How Did Lilith Fair Challenge the Music Industry?

Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan co-founded Lilith Fair in 1997, a groundbreaking music festival that exclusively featured women artists or women-led bands. What began as a summer concert tour quickly grew into a cultural movement, challenging the status quo of the music industry. 

Lilith Fair was born out of McLachlan’s frustration with industry norms. 

“In radio, programmers often said, ‘we can’t play two women back to back,’” McLachlan writes in the foreword to From Lilith to Lilith Fair by Buffy Childerhose. “[W]hen I wanted Paula Cole to open up for me on tour; certain promoters insisted, ‘You can’t put two women on the same bill—people won’t come!’”

Determined to create an open space for women’s artistry, McLachlan co-founded Lilith Fair with Terry McBride, Dan Fraser and Marty Diamond. The tour's name, suggested by her friend Childerhose, references the biblical figure Lilith—often reclaimed as a symbol of feminism and independence.

“Lilith Fair was created for many reasons: the joy of sharing live music; the connection of like minds; the desire to create a sense of community that I felt was lacking in our industry,” McLachlan wrote.

Lilith Fair launched with a sold-out show on July 5, 1997, at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington state. The first tour featured 37 stops, 69 acts and a star-studded lineup. McLachlan headlined all dates, with rotating performers included Fiona Apple, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Jewel and others. It grossed $16 million, making it the top-grossing music festival of 1997, according to Billboard. 

In its second year, the event expanded to 57 dates and more than 100 acts, adding performers like Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Joan Osborne, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Sinéad O’Connor and others. The third year included 40 stops with more than 120 performers, including the Pretenders, the Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks), Meshell Ndegeocello and comedian Sandra Bernhard.

By 1999, the festival had grossed $52 million in total. More than $10 million was donated to women’s charities—$1 from each ticket went toward supporting local nonprofits. Beyond proving that women-led tours could be commercial successes, the festival featured artists across genres. Rising stars like Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado and Dido were among the artists whose careers were boosted by the festival. It also created opportunities for women in behind-the-scenes roles, like stage crew and production, according to The New York Times.

“It was probably one of the first ‘safe spaces’ in the history of the entertainment industry,” Furtado told Vanity Fair. 

But Lilith Fair also wasn’t without criticism. Detractors mocked it with nicknames like Chickapalooza and Lily-White Fair, citing a lack of diversity in its early lineups. It was regularly lampooned on talk shows, "Saturday Night Live" and by radio shock jocks. Activists protested Planned Parenthood booths at the festival, and a bomb threat was made in 1998, although the event continued. 

McLachlan ended the series after its 1999 tour, citing burnout. She attempted to revive Lilith Fair in 2010, headlining a tour with artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles and Erykah Badu. However, it struggled due to disorganization, high ticket prices and a changing music industry. Sluggish sales led to canceled shows.

“It was a colossal failure, because the intentions were not as pure,” McLachlan told Billboard in 2017.