Media blamed for Lilith Fair’s dismal ticket sales and cancellations

Media blamed for Lilith Fair’s dismal ticket sales and cancellations

Lilith Fair mainstay Sarah McLachlan (Image: Kashmera)

Terry McBride, co-founder of the girl power rock festival Lilith Fair, has cried foul against the media for bad publicity surrounding lagging ticket sales. In “An Open Letter to Critics,” McBride blogged that he was “amazed at the feeding frenzy of negativity by the media and bloggers around Lilith Fair.”

Such attacks are normally seen in the theatre of partisan politics that have poisoned western society. What drives the passion to write negative and speculative commentary on what is a socially positive and giving festival?

Ten cities were dropped from this year’s lineup, and some shows were moved to smaller venues, but most of the press has been more of a lament toward the femme fest’s misfortunes rather than a mockery of its failure.

The Globe and Mail and Rolling Stone both describe Lilith’s magic for female artists in the 1990s and compare the current lineup to its glory days. Blaming the media for low ticket sales is like blaming the media for the G20 riots. Maybe taking a hard look at the high ticket prices (they run up to $268 in Toronto) and somewhat lacking lineups for certain cities—Toronto won’t get to see performances by Tegan and Sara, Corinne Bailey Rae, Colbie Caillat, Ingrid Michaelson and many others playing in other cities—will shed some light on the real cause of Lilith Fair’s troubles.

McBride defends limping Lilith tour [NOW]
An open letter to critics [Nettwerk Music Group]