Last year's Lilith Fest. Photograph by Mike Stone, courtesy Lilith Fest. Cathy DiToro wasn’t able to attend the original Lilith Fair in 1997. “I had pretty strict parents,” she says. “I was just basically practicing piano in my house and dreaming of one day being a musician performing.” That dream came true for DiToro, who performs with the popular ’80s cover band the Legwarmers and the 2000s tribute group So Fetch—and this Saturday, she’ll give you a reason to get your small round sunglasses and crochet vests out of your storage space when Lilith Fest, a tribute to the woman-focused festival, takes place at the Atlantis. More than two dozen performers will cover songs made famous by Lilith Fair artists like Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, and Alanis Morissette. They’ll be backed by an all-female band, and everyone who solos is encouraged to collaborate with another artist on another song. Lilith Fair fostered that spirit of community, DiToro says, and it’s a key part of her pitch to artists when she asks them to take part. “I really do lead with, ‘We’re in this together, and if we don’t uplift and support each other, who will?'” she says. “Because no one knows what it’s like more than we do.”  DiToro also runs Project HERA, a nonprofit that aims to connect women in the music scene with one another and with audiences. “HERA Fest” began as a weekly women’s night at a Crystal City bar and grew into a festival at venues like Clare and Don’s Beach Shack and City Winery before the pandemic. She revamped the concept as Lilith Fest last year with an inaugural concert at the State Theatre in Falls Church. (DiToro covered Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan at last year’s event; this year, she says, you’ll have to attend to find out whose music she’ll pay tribute to.) There, she says, the audience comprised very young people as well as folks who were old enough to have seen Lilith Fair the first time around. I asked her how she thought the spirit of Lilith Fair resonated with younger music fans. “There hasn’t been anything before or since as far as an all-female, femme-focused festival, music festival,” she says. At many national festivals, she notes, male artists still make up 80 percent or more of the acts booked. “We’re still struggling to get representation for enough femme, queer, and female artists,” she says.  The stage at the 2023 event was decorated with “really pretty lighting and flowers and plants and kind of made it feel like a little woodsy and ethereal and kind of created a whole vibe where you’re kind of transported back to this simpler time, you know, of the ’90s,” DiToro says. A similar spirit fell over the crowd: “I didn’t see phones up the whole time,” she says. “They were super into it and really listened.” That feels right to her: “I think the beauty of Lilith Fair was that you had to talk to people.” Lilith Fest 2024 will take place at the Atlantis on Saturday, December 21, at 7:30 PM. Tickets cost $20 and are available here. The post Lilith Fest Will Bring the Spirit of the ’90s Back to DC This Weekend first appeared on Washingtonian.