Before going to see Sarah McLachlan at the Beacon Theater in New York last Wednesday, I was familiar with her popular songs, but not with her work throughout her career. After a night of hearing her amazing voice (which in a decade of autotune is so naturally talented, when she steps up to the microphone, you would swear someone turned on the radio- no studio alterations needed!), how she generously incorporates her backup singers into the show with their own songs instead of having an opening band, (graciously playing back up for them with a smile on her face!), and peppering the show with personal stories as well as a Q/A session, I floated out of the theater with the rest of the audience in high spirits and feeling like the past few hours had been a gift I would always remember.
I have been to a number of concerts and never have I gone to one where the musician/singer gives so much of herself in the performance that you leave feeling like you travelled on a journey, through her past seven years (that’s how long it took her to put together her album having had two children and a divorce, as in living life and having much to sing about) and so connected to the music. An artistic talent as well as enormous supporter of human rights, having donated a tremendous amount of money to women’s shelters and other organizations supporting humanity and animal rights, when her beautifully written lyrics pass through your ears, you want them to seep in and swirl around your mind, because they come from a place that is true, honest and pure.