Sarah doesn’t drop the ball McLachlan's eventual Fumbling Towards Ecstasy anniversary show wouldn’t be denied By: Jen Zoratti Posted: 10:38 PM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 Last Modified: 11:53 AM CDT Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025 Updates

After having to postpone last November’s concert twice owing to acute laryngitis and subsequent vocal rest, Canadian treasure Sarah McLachlan finally brought her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour to Winnipeg on Wednesday night.

Which happened to be the actual date of the landmark album’s release.

“It’s technically the 32nd anniversary, as of today,” she said from the stage. “Sorry it took us so long to get here.”

In some ways, the timing was almost better. Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, director Ally Pankiw’s buzzy CBC Gem documentary about the pioneering all-women music festival McLachlan co-founded in the late 1990s, was just released last month, putting all things ’90s-era Sarah firmly back in the cultural conversation.

Also last month, McLachlan released Better Broken, her first new album in nine years and first original in 11; her last, 2016’s Wonderland, was a Christmas album. A handful of songs from Better Broken made it onto the setlist, including the piano-driven title track, the country-inflected Reminds Me and the beautiful, fiery One In A Long Line, which she wrote after Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States (and contains a rare F-bomb).

Otherwise, it was a trip down memory lane.

The first set featured a grab bag of hits from all over her discography — starting strong with the titanic trio of Sweet Surrender, Building a Mystery and I Will Remember You and, later, a particularly arresting version of Adia — before performing Fumbling Towards Ecstasy in its entirety. (McLachlan even did a costume change, swapping her metallic gown for black leather leggings and a lacy camisole — a Going Out Top, to the trained eye.)

Released on Oct. 22, 1993, in Canada and early 1994 in the U.S., Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was McLachlan’s international breakout album, a precursor to the monster success that was 1997’s Surfacing. It was also her third album, following 1987’s debut Touch and 1991’s sophomore outing Solace.

So it makes sense that Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is so assured, so fully formed, so quintessentially Sarah McLachlan — and Wednesday’s concert was a reminder of why it’s now a classic.

The Fumbling set opened the way the album does, with the haunting Possession, which is arguably one of the best showpieces for her massive voice.

Speaking of: there was no evidence of last year’s vocal woes. Her voice sounds as bell-clear, big and open as ever.

“I love this record so much,” she said with a sigh before picking up the guitar for Wait. McLachlan, who moved effortlessly from piano to guitar to solo voice, was a warm, down-to-earth host for the evening, sharing stories and asides.

Some familiar hired guns were also on stage: Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland — a.k.a. husband-and-wife folk-rock duo Whitehorse — have been part of McLachlan’s band on this tour. It was a bit of a double homecoming for Doucet, who is from Winnipeg; he was also McLachlan’s guitarist back in the day. Doucet’s guitar work added plenty of texture and flourish, and McClelland’s crystalline vocals perfectly complemented McLachlan’s.

And in a very fun surprise: fellow singer/songwriter, ’90s icon and Lilith Fair headliner Paula Cole — who was performing in town Wednesday night at Club Regent Event Centre — joined McLachlan onstage for a truly goosebump-raising duet of Elsewhere. Just a bit of live-music magic.

McLachlan performed for just over two hours and very rarely handed vocal duties over to the audience, though the crowd got to take it away a few times during a rollicking version of Ice Cream. She took the mic back for the operatic Fear, on which she practically hit notes only dolphins can hear.

After the Fumbling set, the show closed with a new one from Better Broken — the truly gorgeous solo piano number Gravity, a love song to her daughter (and another bona fide McLachlan tearjerker) — and a classic: Angel, of course, which featured a vocals from McClelland, Doucet and opening act, Tiny Habits. Six voices and a piano. Another bit of live-music magic.

The American folk-pop trio opened the show with an easygoing 40-minute set full of gorgeous three-part harmonizing, bringing an intimate, small club-feel to the arena.

Their originals — particularly the soaring Malleable — are stunning, but so, too, are their covers. Their touch on Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide was lovely, but their harmonized version of Heart’s 1987 power ballad Alone offered a truly fresh take on a song that’s been very well-covered. Even Heart’s is a cover.

The Boston band formed in 2021 and released their debut album, All For Something, last year. They’ve scored some prime opening slots in their short time as Tiny Habits, touring with pop singer/songwriter Gracie Abrams, Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Famer James Taylor and now, McLachlan.

This was Tiny Habits’ first time performing in Winnipeg, and hopefully not their last. A natural Winnipeg Folk Festival fit, just sayin’…

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca