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Chasing The American Dream

June 25, 2005

FLAWLESS LITTLE PILL


Posted by Hello

She stepped onto a dark stage and flicked on a table lamp. Against the backdrop of a standing ovation, Alanis opened with an a capella version of “Your House.” Her voice was spot-on. The melody was beautiful, haunting, and ‘breathy.’ I couldn’t even see her. All I could see was the dimly lit lamp and the little end table it was perched on. She closed the song to a standing 'O' and segued right into her next song.

The curtain was raised and disclosed her true set. It looked like an everyday living room complete with couches, love seats, chairs, and pictures on walls. Two large video screens accompanied the setting along with her 5-piece band, which included two acoustic guitarists, a bass player, keyboardist, drummer, and a percussionist. The spotlights were on her now. She looked good. Smiling. Happy. She wore what appeared to be a knitted, green-striped, sleeveless dress over black or brown leather pants. Gone was the short-cropped hair seen on her recent video “Everything.” It now fell just short of shoulder-length.

The largely young, female audience began singing “You Learn” in unison with her,
“I, recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone, yeah. I, recommend walking around naked in your living room, yeah. Swallow it down, what a jagged little pill…”

And this was the pattern throughout the 90-minute set. I felt like I was sitting in the audience of an MTV Unplugged concert. I can’t emphasize enough how on key she was. She hit all the high registers flawlessly. Songs like “Perfect” and “Mary Jane” made me shut my eyes. They soothed me. So melodic.

Alanis joked about her perception of being angry 24/7 and then proceeded to demonstrate it when she sang “Forgiven.” Her interaction with the crowd was more thank you-type than storytelling. She said she was enjoying her 10-year celebration of the Grammy-winning CD. She told us she would intersperse a few meaningful non-pill songs throughout the set. She captured the audience more with her acoustic versions of every song on the Jagged Little Pill CD. The lighting and videos changed to accompany the songs. Her encore performance of “You Outta Know” looked like it was sang in hell. The flames on the video screens along with the orange and yellow-colored lighting helped emphasize the anger as she sang it. The crowd sang along word-for-word during the song and during the familiar
“Ironic.”

My only disappointment was that she didn’t sing anything from her newest CD So-Called Chaos and in particular, “Everything.” Still, I certainly can’t complain. What a truly wonderful concert it was. Believe me, I’d tell you if it wasn’t. I’m paying a pretty penny for these concerts, and I’d definitely voice my opinion if these concerts I’m seeing aren’t any good. It’s concerts like these I cherish and just take everything in and realize how special these moments truly are. “Priceless,” as the commercial says.

Note: programming reminder, you can see Alanis sing live on
VH1 on June 30th.

15 Comments:

  • I so love her!-Especially a lot more since she's kinda become less of an angry person since she's gotten engaged. If I were in FL you could count me as a date *winks*

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:56 PM, June 14, 2005  

  • I need to pick that up. I am not a huge Alanis fan, but I was in looooove with that CD when it came out.

    I was in 7th grade. Yikes!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:15 AM, June 15, 2005  

  • Ha! Starbucks. Brilliant! Is this where we have to look now to find her?

    By Blogger (S)wine, at 12:51 PM, June 15, 2005  

  • I would love to go! Any chance you can throw in a flight ticket from England to Fl ? ;)

    By Blogger slow poke kate, at 2:13 PM, June 15, 2005  

  • Ohh, I'd like to catch that too.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:30 PM, June 15, 2005  

  • Ever catch her get REALLY flat when she's doing a live performance? Yeow.

    By Blogger JuRiScHiCk, at 4:41 PM, June 15, 2005  

  • yes. PT is gonna kill me for this, but she is often flat when she sings live. Also, confirmed by my wife who is a classically-trained vocalist. that's why i've always said i couldn't listen to her. she sounds like a howling dog.

    and? PT and Juris...y'all know about my mis-adventures with flat vocals and monitors.

    By Blogger (S)wine, at 4:53 PM, June 15, 2005  

  • A, 7th grade. Tks for making me feel old.
    Manda, cheapest flight was $1056.
    LX and JC, try if you might, but you're not gonna ruin it for me. If she's flat, she's flat. She's live, she's acoustic, intimate setting, I'll take it.

    By Blogger Plantation, at 9:59 PM, June 15, 2005  

  • it's all good my brother. i hear you. flat girls are human too.

    By Blogger (S)wine, at 7:17 AM, June 16, 2005  

  • Never really been a super Alanis fan. Other than one or maybe two songs. Oh well. Hope you have a great time!

    By Blogger Caterina, at 4:52 PM, June 16, 2005  

  • FYI gang, saw Alanis sing 'Hand in My Pocket' acoustic on Letterman. Get this, she wasn't flat. Imagine that?

    By Blogger Plantation, at 3:15 AM, June 18, 2005  

  • We don't believe you. She's flat on the damn record.

    By Blogger (S)wine, at 5:14 PM, June 25, 2005  

  • Glad you had a good time, my dear!!

    By Blogger JuRiScHiCk, at 7:09 PM, June 25, 2005  

  • RE: “You Outta Know” looked like it was sang in hell

    That reminded me of when I saw Pat Benatar at Sunrise Musical Theater (somewhat medium venue).....she sang "Hell Is For Children" on a stage that looked like hell. Her singing and the song were very powerful, and the decor of the stage/screens definitely made it much more intense.

    Glad to hear you had a good time.

    By Blogger Caterina, at 5:03 PM, June 27, 2005  

  • I'm glad you had so much fun, you'd certainly waited long enough for the day to come. :-)

    By Blogger Denise, at 3:29 PM, June 29, 2005  

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