Image Credit: David Bergman/Getty ImagesThe initially triumphant return of Lilith Fair has been hampered this summer by low ticket sales, cancelled shows — 10 cities were dropped yesterday — and headliners like Norah Jones and Kelly Clarkson pulling out of the fest. We spoke to Lilith co-founder Terry McBride today in hopes of figuring out what’s plaguing these ladies, if there’s more trouble yet to come, and whether it’s really as bad as it looks.

Entertainment Weekly: There had been some speculation that the shows you cancelled yesterday had been cancelled for a while, at least according to Norah Jones’ manager.
Terry McBride: No, see, this is where the press creates its own situation. Some of the media in Calgary said the Calgary show was cancelled, and then the media promptly got on Lilith because there was about an hour and a half line to get into the venue. The venue, having read the press, thought no one was going to show up, so they’d cut back on staff. So the media is sitting there criticizing Lilith for having long lines, that they themselves created. So I just sit there and go, Unless Lilith Fair says something is cancelled, it’s not cancelled. But if the media says it, it becomes truth.

Then what was the truth? When were those dates cancelled?
We had let certain camps know that we were looking at cancelling shows. Just as a heads up. It’s the professional, polite thing to do. Hey, you might want to look at other options. These shows are not cancelled yet, but we’re looking at them on a daily basis. So rather than just catching everyone by surprise, we were very professional about it. So then a journalist goes in there thinking she’s being an investigative reporter, and ultimately comes out and says these shows are cancelled, which they’re not. Probably the most bizarre thing for us is that some of those shows, the ticket sales were actually quite brisk. Then that news story gets picked up by the local media as truth, and ticket sales just stopped.

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