Alanis Morissette Wraps Jagged Little Pill Anniversary Tour in LA: 6 Highlights From a Cathartic Concert

When Alanis Morissette released her blockbuster Jagged Little Pill album in 1995, she painted a picture of a woman who contained multitudes — or, really, she painted a picture of a multitude of women. It was like Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” in album form, only grittier.

Which is why it was such a beautiful, full-circle moment to see Morissette bring her breakthrough album — which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and made her the youngest artist to that point to win a Grammy for album of the year — back to life for the final U.S. date of the Jagged Little Pill 25th Anniversary Tour on Wednesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, the second of two nights at the venue. This time, instead of a 21-year-old raging against her shady ex with wild hair shrouding her face in the blurry, desert-set “You Oughta Know” music video, we saw a 47-year-old thrashing her now-blonde (but just as wild) locks and delivering just as much of the song’s trademark vitriol even though she’s now a happily married mom of three. Jagged Little Pill still represents 2021 Alanis, just as the ripped-from-her-diary songs somehow managed to encapsulate the complicated and complex worlds of a lot of women back in 1995 through today. It’s all at once intimately personal and surprisingly universal.

Below, find some of the best full-circle moments from Morissette’s final U.S. tour stop, where she was joined by Garbage and Cat Power as openers and a crowd full of fans who have made Jagged Little Pill their own over the past 25 years.

The Vocals

Capturing the powerful wails and crystal-clear yodels that she recorded more than a quarter-century ago might seem like a tall order, but Morissette far exceeded expectations when it came to her live vocals. The way her intonation cut through the Bowl crowd singing along to every word and how she held on to notes for an impossibly long time (especially on the seething JLP standout “Wake Up”) was, honestly, extraordinary.

Evolving Lyrics

In the final pre-chorus of “You Learn,” Morissette acknowledged her trio of kids with a knowing smile, swapping the original line “The way a 3-year-old would do” for “Like a 10-year-old, and a 5-year-old, and a 2-year-old would do.” She also gave a cheeky update to “Ironic” by changing “It’s like meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife” to “meeting his beautiful husband,” with the big screens focusing on a gay couple kissing in the crowd to rapturous cheers.

‘And the Other One Is Givin’ a Peace Sign’

While playing the final harmonica line of the sweetly romantic “Head Over Feet,” Morissette held the instrument with one hand while throwing a peace sign in the air with the other — a cute callback to her “Hand in My Pocket” lyric.

Leave the Beach Ball at Home

During her opening set with Garbage, frontwoman Shirley Manson went off on the crowd when someone in the pit started tossing a beach ball around, calling the display “disappointing and, quite frankly, pathetic.” “This is enough already,” she added. “How musicians are treated in this culture is f—ing insane. Stop with the f—ing balloons unless you want to go back to being 5 years old, yeah? F— you,” she said, before seamlessly launching into 1998’s “I Think I’m Paranoid,” an Alternative Airplay top 10 hit for the band. Lest you think concertgoers felt chastised by Manson’s speech, it was quite the opposite: The crowd positively ate up Manson’s dressing-down.

A Group Sob-Fest

Morissette wrapped her encore with 1998’s non-Jagged Little Pill Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hit “Thank U,” and when she got to the lyric “how ’bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out?,” fans cheered wildly because they either: A) Already had cried at some point during Alanis’ set, or B) Were currently weeping as the cathartic concert came to a close.

A Fond Farewell

As the last U.S. date of the anniversary tour, Morissette expressed her gratitude to her crew and opening acts ahead of the final song. She acknowledged the weight of touring during a pandemic by saying, “We’re so grateful — and we’re alive.” She also shared a message to her socials on Thursday (Oct. 7) about wrapping up the trek, calling it “the most intense tour of my life.”

See more

none of this would have been possible. it will take me a long time to process everything. for tonight: thank you. i love you. i bow down to you. #iweepingratitudeandgrief 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

— Alanis Morissette (@Alanis) October 7, 2021

The set list for night 2 of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill 25th Anniversary Tour at the Hollywood Bowl:

All I Really Want
Hand in My Pocket
Right Through You
You Learn
Hands Clean
Forgiven
Everything
Mary Jane
Diagnosis
Reasons I Drink
Head Over Feet
So Unsexy
Ablaze
Nemesis
Perfect
Losing the Plot
Wake Up
Not the Doctor
Ironic
Sympathetic Character
Smiling
I Remain
You Oughta Know

Encore:
Your House
Uninvited
Thank U