Tuesday I left work early and we headed up to Merriweather Post Pavilion for the final stop on the Lilith Fair. Both of us had been to the ’90s incarnation, and were curious to see how the predicted doom and gloom would be. Besides the event obviously not being sold out, I think it was pretty nice. We just missed Beth Orton due to traffic on the Beltway (there’s a reason weekday shows in Maryland are usually forbidden), but saw Lissie and Missy Higgins at the sidestages and perused the vendor booths (a lot more corporate sponsorship, but it wasn’t too overpowering).
Then it was time for us to go backstage. I hadn’t purchased tickets, but had put the minimum bid up for a charity auction that included a meet and greet with Sarah McLachlan. So we headed back, and waited quite a long while for the press conference to finish and for her to tape some interviews. But she took her time with everyone, and she signed and took pictures with everybody.
When we were done, Sara Bareilles was almost done, and we caught her last two songs before searching for sustenance. We ended up in the 9:32 Club (the owner of the 9:30 also owns IMP, which books MPP) which I hadn’t been to before (there was usually a line or it was closed to the public). We brought in some nachos and I had a Shock Top, and we watched the start of Cat Power from a table next to the a/c. We left to see the end of her, then got shared a wrap and wandered through the other vendors.
The group I really wanted to see was Court Yard Hounds. It’s the twin sisters from the Dixie Chicks, and their sound is very much in the pop country vein of the Chicks. They only played their new songs, but I like the new album, and a guest appearance by Sarah didn’t hurt. We would have like to have stayed for Sarah and the Indigo Girls, but alas it was a school night and we left early.
Thursday we waited for the storms to cease before going over to Wolf Trap. One of the perks of donating there is a free dinner and concert, and this time it was the National Symphony Orchestra playing the music of James Bond. We had a nice dinner (can’t go wrong with an arugula and pear salad) and good conversation with the nice couple we were seated next to, then walked over to our seats where the weather was perfect (cool with just a hint of a light breeze). We stayed through the first set (which got us up to “The Spy Who Loved Me”) and while we quite enjoyed it, it was once again a school night.