Alanis Morrissette – Harriet Island – St. Paul MN – July 19th 2024

Alanis Morrissette played the Minnesota Yacht Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

She was the entire reason I went to this show. The Minnesota Yacht Club is a new festival taking place at Harriet Island in Saint Paul, Minnesota. For being the first year, this festival was incredibly popular.

The first day included sets by Joan Jett, Gwen Stefani, Alanis Morrissette and more.  The Black Crowes were originally on the ticket, but dropped out last minute.  That didn’t go over extremely well, as many had purchased tickets simply to see them.  But people had fun nonetheless.

This review will focus mainly on the Alanis aspect of the festival, as there were many other parts to it. I had never seen her live, but have been wanting to since the release of Jagged Little Pill.  That is nearly thirty years. That’s crazy when you think about it.  I remember when that album came out, when I was in junior high.  I used to listen to it with my mom and sister all the time.  So this actually meant more to me than I even realized.

For those that know me, you know I never go to shows.  Kyle goes to all the shows.  Getting me out of the house is a giant task.  He was leaving at 2:30pm to cover this festival and I made up my mind at 2:25pm.  I’m glad I did.  It was a really fun festival.  We were lucky enough to have VIP access through the media, which was a nice spot.  When the show began, we headed as close to the stage as we could get.  This is also something I never do, as it’s very difficult for me to stand for extended periods.  But I really wanted to see Alanis and figured I could go back and sit at any point, if necessary.

I was so glad that we went up front, despite the tremendous pain in my legs both that night and the next day.  Alanis played a variety of full songs and medleys, seeming to know exactly which ones should be done in full for the joy of the crowd.  One of the best moments was when she brought her daughter Onyx, and Onyx’s friend onstage to sing the beginning of “Ironic” with her.  It was awesome overall, but had a personal touch for me.  I used to sing this song with my mom ALL THE TIME.  Like, constantly.  To this day, she’ll look at me and say, “It’s figures!” and I’ll know what she means.  To have Alanis up there with her daughter singing it just reminded me so much of that.

Fantastic show.  I was both happy and sad that I waited nearly thirty years to see her because this show is exactly the way I would have wanted to see her back in 1995.

Photos provided by AEG.