The Final Lilith: A Fair to Remember : All-female festival winds down its last tour on an exuberant note in L.A. with headliners in top form.

What better place for Lilith Fair to say goodbye to Southern California than the same Rose Bowl turf where the U.S. women’s soccer team captured the nation’s imagination just seven days earlier?

None of the performers took off T-shirts at the end of the eight-hour affair Saturday, a la Brandi Chastain, but there was an overriding sense of celebration in the air.

Launched amid considerable industry skepticism in 1997 by singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan after she was told it’s bad business to have more than one woman on a concert bill, Lilith Fair has put a spotlight on women performers in the way the soccer team has on women athletes.

In fact, Lilith has been so successful--grossing more than $44 million in its first two years--that McLachlan and her partners have declared that their job is done and that this third Lilith will be the final one.

The summer trek, with its ever-changing lineup, will continue across North America until Aug. 31, but McLachlan handled the L.A. farewell with class at the Rose Bowl. There was no self-congratulatory speech about all that Lilith has accomplished. There wasn’t even a plug for the two latest volumes of Lilith concert albums.

It’s this gracious, understated leadership that has established McLachlan as an unlikely heroine in an age of pop rebels and provocateurs.

At the all-day festivals in the ‘90s, a big percentage of the audience invariably begins heading home early. But the 30,000 fans--approximately two-thirds of them women--at the Rose Bowl stayed until the end of McLachlan’s closing set.

Yes, they wanted to hear the music. McLachlan isn’t nearly as dynamic a performer as the Dixie Chicks, the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde or Sheryl Crow, who preceded her on stage. But the intimacy and grace of her anxious tales about the search for commitment and faith give her music an endearing, universal edge.

But the audience also stayed, one sensed, because of its respect for McLachlan and the Lilith concept.

After a series of performances on the secondary stages by such artists as Beth Orton and the group Cibo Matto, the main stage action began around 4 p.m. with a high-energy set by Luscious Jackson, the invigorating New York hip-hop and rock outfit.

Next was Mya, a teen R&B; singer who no doubt would have seemed over her head even if the momentum of her set hadn’t been disrupted by early microphone problems.

The Dixie Chicks, who followed, pretty much stole the show with a combination of good country songs (many of which speak about female empowerment) and personality to burn. Lead singer Natalie Maines has the spitfire demeanor of a young Patsy Cline, even revealing some colorful details of her divorce proceedings.

The Pretenders kept the momentum going, as Hynde--every bit as spunky as Maines between songs--mixed new and old material, reminding us with every number why she is widely considered to be the finest female singer ever in rock.

Crow followed with a set that was much more relaxed and satisfying than her recent Pantages Theatre concert, partly because she focused on tunes from her best album, “The Globe Sessions,” and because she was joined by a couple of guests.

Orton, the highly regarded new British singer-songwriter, teamed with Crow on two songs, including a raw version of the Clash’s “Train in Vain,” and Stevie Nicks joined Crow on the latter’s “Strong Enough.”

After McLachlan’s set, much of the cast came out around 10:15 p.m. for a version of Jackie DeShannon’s 1969 hit “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.”

The evening showed there is still plenty of life in the Lilith Fair format, but McLachlan was right to call it quits rather than let it wear itself out like alternative rock’s Lollapalooza.

Sure, individual artists boosted their careers through Lilith exposure, but there was also a sense of crusade about Lilith--and it was that goal of breaking down barriers in the concert business that gave the festival its vitality. It’s a crusade that was joined over the last three years by such noteworthy artists as Sinead O’Connor, Erykah Badu, Emmylou Harris, Liz Phair, Natalie Merchant, Hole and Bonnie Raitt.

So what’s next?

Now that Lilith has leveled the playing field for women, it’s time for a festival that forgets about gender and musical styles. What about a festival that promises us simply great artistry--a festival of, say, outstanding songwriters, from Ron Sexsmith to Elvis Costello, Sinead Lohan to Joni Mitchell, Rufus Wainwright to Merle Haggard, Ani DiFranco to Polly Jean Harvey?

Or is great artistry alone also considered too risky a concept in this age of pop novelty? Is it going to take someone else with the leadership of McLachlan to step forward with another crusade?