anchors in her band as the crowd was entertained with a sampling of Mclachlan's hits and fresh material from her current Arista release, "Laws Of Illusions," that's she's supporting on this tour.
Sprinkled between McLachlan's songs during the two set concert, Boucher and McClelland showcased their own songwriting skills with McLachlan taking on the supporting role, utilizing her wide array of talents on guitar, piano and backing vocals. There was also a considerable amount of onstage banter between the crowd and performers, including two question and answer sessions that provided some of the best and most memorable moments of the night, including a hilarious impromptu attempt at McLachlan performing Madonna's "Like A Virgin."
When asked (McLachlan let fans write questions to her before the show) if she could introduce one food to an alien race, McLachlan answered "chocolate," and seemed genuinely amused and perhaps a touch befuddled by the question for a split second. We also found out that her favorite metal band is Iron Maiden, saying "they're pretty amazing" after first asking out loud, "What's a metal band ?" and giving out a hearty laugh. Some of the questions were on the more serious side, including one student asking for advice on covering one of McLachlan's hits. Sarah told the young girl to "sing it from the heart, and you can't go wrong", advice that I'm sure she will remember forever. "Forgiveness, perhaps" was the response given when McLachlan was questioned what song she wrote when her heart was the most broken. Other notable quotes from the night included the self deprecating line, "I can't always be great" and the downright honest "Sex is good, maybe we should do it a little more."
The crowd was rather reserved in general, choosing to sit through the entire concert until the last song of the second set, "Possession." But there were numerous shout outs praising her during the nearly two hour show. The fans weren't shy about showering McLachlan with words of love, however a few of the gestures were poorly timed outbursts, such as during her encore performance of "Angel."
From my point of view, the songs that went over the best were clearly from the epic 1994 release "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy," from which McLachlan performed a very passionate "Hold On," and was promptly rewarded with one of the best rounds of applause from the crowd all night.
I'm sure I speak for the sold out crowd last night when I say come back to Milwaukee anytime you want, Sarah, we'll be right here waiting for you.
