"We were going to call this show 'Girliepalooza,'" explained Sarah McLachlan between songs at Sunday's concert at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California which featured McLachlan, Suzanne Vega and Paula Cole. "We thought we'd offer an alternative to the cock-rock going on over there," she continued, referring to the Lollapalooza stop in San Jose two days earlier. It was the promising beginning which might turn out to be a full-scale festival by next summer, tentatively titled the "Lilith Fair" after the Biblical first feminist.

From the beginning, however, the show was beset by problems; it had been postponed from Saturday night after the truck transporting their gear from Friday's Los Angeles performance disappeared without a trace. It was unclear whether the equipment used at Sunday's show was the cargo of the recovered truck or rental gear, but the musicians handled themselves with grace and humor despite the mismatched date and the afternoon sun which poured down across the theater.

"I'm going to search for the Dolly Parton within me..."

The show opened with a set from Paula Cole, a fresh face in the field of diary-rock who used her piano both as a melodic instrument and as a rhythmic tool. With her rich alto voice as her guide, Cole moved through confessional tunes like "Happy Home," a song she explained was for her mother, "Mississippi" and "Me." Cole's lyrics cut to the bone; her language is fresh and engaging as she sings lines like, "And she is your Cleopatra/And I am your morning after/She is your Star Spangled Banner/And I am your Frere Jacques," from "I'm So Ordinary."

Her talent for rage showed through in "Throwing Stones," the chronicle of a romantic squabble to rival "The War of the Roses;" she pounded her piano, shouting, growling and revealing a fierce strength too rarely seen among women outside the punk movement.

Cole has an innate understanding of rhythm's power; she often used her voice and breath as an instrument, pausing in the middle of one song to become a human beatbox. During the closing number, she drummed on the backside of her percussionist's bass drum while he carried out the lead rhythm. And as she left the stage, Cole's impression was equally striking as the crowd rewarded her with a standing ovation.

"I am scattering like light..."

Suzanne Vega took the stage next, her presence muted and cool in comparison with Cole's spunky ebullience. Vega opened her set with "Marlene on the Wall," backed by piano, bass and occasional percussion, then explained what she'd been doing since her two-year hiatus. "I had a baby," she said slowly, then talked about her upcoming album, Nine Objects of Desire, which is due out September 10. "Caramel," a slow, jazz-laced number and her latest single, followed.

Vega commented on the mystery of the missing truck, saying "I thought it was going to [end up being] a puppet show or something." Although her subtle, folky set featured a number of works from her new album, she treated the crowd to several old favorites, including her debut hit "Luka," "Neighborhood Girls" and the a capella version of "Tom's Diner," allowing the audience to sing the "doo doo" parts. Versions of "Small Blue Thing" and the heartbreaking fairytale of "The Queen and the Soldier" were at once sensitive and cutting, like the lines from the latter tune: "And she said, 'I've swallowed a secret burning thread/It cuts me inside, and often I've bled.'"

New songs included "Stockings," which explores the possibility of romance with a close female friend, and "No Cheap Thrill," its poker lingo a metaphor for the rising risks involved in falling in love with someone new. She also sang a tender piece written for her baby daughter, later telling the story of having discovered a lone baby in Berkeley earlier in the day before realizing its parents were in the car nearby. Motherhood hasn't changed Vega much, at least in terms of her songwriting. As always her work describes the painful process of coming to awareness, of survival and trying to remain sensitive in a jagged world.

Better than ice cream

Sarah McLachlan appeared next, greeting the audience with broad smiles and waves before taking to her piano. Her red-gold hair shone in the evening sun as she moved through a song she contributed to the Moll Flanders soundtrack. Next she took an electric guitar under her wing, raising her sweet, breathy voice into "Wait."

"No sleep makes you really silly," McLachlan said at one point, her mood lighthearted despite the emotional despair that pervades her music. She toyed with the crowd between songs, teasing them with intros before singing something completely different. Her set spanned songs from her three studio releases, including "The Path of Thorns," "Mary" and a haunting version of "Ice" on acoustic guitar and bongos, her drummer lending his sandy voice in breathtaking harmony. Cole joined McLachlan in a duet version of "Elsewhere;" McLachlan later explained, "it's fun to play electric guitar. It's like holding this wild beast you're trying to control." With this she returned to the piano for a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Blue," then segued into her acoustic -- though no less potent -- version of "Possession."

McLachlan paused to plug the release of a special album containing many of her b-sides and covers, complaining that Arista has only been distributing the CD in Canada. A member of the audience pointed out that it could be ordered through the World Wide Web, which sent the singer off on a tangent about the Internet. "I just bought a computer three weeks ago, and I'm totally addicted now! I understand!" she exclaimed brightly.

As an encore McLachlan performed her version of the Everly Brothers' "Unchained Melody," which has been deconstructed under her touch. The melodies are discordant while the rhythms are heavy-handed, turning the soft-hearted hit into an angry dirge. But McLachlan's honeyed voice turns every song into a moment of splendor, and this was no exception. As she finished her performance, the crowd retained McLachlan with applause and small gifts, revealing love and thanks to the woman who brought so much heartfelt music -- her own and that of Cole and Vega -- to Berkeley.

This article was originally published in Addicted to Noise.