A rockin night

Submitted: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 02:23

I'm just beginning to recover from the concert now. What concert? Why, the Alanis Morissette concert of course! Yes, 36 hours ago, I wasn't even aware of its existence, but by some freaky twist of fate (and a strong desire on my part when I learned of it), I was in the audience as Alanis and her band raised the decabel level far above levels typically experienced by human ears. It was total ecstacy.

Oh, and did I mention Garbage played too? Well they did. Even with a broken arm, Shirley Manson looked ready to kick the ass of anyone who got her way (although I doubt anyone would try). The music was awesome! They started out by playing Temptation Waits, the first track on the Version 2.0 cd. It was awesome. I've enjoyed hearing it off the cd several times since I bought it Saturday, but the live performance totally blew me away. Then they played I Think I'm Paranoid, which also totally rocked. After that, I think the order was (I might have one or two mixed up): No 1 Crush (totally ROCKIN rendition!), Stupid Girl, Medication, Special, Push It, Never Happy When It Rains, and When I Grow Up. It was awesome. Gave my ears a good workout, and warmed my nerves up before the great one took the stage.

Oh, and before I go on to describe the Alanis experience, Shirley Manson made a really funny comment between songs: "Your local paper said I broke my arm. Actually, that's only partly true. I was in New York the other day, and ran into Monica Lewinsky... Something about her just made me feel like picking a fight..." That one was met with applause and laughter. Like I said above, I think Shirly could kick Monica's fat ass any day. :)

On to Alanis. When the lights went dark and her band started playing, the anticipation in the audience reached a feverish pitch. As soon as she appeared on the edge of the stage, walking toward the already-shining spotlight in the center, the crowd went wild. There's something incredible about realizing you're in the presence of the person who has written all this music that has impacted your life over the years. When she took the mike and began to sing "Baba", the eruption of applause was almost enough to drown out the music (which was promptly increased to an even louder volume. yaaaa).

I'm never gonna remember the exact order of all the songs, so I won't even try. My vocal cords are pretty much shredded from screaming and singing along to the songs I knew (meaning all the stuff from Jagged Little Pill. I just bought the new one, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, today, so I haven't learned those songs yet). The audience really got into singing along on the old songs. Looked like a lot of people, like me, didn't know the new ones very well. Besides, it's just so much fun to reminisce around all those tunes Alanis is really known for.

Most memorable things:

• Can't Not. I have a feeling this is gonna be one of my favorite songs off the new album. Alanis gave a riviting performance of it.
• Hand in my Pocket. This was the first song she played from the old album. She sang it just perfectly, and the audience really got into singing along for the first time during the evening.
• Forgiven. I really love this song anyway, and hearing Alanis sing it in person made it even better.
• You Oughta Know. I LOVED the arrangement. Minimal instrumentation almost the whole way through. Just Alanis (and the audience) singing with a little bass guitar and enough percussion to keep the pace. And the way the stage was flooded in pure red light through the whole song... It just served to enhance the seething anger the song evokes. That was intense.
• The "unplugged" section. Alanis briefly left the stage while everything was rearranged to provide a more intimite environment. All the needed instruments were moved to the front of the stage, and a giant banner bearing the "moral code" (more on that momentarily) was placed behind them. Then Alanis sat on the stool and sang two ballads from the new album; Unsent, followed by Heart of the House. That provided a nice change of pace.
• This doesn't really apply to any particular song, but I will never forget the way Alanis just... wails. There were multiple occasions when the music was playing and she would just burst into this melodic, non-linguistic ... vocalizing, which was then amplified to incredible levels. My ears loved it.
• Alanis's outfit. I'm not usually one to comment on fashion, but this is an exception. Black semi-tight pants. Black top which might have had some kind of glitter, but not too much. Bright orange skit divided at the sides. It wasn't extremely flashy, but I will always remember it. And of course, Alanis had her long hair in those trademark braids.
• The last 10 seconds of the concert. Alanis was just finishing Ironic. It was an excellent song. I sang my heart out throughout. As the final notes were playing, Alanis waved in my direction, then lookend and pointed (what felt like) straight at me. I swear. Yes, I realize this is a common performer's trick, and it's likely she was just pointing in a general direction which happened to include my proximity. Well, it certainly felt personal. Anyway... Alanis, you've broken my heart, I hope you know. I'll never forgive you. One more thing. Thank you. It's a moment I'll remember and treasure for the rest of my life.

I loved that rock show. It cost a pretty penny, but now that it's over, I can say with certainty that it was worth it. BTW, here's the moral code that was printed on the manner. It's also a watermark on the front of the new album. Funky.

MORAL CODE UPON
THE PREMIESS
PLEASE REFRAIN FROM
KILLING
STEALING
LYING
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
TAKING INTOXICANTS
PLAYING MUSIC SINGING
PLEASE DRESS RESPECTFULLY

I'll refrain from drawing conclusions or interpretations right now.

I gotta hit the submit button and restart Netscape before it eats up all my swap. I think I'll make another rambling in a minute though. I have more to say. As to whether anyone surfing the web is bored enough to read it is another matter.