Alanis Morissette brings her iconic set to Crystal Palace Park
The Canadian-American singer played to a sold-out crowd.
Photo: @ISHASHAHPHOTOGRAPHY
Alanis Morissette’s Crystal Palace Park performance welcomed fans old and new by first pre-meditating the show with a series of videos from Morissette’s adventurous life. Recapping Morissette’s real-life events is a true ode to her rock-based emotive sound, where these songs do not just spawn from a record deal plan, but from real artistry and ugly emotion. From teaching at the Esalen Institute to being a member of the Equality Now Advisory Board, Morissette has delved into other areas of helping people, outside of cathartic songs to belt out in fits of being misunderstood or mistreated.
Many of Morissette’s most recognisable songs were written and released in 1995 from the album Jagged Little Pill. This live performance re-established the timelessness of their angsty and free-spirited composition, where she often creates sounds without words to relieve big and uncomfortable emotions.
Hand in My Pocket began the show, with Morissette’s optimistic freedoms where “Everything’s gonna be fine, fine, fine.” Alongside transporting us back to the grunge of the mid-nineties, Moriessette’s vocals remain impressively untouched from her album, where they are nearly identical to her recording. This is off the back of Morissette’s distinct tone and the band members, too, who have remained with her for many years.
This sunny day in early July, landing on the same day as London Pride, felt particularly prevalent for the justice that Morissette’s songs often convey. From the beginning of the show, written statistics were projected behind her of painful truths about women’s rights around the world. Including “1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner” and “on average, women make 68% of what men make for the same work. Close the gap.”
With the majority of the audience female, this was a poignant direction for her performance. Morissette being a martyr for human rights, her true intention of making art bleeds through in these projections and her ultimate message of “giving a peace sign” to life.
Atmospherically, this shared catharsis was not a new emotion to many of the audience members. This was obvious by the sheer number of women (men and children) singing these familiar lyrics wholeheartedly at the top of their lungs, whilst holding and sometimes crying in their friends’ arms. Many of these songs are a reminder of past life lessons, particularly blatant in You Learn,reminding those watching that the messy and hard experiences are what teach you the lessons of life.
From the wide-eyed perspective of Morissette’s nineteen-year-old songwriter self, her outlook and passion from 30 years ago hold ongoing relatability. These lessons still ring true to those who were not yet born in the time of their release, and this unity was spotted in the range of ages found in the audience. Morissette’s musical impact is alive and well, as the overall atmosphere was thick with engagement from fans who span across many decades.
Concluding the show with the iconic You Oughta Know ahead of the encore, Morissette encouraged many to release their rage through her biting lyrics. This open-air day festival gave fans the space to heckle those who gave them a cross to bear and shout in unison to an open blue sky above. In a way, having Morissette perform in an indoor venue would have capped the emotional angst extinguished in her sound. The venue lent Alanis and fans a freedom and a release that the songs called for.
Setlist:
Hand in My Pocket
Right Through You
Reasons I Drink
A Man (Snippet)
Hands Clean
Can’t Not (Snippet)
Lens
Sorry to Myself (Snippet)
Head Over Feet
Everything (Snippet, Acoustic)
You Learn
Would Not Come (snippet)
Smiling
I Remain
Rest (Acoustic, on B stage)
Mary Jane (Acoustic, on B stage)
Perfect (Acoustic, on B stage)
Ironic (with fan Kate duetting on first verse)
Are You Still Mad (Snippet)
All I Really Want
Sympathetic Character (Snippet)
You Oughta Know
Encore:
Uninvited
Thank U
