Isn’t It Iconic? Alanis Morissette Takes on Las Vegas

When Alanis Morissette burst onto American airwaves in 1995 with the release of her third studio album, Jagged Little Pill, she shattered all expectations.  On the strength of its six enduring singles, “You Oughta Know,” “Hand in My Pocket,” “Ironic,” “You Learn,” “Head Over Feet,” and “All I Really Want,” Jagged Little Pill became the best-selling album of 1996, selling more than 18.7 million copies worldwide; topping the charts in thirteen countries, as well as the US Billboard 200; and winning four 1995 Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year).  But the alternative-music juggernaut didn’t stop there.  The album’s third single, “Ironic,” was nominated for two 1996 GRAMMY Awards (including Record of the Year); while the video chronicling her tour, Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997) won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form. 

Now Morissette has taken a novel approach to the Las Vegas residency show, and fans of the Canadian American singer-songwriter are going to love it.  Yes, she performs her greatest hits (and quite a few rarities and B-sides); and yes, there’s a band, and even dancers (though, unlike the backup dancers one usually finds, Morissette’s dancers seemed more like an avant garde dance troupe).

Where she zags, though, is with the format of her show, wherein a series of autobiographical, multimedia vignettes play out between the thirty songs she performs.  And if you’re wondering how she managed to fit thirty songs and a dozen or so vignettes into the usual 80 to 100 minutes these things tend to run, don’t; because she doesn’t.  In fact, her first show of the residency ran to 150 minutes (including a twenty-minute intermission, itself another twist).  And yet it moved at a steady clip, and kept the audience at various times entertained, amused, jubilant, and thoughtful (if at times forced to put on their thinking-caps more than expected).  

At first glance, this might seem a curious way to approach a residency show, but Morissette has always been a storyteller, and the stories she tells are her own.  Why, then, shouldn’t the Live Nation Las Vegas-presented Alanis Morissette: Las Vegas 2025 tell the story of Alanis Morissette?  Sure, it goes deeper than most, but for her many millions of die-hard fans around the world, these eight shows running through November 2 won’t nearly be enough.  And isn’t that ironic?  (Actually, it’s not; but it was too good to pass up.)

Alanis Morissette: Las Vegas 2025
The Colosseum at Caesars
Various dates through Sunday, November 02