Alanis Morissette’s Poetic Verses Hit Bluesfest

Alanis Morissette brought her unique brand of singing and songwriting to Bluesfest this Sunday, to an appreciative crowd that sung along to their favourites.

The RBC Bluesfest stage opened with sunny weather and a performance from Sophia Radisch.  She and her band (her, two guitarists and a drummer) played grand, gentle guitar melodies. The show had a singer-songwriter feel to it, but with a few added Courtney Love-esque growls.

Radisch was chosen to write a “Find Your Passion” column for Canadian Musician Magazine, and it’s not hard to see why: her energy was infectious. She clearly was having a blast, and her banter with the crowd let everyone in on it. Her top hat read “Rock N Roll” spelled out in metal rivets, along with fishnet arm sleeves and a brushed-metal brown vest that had a steampunk feel to it. With her whole band dressed in her black t-shirts, with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, the performers definitely looked the part.

Up second was ’90s alternative rock stars Garbage. The band took the stage as lead singer Shirley Manson greeted the crowd with her classic sneer. The band is famous for their two platinum 90’s alt-rock albums, but they came with plenty of interesting new tunes. Manson said the ones from their latest album felt particularly special, because it was the one they couldn’t tour for during the pandemic.

She was grateful to see the hundreds of people in the crowd, partly because some promoter apparently told the band that Garbage couldn’t sell well enough to justify a tour in Canada. (That promoter must be out of their mind. I heard Garbage getting free promotion from local radio stations playing their hits several times this year! Plenty of touring bands can’t say that.)

The band played several of their biggest hits, including “Stupid Girl”, and “I’m Only Happy When it Rains”, whose hypnotic chorus sounds even richer live. But their new material was striking too. “Would you deceive me / If I had a dick?”, Manson asked the crowd during the song “Godhead”. “Would you know it? / Would you blow it?” Make no mistake, this is a band that wants its audience’s attention.

Garbage’s music has always had an anti-establishment feel. Recent single “No Gods No Masters” criticized the men in charge and organized religion: “Save your prayers for yourself / ‘Cause they don’t work and they don’t help”. The iconography from their latest album includes a cross, and the anti-religious tone often reminded me that this was a ’90s band, risen to prominence in an age where the church was a more important cultural power. But as Manson shouted “F–k the Supreme Court!” to the audience before a song, the religious commentary seemed relevant again.

As the July sky finally grew dark, Alanis Morissette took to the stage in decidedly casual attire (the T-shirt bearing her husband’s stage name, Souleye, was a nice touch). As she sang and played harmonica to opener “All I Really Want,” and the pre-chorus began, my first thought was “wow, she really does sing like that!” Morissette routinely peppers her lines with several upward mid-syllable note shifts, in a fashion more common to international music, reminiscent of something like yodeling. It remains a vocal aspect you don’t see very often in mainstream pop or alternative music; radio play may have made her voice seem familiar, but her style remains unique today.

And she sings loud. She’s developed a practiced habit of moving the mic away from her face, down to chest- or even stomach-level, when singing most intensely, likely to keep the sound even and limit the chance of feedback. Sometimes this was accompanied by tilting her body back, as if singing to the sky. These useful gestures, which would probably increase the audio quality of songs from some other loud singers, were done in time to match her quick, rising shifts in tone, which lent the performances a certain intensity.

These skills were put to striking use on “Forgiven”, an album cut from her breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill, and another critique of Christianity written during the 90’s monoculture. Her band ably hit all of the subtle notes on the verses, then delivered soaring guitar lines to match Morissette’s intense delivery. “We all had our reasons to be there,” Morissette sang, belting out the lines with surprising intensity. “We all had a thing or two to learn.” It was one of the more epic songs in the show, with soaring arrangements and wild vocal performances. I remembered being disappointed that she had more hits to work through at that point, because she clearly had some tunes that really soared, but didn’t get quite as much play at the shopping malls I’ve visited. Thankfully, “Uninvited” (a hit at the time, but not as played today) from after the encore also delivered in a similar fashion.

Jagged Little Pill dominated the setlist, as the show was part of a delayed 25th anniversary tour for that iconic 1995 album. Some of the production elements for this show had no doubt been in the works since 2020. With strong performances highlighting distinctive songwriting, she certainly made a strong case for the album’s continued legacy.

The band’s entrance was preceded by a video montage showing some of Morissette’s most important public appearances, such as playing God in Kevin Smith’s film Dogma or appearing as herself on Saturday Night Live, and some examples of her influence, such as dozens of high profile covers of “You Oughtta Know”. (She later nailed with the song’s classic intensity as she sang it in person–with a little help from a crowd eager to shout along.) It was an interesting move, but made sense as Morissette’s thoroughly organized performance would go on to feature little banter with the audience. How interesting, that the famously poetic singer expresses herself to a crowd differently. But as some of the the later video clips highlighted her children, it helped put Pill’s classic songs in the context of a woman grown. When one of her little boys came onstage during closer “Thank U” and pulled a party popper to spray confetti, the resulting audience cheer felt earned. Perhaps Morissette wanted us to know that the young woman documenting her struggles in 1995 has found a few more things to celebrate.

Nobody–not Garbage, Radisch or Morissette–phoned it in today. Garbage and Morissette both could have played rote versions of their classics and could have expected a decent audience in any case (despite what Garbage’s would-be Canadian promoters might say). But both played their hits with genuine vigor, and both have tailored these songs to suit their energetic live performances.

Bluesfest returns Tuesday July 12 with Marshmello, Crown Lands, Three Days Grace and more….for tickets visit www.ottawabluesfest.ca

Written by Aaron Nava

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