Concert review: Alanis Morissette

06/16/2005 7:26 AM, Reuters
Christa Titus

Some artists would mark the 10-year anniversary of their most successful album with an all-bells-and-whistles tour. Alanis Morissette picked a cozier concert setting to celebrate her 30 million-selling "Jagged Little Pill" -- a living room.

For her Jagged Little Pill Acoustic tour, Morissette toned down her anthemic rock music by subbing electric guitars for acoustic ones and turning the stage into a parlor with comfy sofas, chairs and throw rugs. The setting fit the artist's Philadelphia stop at Verizon Hall in the 2,500-seat Kimmel Center.

Morissette began the evening by flicking on a lamp in the dark room and belting out the a capella heartbreak song "Your House" as if she were going down on Titanic. She practically brought the show to a stop at its start.

Verizon Hall's acoustics can pick up a mouse's sneeze, so the nuances of her complicated phrasing and full-diaphragm blasts were crystalline. The crowd cheered at the end of every chorus, and anyone who might have doubted Morissette's vocal skills had that question answered.

During the energetic openers "You Learn," "Not the Doctor" and "Head Over Feet," Morissette rocked awkwardly at the mike. Although the softer music format was her choice, she might be more comfortable when she's free to rock out at live performances. She loosened up once she started to work the stage.

Some of the arrangements for the "Jagged Little Pill" tracks were familiar, Morissette having recorded them for her 1999 "Alanis Unplugged" set. The former album contains acoustic and electric guitars, so the difference between the original and revamped versions weren't dramatic. By stripping away the rockier elements and making Morissette's vocals the loudest thing in the mix, the songs came across as even wiser observations about life than they did a decade ago; the singer-songwriter is now a woman on the verge of marriage instead of a twentysomething with angst to burn.

Although 17 songs (including two separate encores) were packed into 90 minutes, Morissette and her five-piece band kept the show moving at a comfortable pace. Her career-making hit "You Oughta Know" was a plaintive demand to be acknowledged by a former lover, with orange-hued lighting and video flames underlining the rage fueling the song. "Perfect" and "Mary Jane" were woeful tales of not measuring up to expectations, with Morissette giving a powerhouse rendition of the latter. Her voice stayed fresh through the night, only tripping up when she flubbed a lyric during the seductive "Sympathetic Character."

For the performer the media once dubbed a furious scorned woman, Morissette was all smiles and good humor, even joking about her "angry" persona. She laughed with the rest of the room when, during her encore "Hand in My Pocket," the pet dog of Jason Mraz (who opened the show) unexpectedly darted onstage a few times. Anyone who can appreciate being momentarily upstaged by a dog can't be all that angry.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter