Reporter finds enlightenment, new respect for female artists in estrogen-filled music fair

I am born again!

After enduring harsh criticism from many female friends, I can honestly say the percentage of compact discs I own by female artists has doubled in the last year.

Before summer, the only female artists who graced my collection were 10,000 Maniacs (which is considered "female" because of the vocalist) and Liz Phair. Since school has begun, discs by Indigo Girls, Suzanne Vega and Patti Smith have been added to this still paltry list.

But why is my library of more than 200 CDs so impoverished when it comes to women? Perhaps I am a bit sexist or I could blame it on lack of interest. The only female-fronted concert I had seen before this summer was a Tori Amos show and I was dragged by an ex-girlfriend to see it.

But I can't really blame misogyny for my lack of exposure. With the summer concert season dominated by such male-driven festivals as Lollapalooza and the H.O.R.D.E. Festival, it's easy for other musicians to be obscured by the clouds of these giant festivals.

This summer, a new concept was introduced by singer Sarah McLachlan. Rising to meet the competition of these other festivals, McLachlan put together a tour of entirely female musicians, called the Lilith Fair. Like its namesake in the Bible, the first wife who would not submit to the demands of Adam, the Lilith Fair stood as the defiant festival. It brought in audiences by the score, outsold Neil Young's H.O.R.D.E. show and completely eclipsed the sales of Lollapalooza.

I know the point of Lilith was not only to sell tickets, but to raise awareness of women in music and women's issues.

I had the opportunity to go to the festival twice this summer. With the revolving line-up (only McLachlan played every show), almost every show was unique.

PART 1: CAMDEN, N.J.

The first show I went to was in Camden, New Jersey, where none of the bands interested me. The reason I went was because T.J. Maxx gave us flyers to get in for halfprice. I first attributed this to a lack of sales, but when I got to the stadium and saw the lawn completely covered with people, I knew that wasn't the case. It turned out there was only a limited number of tickets available through the flyers and they had sold out hours before.

Now this is where I want to make a point about this particular show of the Lilith Fair and what was and was not successful. Though the visibility from our lawn seating was so bad, there was one person that was able to connect with me and that was Tracy Chapman. I wasn't really crazy about the other bands, but Chapman's music engrossed me. This is where the Lilith Fair was most successful. It brought a wide range of artists people like me normally would not listen to and gave us the opportunity to actually hear them.

On the negative side, however, what I thought to be a big part of the fair's existence was not easily accessible. I know McLachlan gave a portion of the proceeds of each concert to a local cause, but this wasn't enough for me. I went to the H.O.R.D.E. festival last year, where there were stands set up from organizations such as Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood. I went into Lilith expecting to see twice as many, but when I saw the show in Camden, I couldn't find any. Maybe they were there and I just didn't see them, but if the Lilith Fair really did care so much the booths should be more accessible. Despite this, I left the show feeling happy that I had "discovered" a new artist in Chapman. Little did I know that the next show would be much, much worse.

PART 2: SCRANTON

Two weeks later we went to see the completely sold-out show in Scranton. I was excited about the show because I wanted to see the Indigo Girls and Tibetan singer, Yungchen Lhamo. We left the house with ample time, but got stuck in horrendous traffic, had to park in a water-logged field and then had to wait for a shuttle bus to take us to the show.

After waiting for the bus for more than a half hour, we finally got there after Lhamo left the stage. I was happy to see a tent set up to sell clothes and CDs, a noticeable improvement over the last show. Also, stuck in the back behind the large tent was a much smaller one where there was literature on a local women's group and, oh yeah, catalogs of Sarah McLachlan merchandise. This bothered me because I wanted to find out about different activist groups, but left only with pictures of jewelry designed by McLachlan.

Now that I can sit back and think more freely, I really gained a lot from the Lilith Fair. My awareness of women's music has grown considerably. I would have liked it if the line-up were a bit more diverse than folkie-rock, but for a first-year festival it seemed very successful to me. I just wished the caliber of activist booths at this year's H.O.R.D.E. were at the Lilith Fair as well, but everything takes time to evolve.