Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morrissette was one of the biggest albums of the 90’s. Released in 1995 to little acclaim (it only initially charted at #117 on the US Billboard charts and took four months to finally reach the #1 spot, where it then stayed for twelve weeks (Jagged Little Pill was the #1 biggest selling album in the States between 1990-99 and the 5th biggest seller in the UK in the same time frame). She was HOT STUFF and the Shepherds Bush gig was her first UK concert since the albums release and her rise to mega-stardom. Really she should have been playing a much larger venue, but I guess the gig must have been booked before her meteoric rise and dominance of the UK chart.

I’m not sure how, or when, I brought tickets to see her. I must have either brought them very early on as they had sold out and were like gold dust, or was possibly given a couple by the record company – although I doubt that was the case on this occasion for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the gig was in very high demand so I doubt they’d be handing out freebies to record stores, and secondly if they had been giving them out to record stores I’m pretty sure one of the other guys across the two branches of FAB would have gotten them as I was the newest member of staff so bottom of the list for the freebies. Thus, I must have had some serious foresight and snuffled up tickets when the gig was announced for some reason. I liked the album, but then so did most of the UK population at the time, so don’t think I was an early adopter of her album before it broke big time.

Anyway, after work on this Tuesday evening I met up with Cressida and headed down to Sheperds Bush. As soon as you stepped out of the tube you were met with a corridor of people trying to buy tickets, many offering ridiculous amounts for them. Ignoring attempts to give us a small fortune we made it to the Shepherds Bush Empire and joined the incredibly long queue, eventually making it in to a very packed venue. The sceurity guards seem to have been doing a sidetrade in ticket sales. Whilst I managed to keep hold of mine somehow, many people seemed to be having their entire ticket (not just the stub) taken off them at the door – which were almost certainly then being recycled via a tout for someone else to get in using the same ticket. A nice side-racket, although the overselling was extremely obvious once you were inside the venue as it was packed. Like seriously sardine packed. It was the most cramped gig I’ve ever been to. Thankfully Cressida and I managed to make it to a point near a downstairs bar, where we could see the stage, and basically camped there – not that we could have probably moved anywhere else in any case. It was a miracle I managed to see a couple of other friends (Fabio and Phil) in the crowd.

By the time we’d navigated the queues we’d missed Honeycrack, which was a shame as I’d seen them a couple of times before and quite enjoyed them. But we were in plenty of time for Alanis. She played, between her main set and encores, for just under 90 minutes with a set that included every single song from Jagged Little Pill. Brilliant concert and very pleased I managed to see her at this one, even if it was rather packed.

Price: £13.50