Sarah McLachlan at the Eccles

Last night I went to my first concert of 2020 and it was such a good one!  I have been a fan of Sarah McLachlan ever since I heard the song "Possession" and bought the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (which I played almost continuously in the early 1990s).  I was so excited when I heard that she was coming to the Eccles Theatre because it is an amazing venue for concerts.  I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale and I've been looking forward to it ever since (it is what got me through two nights of parent teacher conferences).  The concert was billed as an intimate evening of songs and storytelling and that is exactly what it was.  It was just her on piano and guitar with Vanessa Freebairn-Smith accompanying her on cello and backing vocals.  This resulted in some lovely arrangements of her best songs.  She included a few songs from the albums Shine On and Laws of Illusion, which I am not as familiar with, such as "In Your Shoes," "Monster," "Song For My Father," "Beautiful Girl," "Loving You Is Easy," and "The Sound That Love Makes."  However, she spent most of the evening singing all of my favorite songs, including "Possession," "I Will Remember You," "Adia," "Good Enough," "Building a Mystery," "Drifting," "World on Fire," "Fallen," "Sweet Surrender," "Hold On," and "Ice Cream," and hearing them took me back to some really great times and some really dark times in my life.  It was pretty emotional, especially her rendition of "Hold On" with a new arrangement on piano.  She also sang a cover of Peter Gabriels's "Mercy Street" after talking about how much he inspired her as a young girl.  In between each song she would tell various anecdotes about them.  My favorite story was when people tell her that they played "Possession" at their wedding she always wants to laugh because it is about a stalker.  For the encore she sang a new song from a forthcoming album called "Wilderness" and I really liked it (she seems to have had a lot of relationships with narcissists that have ended badly).  Then she played a beautiful version of "Angel" to end the evening.  I really enjoyed this concert so much!  McLachlan is incredibly talented and she was so engaging with the crowd last night.  It was the perfect way to end a long and difficult week!

Note:  As many of you know, there is always one song (usually an obscure song from the artist's back catalogue) that I hope will be played whenever I go to a concert.  Last night I hoped that McLachlan would play "Push" but I wasn't too disappointed because I have heard her play it live before (and I kind of understand why she didn't play it because it is a beautiful love song about her now ex-husband).