After years of hitting the highway with other female musicians as part of the Lilith Fair in the Nineties, Sarah McLachlan will make her upcoming North American tour behind Afterglow a family affair.

"We have a really nice bus now," she says. "It's just myself, my kid and my husband." Her kid is daughter India, who just turned two, and her husband Ashwin Sood is also her drummer.

"It's actually a whole lot easier to tour than to do promotion," McLachlan continues, "where you're flying out at 6 a.m., in a different hotel every day and have to go out and forage for food at 10 p.m. I'm looking forward to the consistency of touring."

Her band has grown into an eight-piece, including herself. "I'm really trying to free myself up so I'm not playing every song," she says. "I don't want to be stuck behind a piano."

As for the set lists, McLachlan says they will include as many as twenty-seven songs over two hours, and skew heavily toward the new material. "Some songs from the old records I don't really want to do any more," she says, mockingly gritting her teeth, "because I'm sick to death of them."

She sites "Vox" from 1989's Touch and "Into the Fire" from 1992's Solace as two such examples. "Unless people kick and scream," she adds. "The trouble is, we don't have too many uptempo songs and we're playing arenas, so it's bit worrisome to me. But we just started rehearsing 'World On Fire,' which is mid-tempo, but it was actually quite rockin' with the band."

Sarah McLachlan tour dates:

7/5: Seattle, KeyArena at Seattle Center
7/6: Portland, OR, Rose Garden Arena
7/7: Sacramento, ARCO Arena
7/9: San Jose, CA, HP Pavilion At San Jose
7/12: San Diego, San Diego Sports Arena
7/13: Anaheim, CA, Arrowhead Pond
7/14: Los Angeles, Staples Center
7/16: Glendale, AZ, Glendale Arena
7/17: Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Events Center
7/19: West Valley City, UTE Center
7/20: Denver, Pepsi Center
7/22: Dallas, American Airlines Center
7/23: Austin, Frank Erwin Center
7/24: Houston, Toyota Center
7/26: New Orleans, New Orleans Arena
7/27: Atlanta, Philips Arena
7/28: Nashville, Gaylord Entertainment Center
7/30: Raleigh, NC, RBC Center
7/31: Philadelphia, Wachovia Center
8/1: Hartford, CT, Hartford Civic Center
8/9: East Rutherford, NJ, Continental Airlines Arena
8/10: Uniondale, NY, Nassau Coliseum
8/11: Columbia, MD, Merriweather Post
8/13: Providence, RI, Dunkin Donuts Civic Center
8/14: Worcester, MA, Worcester's Centrum Center
8/16: Montreal, Bell Centre
8/17: Ottawa, ON, Corel Center
8/19: Toronto, Molson Amphitheater
8/20: Toronto, Molson Amphitheater
8/22: Buffalo, HSBC Arena
8/23: Auburn Hills, MI, Palace of Auburn Hills
8/26: Cleveland, Gund Arena
8/27: Indianapolis, Conseco Fieldhouse
8/28: Columbus, OH, Nationwide Arena
8/30: Cincinnati, U.S. Bank Arena
8/31: Chicago, United Center
9/1: St. Louis, MO, Savvis Center
9/3: Milwaukee, Bradley Center
9/4: St. Paul, MN, Xcel Energy Center
9/5: Winnipeg, Winnipeg Arena
9/7: Edmonton, Rexall Place
9/8: Calgary, Pengrowth Saddledome
9/10: Vancouver, General Motors Place

KAREN BLISS
(April 13, 2004)