Just like the success of 'Jagged Little Pill' has dwarfed, by comparison, her more recent work, Morissette's energy, enthusiasm and feminine anger that fuelled her rise to queen-of-rock-angst status seems to have followed suit.
Coming up to the ten-year anniversary of Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette prepares to step briefly into the limelight once again, starting in the UK with two shows on her 'Diamond Winks' European tour. And like the previous nights' show in Manchester, Brixton is full to bursting point and the crowd a mixture of more mature fans, and newer converts.
After the bands initial introductory jam, Alanis appears, in confident mood - obviously enjoying being back in front of such a rapturous reception. Recent times have seen Morissette loose her trademark long brown hair, preferring to adopt a more cropped and mature style - a reflection of her development as artist and individual - her more placated lifestyle communicated in her more subdued last album 'So Called Chaos'. But tonight, it seems, the hair is nearly back to full length, and like Samson, we hope it will bring Morissette back to the full strength, maybe even a return to 'Jagged Little Pill' era form.
Opening up with a fairly recent B-side, 'Unprodical Daughter', shows confidence in her assumption of the audience's knowledge of her work. It's the next song, however, when a harmonica chord blasts into the air garnering a wave of excitement from below, that signals the arrival of classic Alanis material with 'All I Really Want'. However, this is slightly subdued, even with the powerful vocal range that Morissette still retains, the song lacks energy and Morissette's movements are minimal, with her body language relaxed, almost laboured.
Throughout the set we are reminded that she does more than just angst, with a heart warming edition of 'Head Over Feet' - her message of plutonic love to then co-songwriter Glen Ballard, who helped pen a few tracks on '...Pill'. This is also evident in 'Front Row', melodious and intellectual, it shows Alanis from a different perspective, an indication that she's now come of age and left behind the anger of her youth. In fact, even though the majority of tonight's set-list is taken from '...Pill', only towards the end of the set does she allow us a glimpse of her past, with a dynamic rendition of 'You Oughta Know', firstly seducing us into a false sense of serenity with a slow-paced introduction before tearing into raucous finish.
Just like the success of 'Jagged Little Pill' has dwarfed, by comparison, her more recent work, Morissette's energy, enthusiasm and feminine anger that fuelled her rise to queen-of-rock-angst status seems to have followed suit. Whereas the set-list fulfilled expectations tonight, unfortunately her enthusiasm fell slightly short.
~Dan Jocelyn
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