Olivia Rodrigo, a 21-year-old pop star, with three Grammys, and two albums under her belt, just kicked off her completely sold-out GUTS world tour. I am thrilled to say I scored the opportunity to attend the concert when she performed in Houston in late Feb., and her performance exceeded all of my expectations. This tour, featuring her second album GUTS, will take her around Europe and North America over the next six months. My friends and I looked forward to this concert since getting the tickets last fall, planning outfits, and listening to Rodrigo’s album on repeat. So, to say we were excited when the long-awaited day for the performance finally arrived, would certainly be an understatement.
When walking into Toyota Center for the concert, I was met with swarms of black and purple outfits, the signature colors for this tour. Even though it was hours before the show began, people were walking around with huge smiles on their faces, taking endless selfies, and simply bursting with excitement. I started navigating around the crowded but organized venue, searching for the shortest line to purchase an item of signature Olivia Rodrigo merchandise. Much to my dismay, all the lines were extremely long, but eventually, I made my way to my seat, with a t-shirt in my hand, to watch the end of the opener, Chappel Roans, performance.
At promptly 8:20 pm, a collective scream let out all through the stadium as the screen sitting center stage started to depict a video of candles spelling out the word “guts” slowly melting, indicating that Rodrigo will soon grace the audience with her presence. Fans waited eagerly for a painstaking ten minutes as the candles slowly melted into nothingness. Then, the moment thousands of people had been collectively anticipating had arrived, as the first few notes of the GUTS opening song, “Bad Idea, Right?” started echoing throughout the stadium.
For the next hour and 30 minutes, Rodrigo graced the crowd with hit songs from her smash albums GUTS and Sour. She sang and jumped around the stage, dancing with the backup dancers and interacting with the guitarists and drummers. Rodrigo also took many purposeful breaks between songs to interact with the crowd, emphasizing her appreciation for the communal love of her music, which she has worked so hard to create.
Everything from the set, costumes, songs, and choreography, were carefully curated to make the performance not just a concert but a truly unique and exciting experience for every single person in attendance. For example, Rodrigo turned the Toyota Center into a night sky, floating around the stadium on a giant moon, which enabled her to interact with fans all around the stadium. The screen constantly flashes unique graphics and shows interesting angles of Rodrigo performing through hidden cameras under the stage. Then, during the final song of the concert “Get Him Back!” The entire stadium was covered with star-shaped confetti.
Only a mere two years ago, Rodrigo embarked on her inaugural Sour tour, where she performed at venues that could hold only around 5,000 people, with no fancy set, backup dancers, or special effects. Therefore, it is almost amazing that in such a short amount of time, she has built the fan base and gained the resources to go on such an intricately designed and completely sold-out stadium tour around the world.
It was an incredible experience to not only get to see Rodrigo perform her music so passionately but also have the space to enjoy and listen to her music with other fans who loved it so much. The crowd in the Toyota Center never stopped screaming, singing the lyrics, and dancing their hearts out during the entire duration of the concert. So, even though my feet ached and my head hurt after the concert concluded, I am truly thankful for the opportunity to “spill my guts” with Olivia Rodrigo on this tour.
