Only dim purple-tinted lights and a glowing jack o’ lantern bathed the seven silhouettes as they took the stage of Veterans Memorial Auditorium Friday evening at the sold-out Sarah McLachlan concert. The keyboard instrumental, “Last Dance,” faded into the first notes of “Building A Mystery,” the first single from the latest release, “Surfacing,” and soon McLachlan’s powerful voice filled the hall.The lights brightened to reveal a figure of a man with a mustache at the microphone, holding an acoustic guitar.On closer inspection, the man turned out to be McLachlan, who, along with her backup singer, had dressed in a man’s suit and painted facial hair on themselves to celebrate Halloween. The band included guitarists dressed as a priest and a punk, a skeleton drummer and a bassist dressed as Gene Simmons of Kiss. The slit in the keyboard player’s yellow satin dress revealed a hairy masculine leg, and he could be seen adjusting his breasts during breaks in the performance.McLachlan wished the crowd a Happy Halloween and asked that the house lights be turned up and that audience members wearing costumes stand up. “What are you dressed as, sir?” she asked one particular fan.”A college guy,” he replied, a response that drew a laugh from the Canadian songstress. This kind of audience-performer interaction occurred throughout the nearly two-hour-long show, making it obvious why McLachlan’s fans refer to her simply as Sarah. She kept the tone personal during her dialogue with the crowd, creating an intimate setting despite the large number of people. This, mixed with her introspective, poetic songs made it seem as if she were an old friend.The audience even forgave her for singing the wrong verse during “Do What You Have To Do,” when she abruptly stopped playing the piano and exclaimed, “Oh, that’s not right!” with a good-natured smile, before she dived back into the song, barely missing a beat. Her fans responded with cheers.McLachlan told the crowd that the song was one of the most difficult on “Surfacing” to write, because after extensive touring in support of 1993’s “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” she felt drained of creativity. “I needed to recharge, refill the well,” she said.Judging from her performance, McLachlan needn’t have worried – her metaphorical well of creativity was overflowing. Her mixture of ethereal music and angelic, powerful vocals mesmerized everyone present from the junior-high students to the middle-aged concert-goers.After perching on a stool, legs crossed and acoustic guitar on her lap, McLachlan announced she was going to play some of her older tunes that she had not performed in a while, including “I Will Remember You” and “Terms of Endearment.”The piano-driven “Adia,” from the latest release brought the audience back to the present with its haunting melody. She remained at the piano for the beginning of the softer, more subdued rendition of “Fear.” McLachlan then stood up and approached the front of the stage, signaling the drums and keyboards to kick in for the album version.McLachlan performed “Vox,” her first hit in Canada from 1988’s “Touch.” She playfully danced during the guitar solo, causing the audience members to slowly rise to their feet and join her.The concert ended with her 1994 hit “Possession,” but McLachlan soon returned to the stage after the crowd chanted “Sarah” and raised their lighters. The encore began with “Ice Cream,” to which the fans sang along. Candles were placed around the stage for the final song of the evening, “Angel.” After introducing her dog, who joined her onstage, McLachlan joked “She’s dressed up like a dog today. She’s really a cat.”Opening performer Madeleine Peyroux and her band were also in the Halloween spirit, dressed as clowns. She entertained the crowd for a half-hour with her folksy sound and refreshingly honest, yet humorous lyrics.