I always support other people taking me to shows, so when I'm asked to do so, my knee-jerk response is usually yes.
Sometimes I can come to regret it.
Alanis Morrissette was playing at the local outdoor White River Amphitheater in Auburn Washington.
Depending on the show and how many of the White River Amphitheater's 16k capacity of people show up, the venue's ability to set music to outdoor lounging and star watching makes it more about “day drinking at the park." An experience that often turns out to be more fun than the sum of its parts.
My first thought was that it'd probably be fine. You know, have a few drinks, layout, and enjoy the night and atmosphere. The popular 90s songwriter's Jagged Little Pill album had some well-written songs.
As a metalhead, the song I knew best was You Outta Know, the pissed-off song about The actor who played Uncle Joey on the TV show Full House.
I listened to it again and enjoyed it, thinking it had a light 90s grunge vibe. This had to be it, the key to her breakout success during the era. Turns out that perhaps her sound and angst faded out with the album and Morrissette had a ton of non-angry folksy and ambient rock music to share.
The lawn where we were sitting was packed with people having a great time, and that's awesome, but I wasn't feeling it. I was hoping my wife was having a great time when she turned and said,
“This is horrible…”
“Oh, man” I sighed in relief, “I was wondering.” We laughed.
Morrissette played one other hit off the Jagged album, and although it wasn't You Outta Know, she sounded great.
My Wife and I agreed we should get the hell out of there.
We beat ALL the traffic the venue is infamous for, and You Outta Know sounded great on the way out.
My brother and sister in law just went and saw her and they said it was a lot of fun. I think they were drunk before they even got to the show though. That might have helped!
Drinks always help set the mood, and it's all about personal taste anyway. I'm sure most people had a blast, but they definitely wouldn’t appreciate the Slipknot show I just saw at the same venue nearly as much.
I was never a huge Morrisette fan to begin with, so I likely would have just suffered through. I always liked Ani DiFranco a bit more.