I was lucky enough to score a ticket to Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS Tour at Madison Square Garden this past weekend. My friends and I bought the tickets in September, and I don’t remember anything from that experience but frantically pushing buttons on Ticketmaster. At the time, April felt so far away, but now April has come (and the concert has passed), and I’m so excited to share my thoughts with you all!
My friends and I had a wonderful time taking a little adventure into New York City, and an even better time at the concert. Rodrigo put on an incredible show. Her live vocals are amazingggg! She sounds just like her recordings, if not better. She also has phenomenal stage presence. She kept the whole crowd engaged and involved throughout the show. There were many moments where she ran around greeting fans in the pit, and even pointed out some of their fun costumes on the jumbotron. Rodrigo even made sure to make the fans in the back feel included as well (like my friends and I who were in the very last row). At one point, she sang while sitting on a moon that floated around the arena, as she waved to fans in every section. The moon visual itself was incredible, and I’m still trying to figure out the technology behind it.
I also want to give a huge shoutout to Rodrigo’s band and backup dancers. The music sounded incredible, and the dancers were so insanely talented. The choreography highlighted the meaning of her songs in the best way.
While I expected to have a fun time singing my favorite songs and dancing with my friends (which I did), I didn’t expect the concert to be so healing. Rodrigo’s songs document exactly how it feels to be a teenager, specifically a teenage girl. Songs like “brutal” and “jealousy, jealousy” related exactly to my high school experience when SOUR was released, and now songs like “teenage dream” and “pretty isn’t pretty” are relevant to my college experience. Olivia grew up with most of her fans, so she understands exactly what we’re feeling. I found myself literally crying when she played songs like this; I didn’t realize how powerful they were to me until I was screaming them in a stadium with thousands of other teenage girls who felt the same. Not to mention during “teenage dream,” she played a video compilation of her child self—absolutely adorable (and impossible not to cry after).
Overall, my voice and eardrums are still recovering, but those are temporary issues! The memory of this concert is forever, and one I am very grateful to have.