Savor the memories.
This year's Lilith Fair will be the last. At least for now."In the beginning, we had a plan," says singer-songwriter and Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan.
"We thought, 'Let's try it for three years and see how it goes and then reassess things.'
"And when we started organizing this year's festival, we just thought, 'Remember what we said in the beginning?' So it feels good to stop now and end on a high note. And keep things fresh and fun for us."
Lilith Fair made its debut in the summer of 1997 as "a celebration of women in music."
Patterned after Lollapalooza and other multiact touring festivals, Lilith Fair was dominated by women artists and fueled by issues of concern to their fans, including breast cancer, human rights, and rape, abuse and incest. This year's tour features Mosaic, a traveling art project that allows festivalgoers a chance to create their own art for display on a virtual online gallery and help raise money for community art centers.
Except for a mini-tour of Australia in December, McLachlan and her crew aren't planning Lilith Fair tours in the next century.
"I wouldn't want to close the door on it," McLachlan said by phone from her home in Vancouver, British Columbia."I think we all sort of feel like we're just going to go away from it for a while and perhaps bring it back in five years, maybe not."
McLachlan is happy with what she has accomplished so far.
"I do feel that we've helped to change the music industry a little bit, expecially in its attitudes toward women," she said.
McLachlan hopes the touring festival has been an inspiration to concertgoers.
"I think it's really beneficial to young women who come to the shows to see the musicians as positive role models and doing something they love and being successful at it. It just gives people more options."
The 40-date North American tour opened Thursday at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, B.C.
Dozens of artists are included on this year's lineup. Hole and the Pretenders are even doing a few select venues, but not The Gorge in Washington, where the tour stops this weekend.
"Snagging Hole for a couple of shows is definitely going to add a different bit of spice to the whole thing," McLachlan said.
The Dixie Chicks, included on many dates, will miss the local Lilith shows because they are doing a mini-tour with Tim McGraw. The timing is almost comical. Dixie Chicks and McGraw arrive at The Gorge on Sunday -- the day Lilith Fair packs up and leaves.
Featured both days at the Lilith main stage at The Gorge are McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair, Mya, Luscious Jackson and Sandra Bernhard. The second stage includes Beth Orton, Bijou Phillips and Sixpence None the Richer, which is enjoying a winning season with its hit song, "Kiss Me."
The Village Stage features Nikol Kollars on Friday and Eden AKA and Loni Rose on Saturday. (Rose's song "I Never Thought You Would Come" will be featured in a love scene in Universal Pictures' comedy "American Pie.")
"I'm excited about everybody. But I'm really happy that Sheryl (Crow) is doing the whole tour because she's a friend of mine and we get to hang out for the whole summer," McLachlan said with a laugh.
Lilith Fair booths will offer all sorts of merchandise, but nothing so irresistable as McLachlan's new cookbook, "Plenty," co-authored with her talented on-the-road chef, Jaime Laurita.
"I kept bugging him for his recipes for years," McLachlan said. "I'd say, 'Gimme the damn recipe.' And he'd say, 'Oh, yeah, sure, sure.' But he never would.'
She finally suggested they team up on a cookbook.
"It was totally, selfishly motivated," she said.
The cookbook is now in print (the price is under $20 U.S.), offering some of McLachlan's favorite recipes as well as anecdotes about life on the road.
"When I put my name on it, I wanted it to be more than just a cookbook," she said. "I wanted it to have an extra edge."
Besides her new cookbook, McLachlan has a new live album, "Mirrorball." The album includes beautifully sung versions of such favorite songs as "Building a Mystery," "I Will Remember You," "Possession," "Sweet Surrender" and "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy."
Backing her are keyboardist Vince Jones, bassist Brian Minato, guitarist Sean Ashby, guitarist David Sinclair, vocalist Camille Henderson and drummer-percussionist Ashwin Sood, McLachlan's husband.
"I felt I wanted to document where we were as a band," McLachlan said. "I felt we had become very good performers. And I also wanted to give the fans something during the down time, as I wasn't going to have a new studio album for a couple of years.
"The next studio album will come when it comes."
Additional information about this year's festival can be found on the Web at www.lilithfair.com