I was a teenager when Alanis Morissette released her groundbreaking album, Jagged Little Pill. It was actually her third studio album but the first one to be released internationally. It was also the first album I purchased on CD (with my pocket money). It had a huge impact on me back then - I think as a teenager I related to the threads of angst and anger that connect the twelve tracks, along with the audacious and at times explicit lyrics, while Alanis' unique and powerful voice was unlike anything I'd been listening to in my world of pop.
The songs went on to inspire a Broadway musical which was nominated for 15 Tony Awards. In fact, it was the last musical I saw before Broadway went dark due to the pandemic. It was fantastic, a testimony to the timelessness of the album and Alanis' talent as a songwriter. As Katy Perry has stated: "Jagged Little Pill was the most perfect female record ever made. There's a song for anyone on that record; I relate to all those songs. They're still so timeless."
The critically acclaimed and Grammy award-winning album, which turned 25 last year, remains one of my favourites of all time. Alanis rerecorded an acoustic version of the album to mark its 10th anniversary, which allowed fans to experience the songs in a new way. When the album turned 20 in 2015, a 2 disc deluxe edition and a 4 disc collector's edition were released while a deluxe edition commemorated its 25th anniversary in 2020. Alanis was set to embark on a 25th anniversary tour when Covid turned the world upside down and she had to reschedule all shows.
I saw one of those shows at the XFINITY Theater in Hartford, Connecticut this past weekend and it was as awesome as I had expected (despite the usual drove of drunk and/or inconsiderate assholes - I'm talking to you guy with your pants falling down and obnoxious girl with the annoying voice who talked through most of the down tempo songs). It was also incredible to hear iconic 90s rock band, Garbage, perform live as one of the support acts. Lead singer, Shirley Manson, looked and sounded amazing. She got a little emotional when expressing her gratitude for being able to perform in front of a live crowd again. Garbage performed some of their biggest hits, including Paranoid, #1 Crush, Stupid Girl and When I Grow Up as well as songs from their new album, No Gods No Masters.
The other support act, who replaced Liz Phair after she cancelled all tour dates, was Cat Power, an American singer who actually opened for Liz Phair back in 1993. Her sound is an eclectic mix of punk, folk, blues and soul.
A blonde Alanis in a loose-fitting white ensemble thrilled the audience with her impressive vocals and headbanging/hair-whipping. She didn't do much talking between songs - but she didn't need to because her music doesn't need any explanations. She performed Jagged Little Pill in its entirety, though not in the same order as the songs appear on the album. She even did a really cool multi-genre version of the hidden track, Your House. She concluded the show with Thank U, with a projection of Tweets from fans expressing what they are thankful for. I, for one, was thankful to experience Alanis live (for the second time!), celebrating such a seminal and iconic body of work.
The complete setlist was as follows:
All I Really Want
Hand In My Pocket
Right Through You
You Learn
Forgiven (with Hands Clean intro)
Mary Jane (with Everything intro)
Reasons I Drink (with Diagnosis intro)
Head Over Feet
Ablaze (with So Unsexy intro)
Perfect
Wake Up (with Losing the Plot intro)
Not The Doctor
Ironic
Smiling (with Sympathetic Character intro)
You Oughta Know
Encore
Your House
Uninvited
Thank U
Comments
Post a Comment