Sarah McLachlan Brings Lilith To Australia

Sarah McLachlan, multi Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter and original founder of Lilith Fair, is confirmed to return to Australia in October with “A Taste of Lilith.”

Joining Sarah for “A Taste of Lilith” in Australia are songbirds Court Yard Hounds (Martie Maguire and Emily Robison of Dixie Chicks) and Australia’s own Kate Miller-Heidke and The Verses.

From 1997 through 1999, Lilith Fair was one of the highest grossing touring festivals in the world, with over 1.5 million fans in attendance and raising over $10 million dollars for national and local charities.  Founded by Sarah McLachlan, along with Dan Fraser, Marty Diamond and Terry McBride, Lilith Fair was the only tour of its kind-a celebration of women in music-led by McLachlan and featuring artists like Sheryl Crow, Christina Aguilera, Erykah Badu, The Dixie Chicks, The Pretenders, Nelly Furtado, Queen Latifah, Indigo Girls, and Tegan and Sara.

After a 10 year break, Lilith Fair returned to the United States this year for 23 shows and featured a veritable who’s who of solo artists and female-led bands.

The philanthropic spirit of the original Lilith Fair remains intact, with $2 from every ticket sold going to charity: $1 to a local women’s charity in each tour market, $1 to the Lilith i4c Campaign, a for-profit venture that will help fund Lilith’s future non-profit initiatives.

In June, 2010, Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, Sarah McLachlan, released Laws of Illusion, her first studio album of new material in seven years, since the double-platinum Afterglow. In the years between these two releases, Sarah has married, separated, and is raising two young daughters. These crucial life experiences have enriched her artistry and infused her new songs with the full range and complexity of adult emotions. Sarah McLachlan has sold over 40 million records worldwide since her recording career began in 1988 with her debut album Touch.

Strictly speaking, it’s only a few feet from stage left or stage right to the centre spotlight, but it took Martie Maguire and Emily Robison a couple of decades to move those couple of yards with Court Yard Hounds.  As the mainstays of the Dixie Chicks since they formed the group in 1989, the sisters have been familiar faces to many millions of fans. Their debut, self titled, album was recently released in Australia to rave reviews and fans can expect to see this rootsy alter-ego to the Dixie Chicks take shape in their anticipated appearance in Australia.  Featuring Robison on lead vocals, there will be no shortage of spine-tingling bluegrass tones and harmonies, acoustic ballads, banjo good-times, and some gorgeous guitar-and-fiddle folk songs.

A brilliantly tangled mix of exuberance and invention, fearlessness and fun, Kate Miller-Heidke released her sophomore album Curiouser last year which peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Album charts. With extensive airplay on radio, her national Curiouser album launch tour sold out Australia-wide and its second single, Caught in the Crowd, has recently been announced as the grand prize-winner of the prestigious 2009 International Songwriting Competition. Kate’s track was chosen as the unanimous winner from over 17,000 entries across the world by a panel of judges including Tom Waits, Robert Smith, Neil Finn, Ray Davies, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rob Thomas, Black Francis, Weird Al Yankovic and Loretta Lynn.

The Verses is a stunning collaboration between contemporary singer/songwriter duo and siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper, formerly of multi-platinum recording act, Killing Heidi. Together they have spent the past four years crafting the recently released Seasons album; a mature, adventurous and personal record of warm roots rock and alt-country balladry that is inspired by the music they grew up with.

For each ticket sold, A Taste of Lilith will donate $1.00 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.  Liz Heliotis, Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation CEO & Co-Founder, said  “In Australia, one woman in Australia dies every 10 hours from ovarian cancer; an intolerable statistic that can only be changed through supporting research towards the development of an early detection test. Tragically, over 50% of the population incorrectly think that a pap smear detects ovarian cancer.

Tickets on sale 9am, Thursday 2 September

October 04 : Sydney (Enmore Theatre)
October 08 : Perth (One Movement Music Festival – Twilight)
October 10 : Adelaide (Entertainment Centre)
October 12 : Melbourne (Palais Theatre)
October 16 : Brisbane (Convention Centre)