Lilith Fair was organised by Sarah McLachlan, always featured Suzanne Vega, but Jewel was the star attraction.
America's most charted single of the year was a double A-side - charming song "You were meant for me" was turned for its sad flip "Foolish games". Jewel Kilcher had broken through with debut album Pieces of You, and was the biggest thing in American pop.
Lilith Fair wasn't without its criticism. Sarah Vowell, the acerbic cultural critic, made a very fair point.
Lilith Fair isn't a picture of solidarity so much as a picture of uniformity. McLachlan, the event's organizer, has chosen singer-songwriters in her own image: pretty, polite, folksy moderates with sensible hair and more melody than message.
Future editions were less white, less acoustic; future years would show rock and rap, and Latin and R&B.
"Naked eye" - Luscious Jackson
Jill, Gabby, Kate, and Vivian were on the fringes of fame over here: given quarter-hearted approval by the fashion police because they were American and influenced by hip-hop beats and were women. In the error of Britpop, that's at least four capital offences.
"Naked eye" is about being emotionally vulnerable, honest about what you're feeling. Always reminds me of a sunny day with my favourite person of the time, as banks of snow melt into puddles.
"Sleep to dream" - Fiona Apple
Twenty-seven years before Chappell Roan, Fiona Apple wore a suit of armour onto the New York subway. Photographer Joe McNally explains.
"Fiona had always been shot as a waif ā tendrils of hair blowing (dressed in lingerie), out in some sort of lily field. She told me she wanted to chuck that scene and be a warrior woman in a suit of armor. I was like 'Cool, babe, works for me!'
We did the whole Camelot thing in a daylight studio. A big deal with hair, makeup, styling, painted backdrop, falling rose petals, fake blood on the sword, catering, crew, managers, hangers-on. Everything.
All the while her manager is heating up about how late itās getting.
I was like, 'You brought her late, okay?'
Finally he explodes and says 'Gotta go now and the subway is the only way' (it was rush hour in New York and she had a gig in Jersey, 'Get on the subway in the armor?' And she said, 'Yeah, that sounds about right!'
I shout for a camera, wide lens, hot shoe flash, green and magenta gels and a bunch of 100 speed 35 chrome.
We bolt and slip her through the turnstilesāsword and allāunnoticed, Subway came right away and I started ripping film like crazy for 5 stops. On the train, New Yorkers, true to form avoided eye contact.
The studio shot went away and the subway shot (flash on camera, 1/15 of a second at F4, a hand held mess of a photograph) ran as the lead.
You never know."
from the book "The Moment it Clicks" by Joe McNally
Performance from Conan O'Brien's show.
"Your new cuckoo" - The Cardigans
First Band on the Moon had yielded an unexpected hit when Lovefool was included on a film soundtrack. What are these Swedes doing in the top ten, do they think they're Ace of Base?
For their next hit, the group released something more typical of their sound, bouncy and energetic and with a nice minor key lilt. But they didn't really promote it, being on dates in Lilith Fair at the time, so only a minor hit.
Lilith Fair was well-documented at the time, but much of the history was recorded digitally. All those ones and zeroes have become halves, and the memories are in danger of being lost. Television coverage and interviews with the performers were made at the time.
Later, there have been oral histories from the fans and performers points of view.
"Closer to fine (live)" - Indigo Girls
We learn that Emily and Amy, the core of the Indigo Girls, were the glue to bind the tour together. Knock on dressing room doors, open windows, get to know their co-stars.
The energy came out on stage, with lots of the acts joining in for a mass singalong near the end of the night. Here, for instance, are Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Meredith Brooks, and others.
