This 2012 performance marks Morissette’s third visit to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, this time as part of her Guardian Angel tour to support her latest album, Havoc And Bright Lights.
The songstress can’t stop smiling and it’s a pleasure to see and hear her perform a comfortable mixture of songs from throughout her career.
In a setlist largely populated by what are now classic hits, ‘Woman Down’ and ‘Guardian’ are stand out songs from Havoc. Energetic, catchy, and made of the distinctive voice and lyrical style that puts them right at home in a Morissette show.
The ruminative ‘Flinch’ and the upbeat yet disquieting ‘Hands Clean’ are strong envoys from Under Rug Swept, but the gems of this performance are undoubtedly the songs from the phenomenally successful Jagged Little Pill.
A blustery ‘All I Really Want’ reintroduces Morissette’s long-time companion, the harmonica, but the deep cheers are caused by the first few words of ‘You Learn’, a song that both retains all its original brilliance and gets better each time you hear it. The audience is puzzlingly still however, frequently only responding at the end of songs.
‘Ironic’ is the centerpiece of the show, Morissette offering the verses to the crowd, who sing the lines back to her perfectly, with affection. This song belongs to them, too. Morissette’s voice is in top condition and she performs a flawless version of this favourite song with the bonus of a shout-out to marriage equality.
Morissette’s beautiful rendition of her modern classic ‘Thank You’ serves as a joyous, lively coda to an engaging set that is likely to appeal to existing fans.
