All mysteries aside, you could say that, this summer, together, Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell are building a sister-y road show. McLachlan is touring behind her 2025 “Better Broken” album, as a followup to her successful “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy” 30th Anniversary Tour, with plenty of the commemorative aspects of that show staying intact alongside her new material. This time around, she has a particularly potent opener in the form of the acclaimed Allison Russell, who has become more widely known over the past couple of years through opening for Hozier and appearing in a lead role on Broadway in “Hadestown.” Between them, there’ll be a lot of joint Canadian pride but, more significantly, a shared sense of music as a healing force, where, in amphitheaters from coast to coast, audiences can “forget madness,” as McLachlan promises, and remember the joy of melting into connection.
Variety spoke with the two singer-songwriters on a Zoom as they geared up for their mutual outing — McLachlan at home in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Russell in New York, where she was taking a momentary retreat away from her Nashville home to finish up work on a memoir. (Scroll down for a full itinerary of their dates together, which just began and continue through Aug. 9.)
Allison Russell: Because I’ve been just running all the time, Sarah, I just finally, finally watched the Lilith Fair documentary (“Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery,” available on Hulu). Oh my God.
Sarah McLachlan: Isn’t it so good?
Russell: I was like a puddle, crying. My daughter called me in the middle of it, because we FaceTime every day, and she was like, “What is wrong with you?” I was like, “You have to go watch Sarah’s documentary right now.” I’m sure it’s the same with your daughter, but our babies are so wrapped up in the ’90s right now — with good reason. They’re so tired of the psychological assault of AI and constant surveillance and weird digital spaces that can be manipulated. It’s just so cool the way they’re going back to zines and physical things. Last night my kid cut the call short because she was like, “I’m going to play D&D with my friends at Bongo Java” (a Nashville coffeehouse). I was like, “What year is it? It’s 1995 again.”
McLachlan: I think “Stranger Things,” too, really kind of hugely brought a lot of that culture back.
Lilith Fair awareness is heightened again because of the documentary. It’s difficult to compare a two-woman tour with an entire festival. But for people who are coming to the tour being excited about both of you, maybe they will be thinking, “We don’t have to have a whole festival. Where two or more of us are gathered, we can have that feeling, again.”
McLachlan: We’re just carrying on the work — what we were doing before Lilith and what we continued to do at Lilith and after Lilith.
Russell: The work that has never, ever stopped and never will stop.
How long have you two known each other now?
McLachlan: It’s been a couple years. When was the first Joni Jam?
Russell: Well, the first (public) one was Newport (Folk Festival in 2022), but I didn’t get to meet you there because you weren’t at Newport. So Joni Jam at the Gorge in 2023 was when we met in real life for the first time.
McLachlan: We basically met on stage. There was a whole great circle of these incredible musicians. Allison and Annie Lennox and I sat on the couch right behind Joni and sang backups for her, and Allison and I kept looking at each other because Annie’s in between the two of us…
Russell: “Holy shit. How did we get here?” Totally freaking out. Especially me. I got there the day before the Joni Jam Band, before y’all, just for the technical setup. This was the second day of rehearsals before the show because we always really prep before Joni gets there, so that it sounds great and there’s no obstacle to her just being brilliant and having the best time. And Brandi says to me, “OK, you’re gonna sit on this green velvet…” Like, it’s basically a green velvet loveseat or couch…
McLachlan: Settee!
Russell: Settee. Brandi sits me there, and she’s like, “Okay, so I’m gonna put Sarah and Annie with you over here.” I was like, “Cool.” I’m assuming these are Joni’s occupational therapists or friends, because you know how it is at Joni Jam. Friends and family come, and we make it as much like Joni’s living room as we can. Sarah and Annie were big surprises. And I walk in and I hear, “…and Sarah McLachlan.” In my memory, we’re arm in arm, laughing together, walking up the ramp to the stage. … I was so shocked and just trying to have a normal face if at all possible, which I don’t think it was possible. I was probably looking at y’all like a guppy flopping on the land or something. That was our first meeting. And it was, for me, shocking and kind of overwhelming at first. But then within five minutes, we’re all just huge Joni Mitchell fans, and we’re all just people, talking together, and then we get to sing our favorite songs with our favorite artist on the planet, who was foundational and formational to all of us as writers and artists.
So, not occupational-therapist Sarah, but musical-goddess-since-your-teens Sarah. That’s a nice surprise, whether it was intentional on Brandi’s part or not.
McLachlan: There was such instant kinship and sisterhood. This is a strange job that we have, and so to get those kind of experiences where right away I feel completely safe, held and supported, and we’re all in this together, it was this instant bond and instant connection that was created.
Russell: And the fact that it was at the Gorge, which was this triumphant moment where Lilith Fair showed her power — where you showed the power of circle work, Sarah…
McLachlan: It was the first show (of the first Lilith Fair tour, on July 5, 1997).
Russell: It wasn’t an accident that that’s where Brandi wanted to do the first real Joni Jam. Because the one at Newport was a surprise, and no one was sure if Joni would be up to it really. There was every possibility that it would just be mainly the guest artists, the jammers singing songs, and that she wouldn’t feel up to it physically. And nobody could have predicted the way that she just seemed to gain strength from every note she sings with an audience and that circle work being so healing for her as well. So it was so special that the Gorge was where the first Lilith Fair was, and I could tell for Brandi how emotional that connection was. I remember Annie talking about how disillusioned she had gotten with the industry, and she was so sick of the toxic boys’ club aspect of it, and it was healing for Annie — she’s talked about it a lot since then — to be in that atmosphere that was matriarchal, that was woman-led, where men are totally welcome, but it’s not about dominance or false hierarchies or competition. It’s about community and mutual care and lifting each other up. And, Sarah, you modeled that with Lilith Fair, and Brandi took that torch, and then now we all get to bask in the light of it. And Joni and Annie, who blazed the trails before us through much more toxic times for women, certainly in the industry, got to be there… There’s something so beautiful about how they got to be lifted up by the ones that they formed with their art and their bravery and their courage.
McLachlan: That multi-generational thing is really, really powerful.
Russell: To be sitting with you and Annie through that and feeling that sense of intergenerational bonds, kinship, mitochondrial connection and healing — I’ll never get over it as long as I live. And now I’m so lucky because you’re bringing me on your tour. The Rainbow Coalition (Russell’s band) and I can’t believe it. We’re all pinching ourselves. This is as close as we’re gonna get to Lilith Fair. We’re so grateful.
McLachlan: Well, you’re carrying that torch forward. I’m super excited about the tour. I can’t wait to meet you every night and hang out with you. These little mini-connections that we’ve had create more of a stronger bond, and I’m excited about that.
Russell: Also, congrats to Sarah who just won her 14th Juno Award, by the way. There’s something very auspicious to me about the twice-seven.
Is that something that binds you, that figures into the spirit of this at all? There’s so many clear points of connection that occur to me first, before I remember, “Oh, yes, both Canadian, too.” Maybe that’s not the least of them.
McLachlan: Yeah, there is a Canadian sisterhood going. I think that was a secondary. I didn’t choose Allison because she’s Canadian, but at the same time it’s like… yeah, you are, right on!
Russell: The first show we ever played together was un Toronto. And now the first show on this “Better Broken” tour that I’m gonna play with you is on Canada Day in Nashville, and there’s something so powerful about that, symbolically, to me. There’s just a beautiful, good Canadian trouble (making) in that. The idea of a bunch of powerful women making joyful noise on Canada Day in a state that is really attacking its own citizens right now is just so meaningful to me. Iit’s the state that I’ve called home for eight years now. Women’s rights have been under direct attack in not just Tennessee, but across the U.S. and in many parts of the world. So there’s just something to me so powerful and beautiful and healing about the creative matriarchy. Change and goodness happens when people can see themselves in better ways and see that there’s ways to live together that don’t have to be oppressive and violent and harmful and dehumanizing. That sounds grandiose, but that’s what music does. That’s what concerts do for us.
And the fact that a dollar from every ticket is going towards Sarah’s School of Music. You probably don’t know this, Sarah, but my niece is involved in a Sarah McLachlan School of Music program in Vancouver because her school didn’t have a music program. Something was going on.
McLachlan: Right on.
Russell: My niece loves it, so I’m grateful that there’s someone I know who’s being directly impacted by the work you’re doing too.
McLachlan: That’s great. I mean, music is such an incredibly important bridge these days. And I know that’s my role as a musician, as an artist, as a humanitarian, just to go out and make music and to spread love and connection as opposed to division and hatred. We get to keep building bridges and remind each other of our shared humanity, and I think that’s a really important message.
Sarah, you could tour with just about anybody you want to. The opening act may or may not always be someone as high-profile as Allison. But this kind of double bill really strikes people’s attention.
Russell: I would stop you right there. It’s definitely not a double bill. I’m so proud to be opening for Sarah. As you say, she can take anybody she wants on the road.
McLachlan: Somebody has to go first. So, I mean, honestly, you know, I don’t have any ego. I’d be like, “I’ll go first so I can go to bed earlier.” I’m old.
Russell: Oh, God. You’re never gonna be old. You’re timeless.
McLachlan: You know, I chose Allison because I absolutely love her energy. I love her music. It’s deep soul, deep pain, transported into deep joy. And it’s so beautiful, and I want to be able to listen to her every night. I just felt like her music, though it’s very different and kind of in a different genre, there’s a lot of commonalities that I think connect us. It goes back to that really basic we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. It’s like church for me, and communion, and just tapping into that spirituality and that sense of connectivity to our own emotions and to everybody else around us. For a couple hours, just to forget madness and be part of something beautiful.
Russell: That resonates so deeply for me, Sarah. I’m someone who grew up in a broken childhood, and there’s some religious trauma in there. But I call myself a hopeful agnostic. To me, music is spiritual, it is sacred, it is holy. That’s my ritual. Those are my liturgies. Those are the things that I find compelling and that I return to again and again is to be in creative communion, and not just with beautiful musicians like you and and the Rainbow Coalition and your amazing band, White Horse, but with the audience too, because when they come, they complete the circle. We’re one half up on the stage, and they’re the other half, and it’s the closest thing I know to alchemy and magic and divinity that I can access. Literally what happens to us biophysically, which is so fascinating — there’s so much great science around it now too that I find so thrilling — it just confirms what we’ve always known, that what happens when we’re experiencing a live show together, particularly music, is that our limbic systems link up. No matter how different we think we are, our breathing starts to go into sync. Our serotonin levels are boosted. Our cortisol levels go down to almost zero. It’s fascinating and literally biochemical, what happens when we’re engaged in this sacred practice together. I love that, and just the fact that you are speaking of it in such a similar way reinforces to me that I’m aligned, and I’m where I should be, and I’m so lucky to be doing this with you.
McLachlan: Thank you. I’m lucky to have you come do it with me, and I feel the same way. I am much less articulate than you about it, but I just feel so incredibly lucky and blessed that this is what I get to do. It feels very purposeful on so many levels, and how lucky am I to have found that?
Russell: But how lucky are we that you do that and give us that? And who knows that I would even be doing this now if you didn’t. Because, you know, Sarah’s song “Mary” was the first song that I ever sang in public. It was at my high school, which was an alternative high school in Montreal called MIND — Moving in New Directions — where we had the most amazing group of ragtag little misfits. So many of my closest circle from that school in the ’90s have gone on to do world-shifting creative work, like my friend Jacob Tierney just wrote a show that changed the world called “Heated Rivalry,” and Ethan Tobman went on to design the sets for Beyoncé and the Taylor Swift Eras Tour— wild things for these kids that were at one time considered kind of throwaway children in our particular society at that time. But at that time, I was terrified to sing. My friend Kim Waldron was learning guitar, and you were all of our favorite singer. A bunch of my friends went to Lilith Fair when it came through, and I couldn’t go because I was working a terrible telemarketing job because I had left home at 15. Your music and Ani DiFranco’s and Tracy Chapman’s was on our tape deck 24/7. So when my friend Kim was afraid to sing, she asked me to come sing “Mary” while she played it on the guitar, at our little monthly school coffeehouse in the tenth grade. So you to me are foundational in my art. I’m really grateful.
You both will have fresh material to play on the tour. Sarah, we talked about your “Better Broken” album when it came out late last year, and however much of that you’re able to work into the set, people will enjoy. And Allison will have a new album out by then too…
McLachlan: Yeah, I mean, I’m fully aware that my fans want to hear the stuff that they know and love, and I’m always really cognizant of that. So I’m gonna be doing all of those songs and sort of peppering in the newer material, just to ease people into it, because I know they’re not that familiar with it. It’s what I’m most excited about, but I sort of have to manage all the different expectations. But I’m been getting excited as we’ve discussed setlists and been building the visuals.
Russell: I can’t wait to see what you do. You remind me of Joni in that way of just how you have a visual gift as well. You’re very involved in what it looks like.
McLachlan: Well, I see in pictures, and I mean, I hear in pictures too, you know. So whenever I’m writing a song, I’ll often have visuals attached to it, or at least colors, or this kind of parallel universe that happens visually as well. … I can’t wait to hear your new material. When’s your record coming out?
Russell: It’s called “In the Hour of Chaos,” and it’s gonna drop on July 10th, so right at the beginning of our tour. It’s like this album release gift to us that we get to go on tour with you.
The McLachlan/Russell “Better Broken” 2026 tour dates:
Wed Jul 1 – Franklin, TN – FirstBank Amphitheater
Fri Jul 3 – Atlanta, GA – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park
Sun Jul 5 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap Filene Center*
Tue Jul 7 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at Highmark Mann
Wed Jul 8 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
Fri Jul 10 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
Sat Jul 11 – Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Stadium
Sun Jul 12 – Gilford, NH – BankNH Pavilion
Tue Jul 14 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater
Wed Jul 15 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
Fri Jul 17 – Grand Rapids, MI – Acrisure Amphitheater
Sat Jul 18 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Sun Jul 19 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
Tue Jul 21 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion
Thu Jul 23 – Maryland Heights, MO – Saint Louis Music Park
Fri Jul 24 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
Sun Jul 26 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Tue Jul 28 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Thu Jul 30 – West Valley City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sat Aug 1 – Concord, CA – Toyota Pavilion at Concord
Sun Aug 2 – San Diego, CA – Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Tue Aug 4 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
Fri Aug 7 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Sat Aug 8 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste Michelle Winery
Sun Aug 9 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste Michelle Winery
