Fast-forward to last year when Morissette announced her Triple Moon Tour my interest was still there and with Joan Jett on the bill it crossed off another act I wanted to see and tickets were procured.
Jagged Little Pill takes me back nostalgically to 1996. We’d been listening to some of the album and my wife asked what kind of music is Morissette. I said, “I guess mainly a singer-songwriter in the Pop-Rock vein.” But those sounds of 1996, with grunge and alternative rock, with a bit of hip-hop production sounding are hard to beat.
Of course it was in the shed, known as the Hollywood Casino Ampitheater, aka Riverport, in the sweltering July heat of Missouri by the Missouri River. We arrived about an hour before the 7 PM start time and our seats were about 17 rows back in the center. The heat had me feeling miserable until the start time. My wife remarked that it seemed like we were at a feminist rally at one point. And naturally there was a strong female audience.
Opening act Morgan Wade, a countryish singer, played 6 songs for around half-an-hour. She was backed with a four piece band, who looked more like a classic rock cover band. The sound was muddled but she wasn’t bad. Her guitar did appear to be bigger than she was.
And being part of the country scene, she had to play the obligatory classic rock cover, with a mash-up of "Your Love/Jessie’s Girl". I don’t know why but almost every mainstream country concert I’ve went to over the last 15 years, almost all of the acts, but especially the opening acts, always play a classic rock cover.
After a fifteen minute or so change, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts took the stage. I was originally supposed to see her in 2015 as an opening act for the Who. But two postponements that year, pushed her off that bill.
Despite playing louder and harder, Jett’s playing and signing were the clearest of the three acts on the night. And she played loud, hard and fast. 15 songs in 50 or so minutes. She did a few introductions to songs and bantering with the crowd, but mainly kept the pedal to the mettle. One funny bit was she was asking the crowd how she was supposed to address them, “St. Louis?...Missouri?...No one calls it Maryland Heights right?”
The headliner, Morissette took the stage around 9:15 to probably my favorite song of her’s, "Hand in My Pocket". Through the first couple of songs, her voice was lost more in the mix and even some of the later ones. Definitley rocking a little on the harder side. And she was whirling around or even running around the stage several times throughout the night.
But she has the wonderful voice. Just her unique phrasings and inflections maker her one of the best singers out there. Hopefully it was all true with no vocal trickery and shenanigans.
Her set was still heavily focused on Jagged Little Pill, playing most of the songs, even if they were brief snippets. Honestly except for "Thank U", I’m not real familiar with her other songs. But Jagged Little Pill was a monster seller, six major singles and honestly, just one of the greatest album’s ever. I heard all the major songs I loved.
She took a brief four song detour to the B-Stage about twenty feet from where we were sitting, so we got a backwards view of the band for the mini-acoustic set. And for "Ironic" she brought up her daughter to sing the first couple of verses. And she changed the line, “After you meet his the man of your dreams and his wonderful wife,” to,“his wonderful husband.”
Overall she played roughly 18 songs with snippets of others thrown in. It was a great performance, and I enjoyed it. Definitely on the polished side, where it’s the same show different city.
But again with this being Riveport, the worst part of the evening was trying to leave the parking lot. We sat for an hour before firing up the car. This and the Jefferson City interchanges are the worst designs known to man.
Morgan Wade Set List
Domino
Total Control
Time to Love, Time to Kill
Take Me Away
Your Love / Jessie's Girl
Wilder Days
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts Set List
Victim of Circumstance
Cherry Bomb
Do You Want to Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)
You Drive Me Crazy
If You’re Blue
Different
Fake Friends
Long Time
Androygnus
Everyday People
Love is Pain
I Love Rock and Roll
Crimson and Clover
I Hate Myself for Loving You
Bad Reputation
Alanis Morissette Set List
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 Forgiven (Snippet)
You Learn
Would Not Come (Snippet)
Smiling
I Remain (Snippet)
Rest
Mary Jane
Perfect
Your House
Ironic
Not the Doctor
Are You Still Mad? (Snippet)
All I Really Want
Sympathetic Character (Snippet)
You Oughta Know
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Uninvited
Thank U
