THE GATES TO LILITH FAIR in Seattle don’t open for another hour or so, but thousands of women are already lined up outside The Gorge Amphitheater. In bikini tops and cargo shorts or braless in floor-length sundresses, the festival-goers gathered for the Sarah McLachlan-led summer tour that celebrates female musicians call to each other as they head inside. A girl in a white slip dress trailing her friends across the parking lot yells, “Do I look cute right now?” Another leading her crew to the line shouts, “All my ladies say, ‘Oh!’”

Amid all of this is a strange sight: A man. Keep reading.