You oughta know: Alanis doesn’t sink at Aladdin

David Renzi

Friday, June 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Several important changes have occurred since Alanis Morissette made her Las Vegas debut nine months ago:

* She won four Grammys (including Album of the Year).

* Her ticket price has increased proportionally with her star power.

* Her venue went from a nightclub (the Palladium) on Industrial Road to a hotel (the Aladdin) on the Las Vegas Strip.

But one thing remains the same: She's still wildly popular, as evidenced by the 7,000 fans who packed the Alanis Theatre for the Performing Arts Thursday night.

From the minute she walked on to the moment she walked off 90 minutes later, they neither shut up nor sat down. They cheered every high-pitched and-or sustained note, as if such displays were a talent unique to their heroine. Such worship is to be expected, as the 22-year-old Canadian singer's fans are predominately girls in their teens and 20s who took "You Oughta Know" as a personal anthem and now know every word to every song on "Jagged Little Pill."

The 13 songs from Morissette's 13-million selling album (9 million in the U.S.) comprised the entirety of her concert here in September, and they constitute the bulk of her live show still.

Morissette obviously knows a thing or two about the power of programming; she spaced out her big hits to heighten the anticipation, so that when she finally got around to "You Oughta Know," nearly an hour after she began, the response was explosive.

She delivered the song the way her fans have come to expect it, wisely dispensing with the tamer, Grammy-show version that's been playing recently on radio. This is a crowd favorite, and her minions gleefully returned the lyrics ("You, you, you oughta know-ow-ow," "Can you feel it?") in unison.

Just the same, the vitriol that marks the original recorded version is beginning to abate, as it would naturally now that she's sung it a few hundred times. Whoever you are, Mr. Du-pli-city, she's over you at last.

Morissette began with "Patience" and was into a methodical "Hand in My Pocket" by the fourth number, garnishing both with harmonica. The middle section of the show was devoted to "Jagged's" lesser-known songs ("Perfect") and new material, including "Can't Not" and "The King of Intimidation."

"It ("The King") may or may not be on the new record," she said, referring to the album she'll begin working on in January, "but it's here now."

She played "Wake Up" and hip-hopped around the stage with an electric guitar before commencing a four-song encore with "No Pressure Over Cappuccinos," which she wrote for her twin brother.

Next came "Ironic," with Morissette at her knees-bent, back-hunched, left-arm-flapping-like-Joe-Cocker best. She and her four-piece band left briefly, then returned for "You Learn," which featured the singer flinging herself around like a rag doll, windmilling her mop of brown hair, running back and forth across the stage like a madwoman (breaking tackles and dodging guitarists in the process), and engaging in general anarchy and cymbal-smashing with her drummer.

She concluded with "Your House" ("If I took off all my clothes and put on your robe, would you forgive me, love?"), a somber number which Morissette performed on acoustic guitar sans band.