11:30PM CDT

the biggest show of the tour just finished with the bang of big yellow taxi and the crowd loved it. we saw a people leaving as we worked away before and during some of sarah's set, but you couldn't tell that anyone had left. the venue was still bursting at the seams.

before sarah, the indigo girls thrilled the crowd with another dynamic set. they were certainly playing more of their uptempo work tonight. jewel's cellist joined them for the opening number and jewel later joined in on "the water is wide". sarah was there as usual too and then the whole gang joined in for "closer to fine".

jewel, too, put on a great closing show. her mom was here to watch, so maybe that and the fact that this was her final lilith show really spurred her on. we hear that starting tomorrow she's taking a bit of a break. she deserves it.

7:00PM CDT

this just in:

this is officially the biggest crowd that has attended a single lilith fair show. it's bigger than chicago and it's bigger than the gorge. who'd of thought it? way to go minnesota!

even now crowds are still pouring out of the parking lots into the grounds. there was a five-mile traffic jam coming here, so those folks must just now be arriving. it's too bad that they missed some of the shows.

shawn colvin is just finishing up, and before her was meredith brooks and dar williams. meredith said that she was very sad to leave the tour and that she'd had an amazing time. dar didn't say that, but then again, she didn't get to savour lilith as much as meredith did. dar was funny; she has great intro's to her songs. the crowd was full of fans which is quite admirable considering that she's steadfastly maintained her indie status. she's proof that it can work.

(*an aside for dar fans: sorry, but we were unable to get any really good photos of dar today. the light during her set just didn't wash with our cameras. we tried, but there are only a couple of shots that do her justice, and even they are marginal.)

6:30PM CDT

Meredith rocks the crowd of 30 thousand.

Meredith Brooks who will leave Lilith fair after today rocked the packed field at Canterbury Park. The crowd stood to their feet when Meredith walked on stage and applauded wildly. At the beginning of her set, frustrated with the wind sock on her microphone, she ripped it off so her strong voice could play through. Meredith is a remarkable electric guitar player and she shone today. Carrying her torquise guitar as if it was a tool not a prop, Meredith jammed through her first number. Several young girls pressed against the fence near the front of the stage were mesmerized by Meredith and cheered her guitar solos. We will miss Meredith's rock and roll edge - she brought a rawness to the lineup.

6:00PM CDT

Dayna Manning played the last set on the village stage this afternoon. She was joined by a guitar player and cellist on the small stage. A good sized crowd of nearly 200 watched the 19 year old singer songwriter perform. Midway through her set two small girls of about 6 years old sat directly in front of Dayna on the grass. Dayna smiled at the girls and continued playing her songs. The acoustic setting suits Dayna's music and her voice. We'll see how many fans she'll have gained today.

5:00PM CDT

After trucking in fifty five tons of wood chips to sop up the twenty four previous hours of rain in Shakopee, Minnesota, the staff at Canterbury Park faced the incoming Lilith Fair with maybe a little trepidation. After all, we've been doing these shows all over North America at the best venues available. Here we're at a horsetrack with an outdoor stage which may be making its debut at the Lilith Fair. That's what the people in catering said, and they live here so I consider them reliable sources. Maybe.

We faced the mud, the ominous skies, went to work, and the weather changed. Just in time for Mary Jane Lamond at four o'clock. You know you could say that there is solid, empirical evidence that the positive energy being generated from the audiences and the performers at Lilith Fair is having a powerful affect on the weather. Today, I overheard Hannah on Channel One of our radios reporting to the production crew that the storm that was supposed to hit us was now blowing the other way. I rest my case.

Then at quarter to five, Wild Strawberries hit the stage. Wild Strawberries are the Toronto duo of Ken Harrison and Roberta Carter Harrison. Their name came from the 1957 Ingmar Bergman film, Wild Strawberries, a story from which they found parallels with their own lives.

The Wild Strawberries paid for their own independent releases before signing to Nettwerk Records, and through radio airplay, cross-Canada touring, videos on MuchMusic (Canada's version of MTV, only with music videos not lame shows), and a Juno nomination for Best New Band under their belt, they've built a solid following.

As big fluffy clouds, super-white against a Newman-blue-eyed sky, looked down, Wild Strawberries belted out their stuff. The open fields lend themselves to a different kind of audio resonance. Wild Strawberries sounded clear and powerful as Roberta's voice rang out, kind of growly and bright at the same time. Despite the soggy conditions, there seemed to be one big collective smile going on throughout the crowd. People are digging it and the night has just begun.

3:00PM CDT

the sun is shining. yay! it's still cool and breezy, but hey, it beats torrential rain.

today's the final day for meredith brooks, dayna manning, wild strawberries, dar williams, jewel, and pat benatar. it's hard to believe that we won't be seeing jewel anymore. she's become a nice fixture around here.

pat's playing the acoustic stage again today, and so is dayna manning. everyone else gets to hop up on the main stage and play with the big wigs, cause the b-stage wasn't assembled today. should be interesting. it's good for us, cause we don't have to scramble around and fight the sea of people as we move from stage to stage.

12:00PM CDT

anyone care for mud wrestling? if you're not in the mood for that, then you shouldn't come to the show today. it rained here without respite for over 24 hours until early this morning. the horse racing track on which the stage is set and the "infield" (just what do you call the grassy area on the inside of a racetrack?!) are both sopping wet.

we knew we were gonna be by a racetrack, but we didn't know we'd be on it. this is certainly gonna qualify for the strangest gig of the tour. everyone's emerging from their buses, looking around, and then shaking their heads in disbelief. as our buddy ash would say, "it's a shreve gig!"

but we're optimists, aren't we? we hope the rain holds off (heck, we even saw a glimpse of the sun and blue sky for a few brief moments earlier this morning), we hope the catering gets better as the day progresses, and we hope the mud dries up. in the meantime, we'll wear our worst shoes and clothes and wallow in the mud.