Alanis Morissette Proves She is Still a Powerhouse at The Hollywood Bowl
On Wednesday night, Alanis Morissette wrapped her 35-show U.S. run of her tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of her iconic album Jagged Little Pill. It was a spectacular tribute to that singular moment in music history and Alanis’s vocals and stage presence were astounding.
The Background
2020 was shaping up to be one of Alanis Morissette’s biggest years since her heyday in the 1990s. Her iconic album Jagged Little Pill was celebrating its 25th anniversary and her team put together a globe-trotting arena tour — her biggest in several years — to support it. At the same time, she was poised to release her first album in 8 years, with Such Pretty Forks in the Road being her first collection since 2012’s Havoc and Bright Lights. And then there was the growing success of the Broadway musical based on Jagged Little Pill, which officially opened on Broadway on December 5, 2019.
And then COVID-19 hit.
Like all Broadway shows, Jagged Little Pill drew its curtain for 19 months. The musical, which just won two Tony Awards from its field-leading 15 nominations, is now set to reopen October 21, 2021. The album’s release got delayed from May 1, 2020 to July 31, 2020 and much of the promotion for it got scrapped. And the tour was postponed to an indeterminate date in the future and eventually kicked off on August 12, 2021 in Austin, Texas.
The last two years have not clearly not gone as Alanis had hoped (or as any of us have hoped for that matter). But she is nevertheless having a moment. And much of it is based around her willingness to lean into the nostalgia surrounding her legendary, career-making album.
For those somehow unfamiliar with the legacy of Jagged Little Pill, here is a brief recap. With its provocative lead single, the scathing, profanity-laden, revenge-fueled rock anthem “You Oughta Know,” Jagged Little Pill became a break-out success upon its release on June 13, 1995. It sold an astonishing 16 million copies in the U.S. and 33 million worldwide, making it one of the best selling albums of all time both domestically and globally (a distinction it still holds). It generated a quintet of hit singles, with “Hand In My Pocket,” “Ironic,” “You Learn,” and “Head Over Feet” following the success of the lead single. It was nominated for 8 Grammys and won 4, including the prestigious Album of the Year trophy. She then supported the album with an 18-month tour that began in small clubs and ended in arenas. Although none of her subsequent work came close to that level of success they, she had a handful of hits after Jagged Little Pill. In fact, later songs like “Uninvited,” “Thank U,” and “Hands Clean” mark some of her best work. But even if she never released another song after Jagged Little Pill it wouldn’t have eroded her well-established legend status.
The album, recorded when Alanis was age 19–20, marked a dramatic pivot from the pop-oriented songs and family-friendly television appearances she became popular for in Canada as an adolescent. It tapped into Gen X’s existential crisis, mental health struggles, social quandaries, and — yes — feminist rage. (I once described Jagged Little Pill as a masterpiece of feminist rage and received harsh criticism from someone deriding me for insulting the album; I stand by my opinion that neither feminism nor rage are in any way inherently bad). Her rough and electrifying voice, mysterious and poignant lyrics, and grand and grungy production made the album something truly singular and it immediately embedded itself into the fabric of pop culture.
To honor the album’s actual 25th anniversary last year, I wrote an article about the genius, complexity, and legacy of Alanis Morissette. The article provided a review of her career, her impact on popular culture, and her extraordinary gifts, while also ranking what in my opinion are her 50 best songs. (Click here for that article as it makes a great companion piece to this review.) Although I had only seen her in concert once (her 2012 San Diego show on her Guardian Angel tour that supported her album Havoc and Bright Lights), I have closely followed her career and savored every new music release since the days of Jagged Little Pill. I maintain that she is one of music’s great poets and innovators, and that her gradual evolution into a spiritual leader and mental health advocate is remarkably inspiring.
For me, Wednesdsay night’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl marked the first time I had seen a live musical performance since November 26, 2019 when I saw Madonna’s stunning Madame X show at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. (Coincidentally, the accompanying documentary and soundtrack to that concert were released today). Even though the venue is entirely outdoors and required proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to get in, it still felt a little overwhelming to be in a sea of nearly 18,000 people. By the time Alanis took the stage, however, I was completely caught up in her majesty — not to mention the gorgeous, iconic setting of The Hollywood Bowl.
The Show
The Opening Acts. Alanis’s set was preceded by two opening acts. Singer-songwriter Cat Power, who had moderate success in the U.S. starting in the late 1990s, was a last-minute replacement for Liz Phair, who had to bow out for unclear reasons shortly before the tour finally kicked off. Despite her undeniable talent, Powers’s set was minimalist and melancholy in an unappealing way. It was monotonous and, frankly, messy. She clearly was struggling, as she frequently restarted songs and muttered profanities to herself. It wasn’t a total disaster, but it certainly wasn’t a great kickoff to the festive night.
Things improved markedly when Garbage took the stage. The rock band, led by Scottish musician/vocalist/songwriter Shirley Manson, achieved considerable success in the mid-90s with albums like their self-titled debut and the follow-up Version 2.0 (which broke into one of the most impressive Album of the Year lineups in Grammys history). Their 12-song setlist included their biggest hits “Stupid Girl,” “I’m Only Happy When It Rains,” “I Think I’m Paranoid,” “#1 Crush,” “Not Your Kind of People,” “Special,” “When I Grow Up,” and “Push It.” The entire band was on top form, particularly Manson, who is as energetic and vocally powerful as she was in her heyday.
There was a curious and off-putting moment during the set, however. An audience member in the section just in front of the stage (which the Bowl calls the “Pool Circle”) blew up a balloon and started tossing it around as you might see at sporting events or music festivals. Manson interrupted a song to hurl obscenities at the people with the balloon and then berated them — and the whole audience — for disrespecting the hard-working musicians before launching into her next song. It was a disproportionate, jarring response that made her subsequent gushing about her adoration of her fans and her messages of hope that we will all heal from the traumas of the past two years ring false. However, Garbage did not make a name for themselves by being sweet, likable, and conventional, so all in all it was quite on-brand.
The Main Show. Alanis took the stage around 9:15pm. The show opened with a meticulously curated and expertly edited video montage that chronicled her life and career. It did not shy away from her early pop music era or her appearances on Canadian children’s television. It highlighted her rare acting work in films like Dogma (where she played God opposite Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, and George Carlin) and shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm. It heavily emphasized the pop culture impact of Jagged Little Pill, showing the countless musicians ranging from upstart singers to verified legends who have covered and referenced her work. Then the show began.
She started the show with an uninterrupted 4-song run of tracks from Jagged Little Pill — epic album opener “All I Really Want,” iconic slow jam “Hand In My Pocket,” the viciously angry “Right Through You,” and the uplifting “You Learn.” She then moved into the second phase of the show which marked a mixture of the 9 remaining songs from Jagged Little Pill and 3 highlights from her latest album Such Pretty Forks in the Road (the brilliant ode to addiction “Reasons I Drink,” the poignant tribute to her children “Ablaze,” and “Smiling,” the original song she wrote for the Broadway musical). Several of the songs were preceded by minimally orchestrated intros in which she belted slowed-down segments of a smattering of songs from the albums that came in between Jagged Little Pill and Such Pretty Forks. Although it drove me a bit crazy to only hear tantalizing tidbits of some of her best songs (e.g., “Hands Clean”) it was a clever and innovative way of pleasing her most loyal fans and it allowed her to engage in some truly astonishing vocal runs that, to be honest, I didn’t know she had in her.
The show was not just a sonic delight, but a visual one as well. The numerous projectors that helped those in the nosebleed seats see the action incorporated multiple cinematic elements and visual effects that I had never seen in my many years of concert going. Rather than show clips from her music videos or meaningless designs, the large screen behind her showed clips of human interactions, places, and objects that were relevant to the subject matter of the respective song. (One particularly powerful example was the arrogant group of middle-aged men drinking and leering at women while she sang “Right Through You,” a blistering takedown of misogynists.) There were also some great visual effects, such as the use of strobe lights on the climax of “Smiling” as she spun around the stage flipping her trademark long locks.
Alanis was absolutely on fire the entire night. Although she only spoke a few words throughout the show (a repeated, chirpy “Thank you so much!”), she was vocally flawless and had tremendous stage presence. She certainly did her trademark pacing and hair whipping, but there were multiple points when she refreshingly just stood still, looked at the audience, and sang from her heart.
Ultimately, she performed all 13 songs from Jagged Little Pill in full. She even played the album’s bonus track “Your House,” a haunting a capella confessional track about one woman’s unhealthy obsession with a man. She opened her three-song encore with a rendition of the song that boldly incorporated jazz, reggae, punk, and eventually the song’s original a cappella arrangement. The remaining two songs of the encore were a remarkably powerful one-two punch. The unforgettable “Uninvited” (from the forgettable Nicolas Cage-Meg Ryan romance City of Angels) seems tailor-made for an encore with its slow build and bombastic, orchestra-fueled coda. She wrapped the show with “Thank U,” the lead single from her second album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. The song marked a major turning point for her, as she doubled down on opaque lyrics and spiritual themes and made it clear she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her career cathartically railing against the wrongs that had been committed against her.
At the end of the final song, her three children were brought out on stage. They shot confetti guns and hugged their mother. Alanis tearfully noted that this was the last show of the tour (although she has a Europe leg planned, it has been postponed due to international travel restrictions related to COVID) and thanked everyone involved with putting on the show and the audience for their love and support. It was a beautiful moment where we saw that the young woman whose righteous anger deeply resonated with tens of millions of people around the world appeared to have truly found peace.
The show ultimately was aimed at people who were obsessed with Jagged Little Pill, but minimally followed her career afterward. In other words, it was not made for me. I would love to have seen a setlist that incorporated lesser-known cuts and actually gave her some breathing room to talk to the audience and tell stories. But that wasn’t the point of this particular tour and I was okay with that. Jagged Little Pill deserves a commemorative tour and this accomplished everything it set out to do — and then some. Watching a crowd of 17,500 people singing and swaying along to classics like “You Oughta Know” and “Ironic” was a dramatic reminder of what a legendary powerhouse Alanis Morissette was and remains.
Alanis Morissette’s Setlist for 10/6/2021 at The Hollywood Bowl
Introductory Video Montage
- All I Really Want (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Hand in My Pocket (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Right Through You (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- You Learn (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Segue: Hands Clean (Under Rug Swept, 2002)
- Forgiven (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Segue: Everything (So-Called Chaos, 2004)
- Mary Jane (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Segue: Diagnosis (Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 2020)
- Reasons I Drink (Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 2020)
- Head Over Feet (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Segue: So Unsexy (Under Rug Swept, 2002)
- Ablaze (Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 2020)
- Segue: Nemesis (Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 2020)
- Perfect (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Segue: Losing the Plot (Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 2020)
- Wake Up (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Not the Doctor (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Ironic (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Segue: Sympathetic Character (Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, 1998)
- Smiling (Such Pretty Forks in the Road, 2020)
- Segue: I Remain (Prince of Persia Soundtrack, 2010)
- You Oughta Know (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Your House (Jagged Little Pill, 1995)
- Uninvited (City of Angels Soundtrack, 1998)
- Thank U (Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, 1998)
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