Hurricane Beryl may have brought rain on Houston, but that didn’t stop Sarah McLachlan from providing a night of instrumental and vocal talent on the last stop of her “Fumbling Towards Ecstacy” 30th Anniversary Tour at the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land.
Opener Feist took to the stage performing “Mushaboom,” “The Circle Married The Line” and “How Come You Never Go There” before asking the audience if they wanted to be taken to their favorite local rock club for one song, leading into her performance of “My Moon My Man.”
Feist stated she was leaving everything on the sweltering hot concrete of Houston for the last day of the tour.
The music continued with “Borrow Trouble” and “Hiding Out In The Open,” with Feist explaining the story behind each track; a conversation with a friend about sayings from the old country and how society dealt with lockdown respectively. The indie sensation then introduced slower tracks, “The Water” and “The Limit To Your Love,” both of which received mighty applause from the crowd.
Feist paused the performance to highlight the birthday of her Bass player, Amir, and began a bit where she asked the audience to chant the name of a crewmember, Bret, while he delivered guitars between each song. Feist jumped back into the music with “So Sorry,” “I Feel It All” and “1234” sprinkling audience call and response between the latter two tracks. Feist ended her set with “Let It Die,” thanking venue staff, her band and the audience for making this possible; with special thanks to MacLachlan for changing music for women. The crowd gave a roaring standing ovation as the lights went on and intermission began.
The crowd returned to their seats as the light dimmed, revealing an eclipse displayed on the stage monitors. As the eclipse made way for the sun, McLachlan made her way to the stage.
In her white dress, she sang, strummed and played piano for “Sweet Surrender,” “Building A Mystery” and “I Will Remember You” before asking how the audience was doing. She prefaced her next performance, “Drifting,” with a reminder that every ticket sold went to her charity, the Sarah McLachlan School of Music.
“Song For My Father” and “World on Fire” were performed, leading McLachlan to share her experiences with complicated friendships and her journey through parenthood that inspired the next songs in line, “Fallen” and “Pretty Girl.” Her band of accompanying musicians then gathered around one mic as she piloted the piano for “Answer,” and then sang solo for “Witness.”
During her performance of “Possession,” the guitarists riffed with each other as McLachlan dipped into the darkness of the stage to change from her white dress into a new green and black outfit.
After this quick change, she spoke about how this tour covered her favorite album, “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” a time capsule into her younger years, before performing “Wait” and “Plenty.” Her performance of “Good Enough” was followed up with “Mary” to which the crowd clapped along.
Before performing “Elsewhere,” she defined it as a song about giving yourself space to figure yourself out, wishing the audience a belated “happy pride.” The band came together once more to play “Circle,” “Ice” and “Hold On,” leading McLachlan to shout out each accompanying musician.
McLachlan commented on not performing for ten years and her nervousness coming back, but was glad that everyone was here for it. She provided a special treat for long-time listeners with her performance of “Ice Cream,” accompanied by a video collage of fans singing the song being displayed on the stage monitors.
This communal celebration was followed by “Fear” and the title track “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” before McLachlan revealed that a new album was in the works. As a sneak peek, she performed a track from the album called “Gravity,” sharing that this song was inspired by her experience working with her daughter through therapy and anxiety.
The night was capped off with “Angel,” after which McLachlan and her accompanying musicians hugged and bowed as the storm cleared.
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