Live Review: Alanis Morissette, Angie McMahon

There's fans assembled at Palais Theatre's stage door at 6.40pm for a glimpse of their favourite Canadian-American alternative-rock singer-songwriter/actress who hasn't set foot on our shores since 1999.  

We can already tell tonight's support act Angie McMahon is a fan, but then she confirms it: "I can't really believe we're all gonna see Alanis Morissette tonight! What the fuck!? Dream come true." McMahon debuts a song she tells us she just finished today after it started taking form at a songwriters retreat in Somers. During this song McMahon announces, "That was the first fuck-up," before she's even started singing and her banter is refreshingly candid. McMahon has a comfortable presence on stage and we're mesmerised by her rich, husky vocal tone. After admitting she was so nervous pre-show that she spasmed a glass of McLaren Vale Shiraz over her jeans, McMahon delivers a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Silver Springs and completely makes it her own. Slow Mover reminds us she'll probably do well in this year's Hottest 100. An impressive young singer-songwriter who obviously feels very deeply.

It's a big old love-in inside Palais Theatre with screams and hollers galore as Alanis Morissette plus two guitarists arrive on stage and sit on their respective stools, opening with You Learn (complete with Morissette's string of recommendations via lyrical content). She gets the harmonica out for All I Really Want and it's mass swoons. All remain seated throughout her performance and when a trio of front row ladies spring up for a dance during Not The Doctor, they are immediately told to park their arses by an usher. Morissette admits her songs were initially written as "pure self-indulgence", but have since become ours. She then tells a hilarious story about a fan who passed on that she particularly enjoys Morissette's song about a teacher in school that she fell in love with. After racking her brain to try to remember which song said fan was referring to, Morissette instead chose to just enthuse, "Cool!" rather than admit there is no such song.The crowd hang on her every word, charmed. She follows up with what she tells us is a dialogue song about a specific someone called Hands Clean.

There's tears, friends clutching at each other over the arms of chairs and memory lane is chockers. Morissette reveals a Jagged Little Pill musical is being made, telling us she watched the first rehearsal just the other day. Some songs will be sung by male cast members, Morissette enlightens, before presenting one such song, Perfect. "Don't forget to win first place/Don't forget to keep that smile on your face" - these lyrics mean so much to so many people and there are deafening singalongs. Morissette sure drinks a lot of "'camomile tea"! There are three whole bottles up there, which are changed over by stagehands throughout the show. Her sky-high white stiletto heels accentuate ballerina arches and Morissette rocks the ombre locks, which tumble down over her sparkly black blazer.

After performing Guardian, which Morissette tells us she wrote for her son Ever, the singer-songwriter reveals she's since penned a tune for her daughter Onyx upon Ever's request after he pointed out it's unfair she doesn't have her own song. Morissette seems chuffed by her son's suggestion as she tells this story. We're told she's 23 songs into her new album and this news is met with roars of approval. "It's my birthday!" some dude yells out from the back stalls before shouting out a request for Morissette to give him a hug. Instead, Morissette says she'll sing for him. She forgets the lyrics at the start of fan-favourite Hand In My Pocket and the trio start this song over. A sea of peace sings are raised skyward on cue: "And the other one is giving a peace sign!" Morissette's accent punctuates every word of Everything ("I can be an asshole of the grandest kind...") and now there are real tears rolling down faces. Head Over Feet scores a particularly raucous singalong as we each remember our favourite "best friend with benefits". So Unsexy takes us back to painful teen experiences of rejection that left us feeling deflated. And Ironic is epic as expected: when Morissette holds the mic out toward the audience we ALL know the lyrics. 

Morissette tells us she wrote the exquisitely haunting Uninvited in 15 mins after watching the movie City Of Angels. Collectively singing You Oughta Know, even in acoustic mode, is cathartic beyond belief. Morissette explains they're skipping the encore fake-out and instead we're prepared when Thank U appropriately closes the show. No, thank YOU, Morissette, and don't wait another 20 years to come back, ya hear?