Sarah McLachlan at the Beacon Theater

As a child in Canada, Sarah McLachlan studied voice, classical piano and guitar. When she was a 17-year-old high school student, she fronted a short-lived new wave rock band called The October Game and was offered a recording contract. McLachlan's parents insisted she finish high school and complete one year of studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver and embarking on a new life as a recording artist in 1988. Since then, McLachlan has sold over 40 million albums worldwide, and has won eight Juno and three Grammy Awards. Her first album of new songs in four years, Shine On, was released on May 6, 2014.

At the Beacon Theater tonight, McLachlan performed two sets separated by intermission. While acknowledging that the songs on her new album were close to her heart, she also performed a cross section of songs from her career. Backed by a four-piece band, McLachlan opened with a new song, "Flesh and Blood," but followed quickly with the 1997 Grammy-winning "Building a Mystery." Throughout the evening, she moved from acoustic guitar to piano to electric guitar, sometimes standing before the microphone with no instruments, singing soft, emotional ballads in intimate mezzo-soprano vocal range. On occasion, McLachlan started solo on piano before being accompanied by her band. The charm of her music was that there seemed to be no deliberate attempt at commercialism; her vulnerable lyrics often were built on personal dilemma, the compositions were not structured to emphasize a catchy chorus, and her vocal range was not capitalized by spotlights. This was mature music, made for listening.

McLachlan introduced many songs by sharing events in her life that spawned the lyrics. Twice during the concert, McLachlan randomly fielded written questions from her audience by drawing them out of a top hat, and then invited social media contest winners to join her on a couch in a makeshift living room by the side of the stage. She invited her guests to ask her spontaneous questions and then posed with them for selfies. The evening was so homey that by the end of her two-and-a-half-hour concert, it seemed McLachlan had tucked her audience into bed.

Visit Sarah McLachlan at www.sarahmclachlan.org.