In January 2021, Disney Channel’s Olivia Rodrigo became a pop star with her single, “Driver’s License.” A few months later, her first album, Sour hit the ground running, leading to Rodrigo winning three Grammys in 2022. Sour depicted heartbreaking songs about being a teenager and being in love, although the album appealed to a lot of different demographics. Following her victory at the Grammy awards, Rodrigo embarked on her first tour that took course over three months. She played in amphitheaters and other small venues, touring around the U.S. and Europe. This past fall, in September 2023, Rodrigo’s long-awaited sophomore album, Guts, was released. With it, came an announcement for the Guts tour.
I’ve been a self-proclaimed Olivia Rodrigo fan girl ever since Sour came out in my sophomore year of high school. Due to the size of her venues for the Sour tour, I wasn’t able to secure any tickets like many others. However, this past October, my sophomore year dreams came true alongside Rodrigo’s sophomore tour. After waiting five long months, I finally got to witness Rodrigo’s pop stardom in person on March 8th in Charlotte.
For her world tour, Olivia has different openers for each leg of the tour. For her North American tour, the opener is none other than Chappell Roan. I wasn’t fully aware of Roan’s music before purchasing tickets to Guts, and I’m so happy that I am now. She is the epitome of a pop princess and was the perfect opening act to the tour. For upcoming shows, Olivia has three different openers: one for her Madison Square Garden shows, one for her European leg, and one for the last leg of her North American tour. At MSG in New York City, the Breeders, a 90s alt-rock band will take the stage. In Europe, American singer Remi Wolf will tour with Rodrigo. For the final leg of the GUTS tour, PinkPantheress, an English popstar is opening.
In Charlotte, following Chappell’s performance, a video of candles that spelled out GUTS, were projected onto the stage. The candles slowly began to burn out as the time for the show to start approached. This was a really interesting way to both intrigue the audience and let them know how much time they had to go secure some merch. Rodrigo and Roan both had great merch options, ranging from t-shirts to butterfly-shaped tote bags. Other items included posters, baby tees, and vinyls from both artists.
Rodrigo took the stage in true Guts fashion, with a knock on the door that led to “Get Him Back!” as the opening song. The show is almost one and a half hours long, covering all 12 of her songs off of Guts and the majority of Sour, with a few extra surprises. The first surprise was her singing “Can’t Catch Me Now”, the song that she wrote for the most recent addition to the Hunger Games franchise, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. While this song wasn’t originally performed at the start of the tour, it was luckily performed in Charlotte. Another surprise, that was up until recently unreleased, was Rodrigo’s song “Obsessed.” Three weeks ago, on tour, Rodrigo announced the release of Guts: Spilled which consisted of five extra songs that weren’t on the original album.
With a total of 23 performed songs, Rodrigo had nothing short of an amazing stage presence. My favorite moment of the tour was when she got on an oversized (and purple) crescent moon, and essentially floated around the arena. I was even able to secure some confetti that came at the end of the show. Overall, the way Rodrigo’s show was set up allowed for equal viewing across the different sections, from the floor to the upper areas of the arena. She also did a great job at interacting with fans, using one fan interaction to segue into “jealousy, jealousy.” The show was nothing short of magical and Olivia Rodrigo is undoubtedly nothing short of a star. I’m excited to see what she does for the European and second North American legs, and I can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon for Rodrigo. She’s come a long way since Bizardvark and Disney Channel, and she’s seriously a must-see.