Though she hadn't performed there for 10 years, Sarah McLachlan made it clear — she did not forget her hometown of Halifax.
The Canadian Press reports the singer performed a two-hour, two-encore set there on Wednesday night. It was a long absence for McLachlan, who told her audiences that she hadn't been to Halifax to visit for about eight years and last performed there a decade ago.
She admittedly had no good reason for it, saying, "I don't book the tours, I just get on the bus." She said her record label wanted to build her career in the U.S. before sending her back to play in her sparsely populated hometown. And, "Life intervened," McLachlan said. "I had a kid, made records and went where they told me to go. It's a bad excuse, but I'm here now. It's been too long."
Her thousands of fans at the concert didn’t seem to mind. McLachlan thanked them for the "amazing welcome" and thunderous applause they lavished on her. She sweet-talked them in an apparent attempt at forgiveness. "You're looking good," she told the audience.
McLachlan also regaled the crowd with stories about driving through Halifax after the sound check. She talked about the graveyard where she first got drunk and expressed disappointment about the 70,000 trees in Point Pleasant Park that were destroyed by hurricane Juan.
The three-time Grammy Award-winning singer was awarded the Director's Special Achievement Award — the East Coast Music Association's highest honour. Awarded for "exceptional contribution to the music industry on a national or international level," McLachlan became the third-ever person to receive the award, after CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski and singer Anne Murray.
McLachlan has sold more than 22 million records. She is the only Canadian playing Bob Geldof's Live 8 festival, performing in Philadelphia on July 2. She said she begged to be involved as soon as she heard about the benefit. "I put my hand up very quickly and said, 'Please, please, please, I want to be a part of it,'" she said.
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