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So I went to see Alanis open for Matchbox 20 on Friday night at the ACC, and it brought back soooo many emotions that I *thought* I had long let go - BUT nope, it all came back. It was like getting this huge slap in face - a wake up call of what had happened with my life in the past decade.

I don’t mean to sound like a “Princess” (thanks Trevor for pointing that out) but I’d NEVER sat further than 2 rows back from the stage at an Alanis show until Friday night. My tickets were great (thanks Craig), but it just felt weird sitting that “far”. I was excited to be there but not that excited until she hit the stage and started singing the songs that brought back so many memories and emotions. I rocked out a little. I laughed. And I wept. Don’t judge. I didn’t think I would cry but I did. Deal.

Anyhoo, let me give you a little bit of a background on why and how Alanis’s music has meant a lot to me - I will try and make this as short as possible.

Picture it, 1995.
Scarborough.
Unemployed.
Lack of motivation.
Enter Jagged Little Pill … changed my life.

For some reason this album gave me that push to do something with my life and change me forever. Cheesy I know, but it really did change my life. The next 3 years were never going to be the same for me. I signed up for Improv classes, joined an Improv troupe and finally got accepted to attend a Radio/TV and Film college program. In the meantime though, I had met some truly wonderful people because we had that one common thread - we were fans of Alanis. These people inspired me, supported me and would become a part of my life forever. It all started with us chatting online about Alanis to arranging meet-ups at shows to going on nationwide road trips together to see her perform to becoming a big part of each other’s lives.

Almost thirteen years have passed since Jagged Little Pill was released and things have changed. Well for one, I sort of messed up (my bad) a close friendship with one of the wonderful people I met since Jagged Little Pill. We remained friends but then I pushed her away for some stupid reason. I thought that going to see Alanis in concert again was going to be like seeing any other artist perform but being at that show on Friday brought me back to ALL the amazing times I had shared and experienced with certain friends.

Here’s the set list:
Moratorium-Intro (New song)
Uninvited
All I Really Want
8 Easy Steps
Hand in my Pocket
Citizen of the Planet (New song)
Moratorium 2 (New song)
Everything (New song)
My Humps
You Oughta Know
You Learn
Thank U
Ironic

In the words of Trevor Boris, who was also at the show on Friday, “It was like going to Church”. I too felt reborn again. I’m not religious in any way but I felt like Alanis was my “god” 10 years ago, and today she is my “saviour”. During the show I started to type a text to the friend I pushed away but then would delete it. After 5 attempts of sending the text of telling her how sad I was that she wasn’t there to share this experience with me and that I missed her, I did it. I hit send.

Thanks to Alanis’s performance on Friday night, it made me realize that I had pushed away a friend who made a difference in my life.

So I thank you for reading this and a BIG thank you Alanis for Jagged Little Pill.

Peace, love and Alanis,
Cat

Posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 4:57 pm by Soja and is filed under Concerts & Events.

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