Photo credit: Jeffrey Bordoff
I was very excited to see the 7-time Grammy winner (with 12 Juno Awards as well) Alanis Morissette. It had been over 23 years since I had seen her perform. The last time was at the Centre Molson on May 15, 1999.
It was a cool night for South Florida probably our last one until next winter. Traffic and parking were not easy but she was worth all of the extra effort. The show was sold out which came as a real shock to me because the two shows I had seen at that park before were Imagine Dragons and Dave Matthews. Both of those shows were free and there were more people at each of them than an average arena show. I knew that $10 was very affordable but any amount of money will usually cut the numbers in half when compared to a free show. The promoters did a great job in making sure that it wasn’t too crowded and even the VIP tickets at $125 were a real bargain compared to what other artists are charging this year.
Jon Batiste opened up the show with a fun set of well-known songs. Most people know him as the musical director on The Stephen Colbert Show. He also showed off his abilities on the piano. They supplied him with a beautiful Steinway grand piano.
Alanis took the stage like she was shot out of a cannon. Moving from side to side, criss-crossing the stage at an incredible pace, she had to sing and brush the hair off of her face due to the strong winds Saturday. She was wearing an oversized bright orange t-shirt and leather pants.
The setlist was the best one I have seen from her. She started off with All I Really Want, then a big hit from the same album to really get her fans riled up with Hand In My Pocket, Right Through You and another great song from Jagged Little Pill – You Learn, followed by Hands Clean, Forgiven then Everything, Mary Jane, and Diagnosis. She gave us one of her newer songs next with Reasons I Drink, then back to one of her best songs next from Jagged Little Pill – Head Over Feet. She played So Unsexy next from her 2002 album Under Rug Swept. Then treated us to another song from her 2020 release Such Pretty Forks In The Road called Ablaze, a beautiful song written about her young daughter. Next was Nemesis, another recent one. She then played the beautiful ballad Perfect, another song from Jagged Little Pill. She then gives us another heartfelt recent song Losing The Plot about her decision to leave the City of Los Angeles. Next was a sad ballad from Jagged Little Pill done acoustically, Wake Up.
Moving on to another Jagged Little Pill classic, Not The Doctor and it was incredible really showing off her range and I think her voice has gotten better with age. After a lot of slow ballads and sad songs, she completely rejuvenates the audience by playing one of her biggest hits Ironic. She follows this with another slower song from Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie – Sympathetic Character, a song that again highlights her vocal range. Smiling is from the recent album Such Pretty Forks In The Road. It is a fantastic song, in my opinion, the best song on the album and as good as any of her older classics. She’s still got it!
Next, she played her hit from the soundtrack of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – I Remain. Just to make sure her show was an unforgettable experience, the last song before the encore was her biggest hit You Oughta Know. Everybody was on their feet and dancing to this one. She got the audience involved and made sure everybody had a blast!
Her first encore was Your House, an a cappella song from Jagged Little Pill. Then the incredibly beautiful ballad Uninvited from the 1998 film City Of Angels soundtrack. She ended the show with Thank You from the album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and another big hit for her, the performance of this great song was flawless!
She then ran off the stage so fast and that was really the end but what a night and I was so lucky to have been there.
