Currently on tour in support of her latest effort titled “Shine On,” Sarah McLachlan turned the Artpark stage into a temporary home. The stage was equipped with soft lighting and couches and chairs to give it that living room feel that really carried over into the audience. What McLachlan tries to do is connect with the audience on a real intimate level. At one point during the 1st set, she brought up 5 people to join her on the couch and chair. This was also done during the second set with another set of 5 different people. When they were coordinating to bring the people from the audience to the stage she answered questions randomly that were thrown into a hat and given to her. The first one was from a 5 year old boy who submitted his question on a dolphin shaped stick note. Sarah was impressed with the unique submission and directly acknowledged the kid and his family.
Her music also touched intimate levels as well. It seemed by looking around, that the audience was hanging on every word, most apparent on songs like “Fallen” and “Love Beside Me.” Before introducing “Fallen,” McLachlan remarked, “We need to create more positive social change and move to kindness if we are ever going to survive as a society.” Words that everyone should want to live by for sure.
McLachlan went from just singing acapella to playing the piano where she performed a slew of songs including “Adia,” “Answer,” “Broken Hearted” amongst others. In addition, she played acoustic guitar on a number of tracks. Her voice sounded great. She was able to hit all the notes with ease and clarity.
McLachlan played an impressive 2 hours over two sets. The only negative I would point out is that the 22 minute break in between both set 1 and 2 was way too long. I think 10 minutes would have been better tolerated by the audience. McLachlan came off very likeable and that connection she made not every artist can pull off. She made it seem easy.
First Set:
Flesh and Blood
Building a Mystery
In Your Shoes
Adia
Answer
Broken Hearted
Fallen
World on Fire
Loving You is Easy
Monsters
Stupid
Second Set:
Song for my Father
I Will Remember You
Brink of Destruction
Hold On
Love Beside Me
Fumbling
Witness
Fear
Sweet Surrender
Possession
Encore 1:
Angel
Beautiful Girl
Ice Cream
Encore 2:
Sounds That Loves Make
We would like to thank Melissa Munafo from ID-PR for the credentials to review the show.
