Calgary Lilith gig lifted by last-minute sales
Rumours that the Lilith tour's first show in Calgary had been cancelled didn't deter fans from snapping up last-minute tickets for the all-female music festival on Sunday.
Ticket sales for the tour, relaunched after a more-than-decade-long hiatus, have been slow due to a still-sluggish economy, among other factors, organizers have said.
But musician and event founder Sarah McLachlan said she's optimistic turnout will improve, especially if other cities see the same gorgeous summer weather Calgary enjoyed over the weekend.
"People are waiting right to the end, so we're just praying to the weather gods," she said on Sunday.
"We've already seen a lot of walk-up today and I think ticket sales are picking up."
Organizers have been offering discounted seats in some cities, cancelling some U.S. dates and moving some Canadian shows to smaller venues.
Hours after doors opened Sunday, a huge lineup snaked outside Calgary's McMahon stadium under a hot sun and blue skies.
At least 9,000 seats were filled out of around 11,000 by late afternoon, said co-founder Terry McBride.
"Apparently Calgary was supposed to be cancelled 48 hours ago," he joked at a news conference.
McLachlan grabbed the microphone from McBride to give those behind the gossip a piece of her mind.
"There's a lot of idiots out there with a lot of stupid opinions that all of a sudden become fact," she quipped.
The tour will go ahead next year, and organizers have ambitions to take the show overseas, said McBride.
"I can think of nothing better than Lilith in Australia, Lilith in Europe and also Lilith in Asia and the opportunity for stars in those marketplaces to be in this movement," he said.
McLachlan first conceived the idea for an all-female music festival in 1996, and launched its first incarnation — Lilith Fair — in 1997. Lilith Fair brought in 1.5 million fans during its three-year run.
"I think a lot of genres have really opened up, and I do think that Lilith provided a lot of opportunities or young up-and-coming artists," McLachlan said when asked how female musicians have since evolved.
"We all got to play in front of more people than we could have on our own, so we all got to have some crossover into each other's fan base. I think that we proved a lot of old-school attitudes wrong."