Review: Alanis Morissette smiles through the anger with Saturday Saddledome show

Singer still fills songs such as You Oughta Know with rage, but her back catalogue offers a number of shades and tones

We independently select everything we recommend. Buying through us may earn us a commission, which supports our work. “I have as much rage as you have, I have as much pain as you do,” Alanis Morissette sang near the end of her concert at the Saddledome Saturday night.

The line is from Sympathetic Character, one of the deeper cuts from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s 1998 album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. That record was the followup to her universe-conquering 1995 breakthrough Jagged Little Pill and showed there was still more than enough rage coursing under the hits. On Saturday, Morissette did not play Sympathetic Character in full, offering just a snippet before segueing into a scorching run through one of her biggest hits, You Oughta Know.

It was an appropriate pre-encore closer. As the first single from Jagged Little Pill, it is what introduced the world to Morissette and the notion that women can rage against the machine just as credibly as the boys. It allowed her to both enter the mainstream and immediately alter it, which very few artists can lay claim to.

Still, that was 31 years ago. Morissette is now a 52-year-old mother of three who delivered much of her impressively polished show at the Saddledome with a smile on her face. This is not to say that she is complacent or that the anger she showcased three decades ago was merely a post-adolescent phase.

Prior to Morissette and her band’s entrance Saturday, a lengthy video olayed on the Jumbotron. As with many introductory videos that open stadium concerts, it covered some of the details of her origins story. But the focus was often on her activism.

At one point, she is shown talking about the value of anger. “Being anger is lovely,” she once told Rolling Stone when talking about You Oughta Know. “I think the movement of anger can pull us out of things.”

Saturday’s concert began with Morissette singing the opening lines of Hand In My Pocket off stage, which gave the song a somewhat hymn-like quality after the initial jolt of recognition from the enthusiastic audience. She followed it with an energetic run through the defiant Right Through You, one of eight songs she performed from Jagged Little Pill.

As the singer howled “you didn’t think I’d show up with my army and this ammunition on my back,” the Jumbotron offered a sobering series of facts and stats reminding us that the world is still full of harassment, sexual violence and gender inequality. At one point in the show, the screen simply showed some text featuring alternate pronouns. It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.

But there was something powerful about this flash of solidarity in front of tens of thousands at the Calgary Stampede, particularly when considering that some of the very politicians who are the most eager to cater to anti-trans bigotry had recently been flipping pancakes for the cameras in the city and on the grounds. Which is not to say the show was a political sermon. Morissette kept the between-song chatter to a minimum throughout.

While songs such as You Oughta Know and Right Through You may have landed her a reductive “angry-chick” label, she is rarely given the kudos she deserves for crafting infectious songs that borrowed from folk and 1970s radio. The melodic Ironic still sounds great with thousands singing along, as does Mary Jane and Head Over Feet. Morissette often played a few lines of deeper cuts before offering full versions of her better-known songs.

It’s a efficient way to structure a show, but it would have been nice to hear complete versions of tracks such as the aforementioned Sympathetic Character. She also offered a tantalizing taste of the theatrical ballad Everything, which features some impressive vocal gymnastics. Her mezzo-soprano chops were also put to good used on a heart-melting version of Smiling, which ended with Morissette offering a trademark fit of manic twirling, one of many moments that would have sparked feelings of nostalgia for her longtime fans in Calgary.

While the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth has one more day — I recommend checking out The Beaches on the Coca-Cola Stage Sunday night — Morissette’s Saturday night show was pretty much the Stampede’s final hurrah for 2026. After eight days of country twang, some Stampede revellers may have been a bit tired of the genre. Those who came early enough on Saturday, however, got a taste of country twang done right when opener Brandy Clark took to the stage.

The multiple Grammy nominee — she also has a Tony nomination — has penned hits for others, including Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves. She showcased her talent for writing sharp, provocative, tough and melodic anthems on Saturday, offering spirited runs through gems such as Stripes, Get High, Big Day in Small Town and Good Night Los Angeles. The veteran singer-songwriter doesn’t sound much like Morissette, but her songs are just as good.

Saturday’s concert ended with the headliner offered two very different songs during the encore. The first was the crescendoing slow-burn ballad Uninvited, which was from the soundtrack of the 1998 film City of Angels. Morissette ended with Thank U, one of her most endearingly melodic hits.

It was a gentle closer. Yes, there’s plenty to rage against still, but there always room for gratitude.