This was played on finger-picked acoustic guitar, with Morissette holding the song closing note for a long time for emphasis. In a similar fashion, “Everything,” led into “Mary Jane,” a song about a woman struggling with many of the issues Morissette has confronted on her journey. Morissette and the band played a brief intro from “Hands Clean,” before sliding into “Forgiven,” this time the film on the back wall showed images of church windows, and a young black female dancer in the aisle of a sanctuary.
Then playing the third single from that monumental release, “You Learn,” Morissette added a mention of her two youngest children, “a five-year-old and a two-year-old.” The people around us, and for as far as the eye could see, were all singing out as soon as Morisette started the first song, and they were so loud and engaged on the second song, “Hand in My Pocket,” the Morissette appeared to forget the words to one of the verses, only to have the crowd sing it back to her. alone and twice that world-wide, launching six airplay hits that kept it near the top of the Billboard album sales chart for more than a year, and making it the second best-selling album by a female artist, period-so the fans who filled Riverbend’s seated pavilion and lawn knew it backwards and forwards, and they came to sing. First that this woman, only 21 years old when she released the breakout album this anniversary tour was celebrating, has an amazing voice, it’s a robust and soulful vocal instrument her mezzo soprano tone is so rich and strong that she often has to hold the microphone 2 feet from her mouth to avoid overdriving it.Īnd secondly, “Jagged Little Pill,” represents a huge cultural moment-selling 16 million copies in the U.S. As she sang, with a film of BLM and other protest marches on the large screen at the back of the amphitheater stage, two things became immediately evident.
When Alanis Morissette finally hit the stage on Wednesday night you would have a hard time remembering that 26 years had passed since the release of her “Jagged Little Pill” as she paced the stage with long strides like a mall-walker with an urgent need to get in her steps, blowing a harmonica as the band played the intro to “All I Really Want.” Before her hurried entrance, we’d been treated to a 5 minute fast-paced video montage that included her many TV and movie performances, which included her appearance in the film “Dogma” as God herself, SNL skits, one with Jimmy Fallon singing “You Oughta Know,” and news clips about her career.