On the Road Again
Live Reviews:
Alanis Morissette/Crash Test Dummies/Esthero
May 11, 1999
Air Canada Centre, Toronto
A Score Card:
People with buckets at gate entrances, collecting change for
Convenant House. +10
Pre-show music mix features Terence Trent D'Arby, YZ and Black Star. +5
Stage is decorated with faux Indian, tie-dyed drapes that look like
my college friend Heather's bedsheets and t-shirts with the little dancing
bears and skulls, (minus the bears and skulls). +2
Audience equal parts "kids" and "adults". -8
Large number of mothers escorting kids. Cute, but -5
Press ticket: Row 18, on the floor. Membership has its privileges, +5
For all this talk about India, not a lot of Indians. -4
People with bristol board signs. It's not Raw is War, guys. -2
Esthero's first words to the audience: "How ya feelin' Toronto? Ya
a'ight?" +5
Esthero's performance: Strong, confident, new haircut, Kathryn
Rose screaming in a black geisha dress, Suge's wicked beatbox, segue into
The Roots' "You Got Me", Molly Ringwald Dance to a reggae beat. I'm tellin'
ya, this girl's gonna be huge. +25
Percentage of the sold-out audience that caught Esthero's show:
Maybe 20%. -3
Women behind me asks me who Esthero is, what her album's called, says "They were great." +3
Crash Test Dummies provide great reason to go find something to eat. +2
CTD lead singer Brad Roberts wears pink feather boa, furry black
cowboy hat. +3 for the weirdness.
Leafs game on TV in the hallway +4
Return for last song, a cover of "Baby One More Time". +5
Waiting for Alanis, crowd does "The Wave". -4
Alanis' band enters to DJ Shadow. +2
Alanis wears a brown sequin sleeveless blouse, brown bell-bottoms,
and a weird orange thing that's equal parts dress, sari and apron.
Somehow it works, +4
Skips into Ave Maria at the end of "Baba", knocks the roof off the
joint. +6
Video footage on the big screen of the back of Alanis' head. She's
not that interesting. -3
Alanis doesn't so much dance, as jerk her body about in various,
alternating, apparently random directions. Looks like a Whirling Dervish...or a drunken hippie. +5
Alanis picks up a guitar for "Joining You", but only plays the big
riff in the middle of the chorus. +3
Smell of weed somewhere on the floor by the third song. +3
Annoying loud, drunk people four rows ahead waving to their friends
behind them. -3
"Are You Still Mad" begins; crowd sits down en masse. -7
Small group of kids near the stage stays on their feet and keep
dancing. +4
Plenty of friendly, grateful onstage banter between songs. +2
"You Learn" accompanied by footage on the big-screen of this
kick-ass snowboarding video game I played once. +9
Jazzy looseness of the music exudes musician's confidence. +4
Tendency to let jazzy looseness of the music lead to noodly
wankery. -2
Arabic or maybe Hebrew writing on the big screen, accompanied by a
ying-yang symbol and some old books. Deep like an Entertainment Tonight
investigative report. -3
Alanis leads the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to guitarist.
Neutral.
During some slow song I don't recognize, it dawns on me that
Alanis really has an incredible voice. Chilling, and strong. +5
Dub version of "You Oughta Know" builds into the traditional
rendition. +3
Alanis swears. +2
Big, long piano intro to "Uninvited". Look it's a concert, not a
recital. -2
Alanis sings "Uninvited" like an angel pleading her case. +6
First encore: "Thank U". Actually touching +5
"Ironic" sparks spontaneous sing-along. +7
Second encore: Begins with big screen footage from the "Unsent"
video, except you can hear the talking. +3
"Unsent" begins three song acoustic set. +6
Overall impression of musical performance at the end of the show: +40
Official Tour Sponsor? Mbanx. How about those "transparent dangling
carrots" Alanis? -25
Watch Leafs lose on TV in the hallway. -5
Leave with a smile, singing "Ironic". +15
Total Score: 127 points. An excellent score, higher than most arena shows,
but lower than Robbie Williams...
— review by Sean K. Robb
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