ALANIS MORRISETTE BOWLS HER GLASGOW FANS HEAD OVER FEET WITH SUPER SHOW
Its over 25 years since Alanis Morrisette released her third album Jagged Little Pill. Her most renowned work brought her to the forefront of the music scene around the mid-nineties and earned her the Grammy for best album. This year sees a tour to promote the anniversary of that record, unfortunately held back due to the covid outbreak, but has been sold out in many cities across the world for a long time, and was a show worth waiting for.
Support on the night was the English folk singer / songwriter Beth Orton. Known for the ‘folk-tronica’ sound, she is joined on stage with a drum, electric guitar, a double bass and with herself on acoustic guitar, she makes a great sound. The nine-track set opens with ‘Stolen Car’, the terrific ‘She Cries Your Name’ and ‘Central Reservation’. Her stripped back approach to playing live music emphasises her talents and her set was a great opener for the main act. Meaningful lyrics, melodic tunes and great vocals, Orton would no doubt have earned herself many new fans on this tour, people who previously may have been unaware of her work and this is richly deserved in my opinion.
The opening few minutes played through a video montage on three giant screens at the back of the stage, from all parts of her career, from musical appearances to skits on tv comedy shows, which certainly got the crowd going. When the lights finally go on they show the band have sneaked onto stage and the opening bars of All I Really Want start up as Alanis takes her bows, to a rapturous welcome.
As the tour poster says, this is a show celebrating the 1995 album Jagged Little Pill and the setlist would contain the complete album, mixed up in order from the record, and with a few big numbers and newer tunes thrown in from her more recent 2020 album Such Pretty Forks in the Road, she covered all bases for the evening ahead.
Bounding around the stage in bright yellow shirt and chunky Adidas sneakers, the singer shows unlimited energy as she constantly moves across the stage, from left to right, but her powerful vocals never miss a beat. Once dubbed the angry woman of rock, the angst driven tunes still sound as fabulous as they did when first released over 27 years ago. Scary how fast time has flown.
Hand in My Pocket, You Learn, Head Over Feet, all the top tunes from the album are here and the Glasgow crowd need no encouragement to hijack vocal duties.
The 1996 single Ironic which hit 11 in the UK charts was dedicated to the memory of The Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkin who started off as Morrissette’s touring drummer back in the early days before joining the Foo’s.
You Oughta Know closed the first set before a three-track encore of Your House, a spine-tingling version of Uninvited including much grunge headbanging and hair swirling before the top 5 single Thank You ended the evening.
It may have been postponed and put back more than a few months, but Alanis Morrisette’s live show was a joy to behold, a magical performance from start to finish, the band in great form and the singer’s vocal talents highlighting what a terrific performer she is. Definitely a show to see, and up there with the best gigs of the year so far.
Review and Photographs by Stephen Wilson
