Lilith Fair Kicks Off Today

06/19/1998 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(6/19/98) - The most successful package tour of last year, the Lilith Fair, kicks off today at 2pm at Civic Stadium in Portland, Ore. Artists on the opening-day line-up include Erykah Badu, the Indigo Girls, Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan on the main stage; Billie Myers and K's Choice on the second stage; and Sinead Lohan and Tara MacLean on the Village Stage.

On this year's tour, there are 54 dates in the U.S., all of which are already on sale. Two of the three shows at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Detroit are already sold-out, as is the first of two dates at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash.

Tickets for three dates in Canada--August 28 at the McMahon Stadium in Calgary, August 29 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and August 31 at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, B.C.--will go on sale on Saturday.

Industry pundits say the success of the all-female package tour was no fluke. Last year, Lilith Fair played 29 shows, with 19 sell-outs, grossing more than $13 million.

"There's no reason to think it can't repeat the same success it had in its debut," says Rob Evans, BOXSCORE manager for concert industry trade publication Amusement Business. "The artist roster is still strong and the success of last year's show brought a lot of artists to the attention of a larger group of people."

The breakthrough of Lilith Fair founder and headliner, Sarah McLachlan, is the perfect case in point. Her latest album, Surfacing, has been certified by the Recording Industry Association Of America for sales of three million units.

The various artists album, Lilith Fair: A Celebration Of Women In Music, hasn't proven to be as successful. The two-CD set, released April 28, has sold approximately 187,000 copies to date, according to SoundScan.

If you can't get enough of tour, you may also want to visit your local bookstore. From Lilith To Lilith Fair (Madrigal Press), a tome written by Buffy Childerhose, examining the all-woman concert trek, was released today.