Lilith Fair 1997: A Remembrance

July 22nd, 2010

While driving home from work the other night I heard a piece on NPR about how this year’s Lilith Fair has been scaled back. It got me thinking about the one I attended during the summer of 1997 just outside of Pittsburgh. That summer was spent interning for the Allegheny Heritage Development Corporation in Somerset County, PA. The exact details surrounding my attendance of Lilith are hazy. I did enjoy the company of two female interns. Much press at the time was devoted to the long lines for the women’s restroom and I can confirm those queues were very long. The men’s room, in contrast, was a complete ghost town. I don’t remember any of the artists from the secondary stages, but according to Wikipedia, there were some great acts like Juliana Hatfield and Beth Orton. I remember Lisa Loeb and Indigo Girls from the main stage, but that’s about it. I guess the ‘98 festival included such diverse acts as Mono (RIP) and Neko Case which is really random and awesome.

I kind of feel like I betrayed the whole vibe the event organizers worked so hard to foster back in ‘97. During a sudden downpour, I sought shelter with one of my female companions behind a concession stand. We both kind of grabbed each other in the excitement of the moment and ended up kissing. It was all very innocent and awkward, but it felt like we were breaking some kind of unwritten Lilith Fair rule. I suppose our spontaneous behavior was more befitting of something like Lollapalooza. The evening ended with a long car ride back to our rural postings which included my endlessly annoying renditions of Sneaker Pimp songs with made-up lyrics.

It seems like this year’s Lilith Fair doesn’t offer the same kind of deep bench the ’90s version offered. I was looking over the details tonight for the show in the ‘Couv and it doesn’t have the kind of impressive line-up like the ’90s.

Entry Filed under: Randomness