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When Tate McRae announced that she would be touring her third studio album, So Close to What, I was ecstatic. Of course, I was wondering if she would come to Florida, especially because in the past, she usually skipped over the Sunshine State. Now imagine my surprise when she announced a date for Orlando on Sept. 13 at the Kia Center, almost two weeks before my 21st birthday. This is also her first arena tour, as she has been playing smaller venues ever since she started gaining popularity.
I knew that demand was going to be high for the tour, especially here in Orlando, since it was her first time headlining in the state. Just as I thought, she ended up adding a second date, which ended up being the day I got tickets for. I originally got a lower bowl ticket as a Christmas present, but I ended up upgrading the ticket to VIP a few months ago, and having the opportunity to see McRae perform privately was something that made it extremely worth it to me.
On the day of the concert, Sept. 14, my mood was at an all-time high, and I was so ready for a night of dancing and singing along to my favorite songs. I know that many people dislike going to concerts alone, but if you really want to go, don’t let the fear of going alone outweigh your wanting to go at all!
I made it downtown two hours early and got in the VIP line as soon as I could. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t as hot as it would have been around midday, and I was relatively close to the front of the line. When they opened the doors for VIP to go in for McRae’s sound check, I got in with just enough time to secure the merch I wanted and get my VIP bag. The VIP bag came with a poster, a disposable camera with 12 prints, a photo strip of McRae, and a VIP lanyard.
The number of people who were VIP was relatively small, and we were all seated in the pit in front of the stage, using only about four rows in the middle pit section. When McRae came out, that was when it hit me: Oh my god, Tate McRae is 15 feet away from me. If you have known me since high school, you would know that she is my favorite artist and is responsible for a lot of my creative inspiration, such as when her song “chaotic” inspired a short play that I wrote about my life junior year of high school for one of my finals.
What I love about the intimacy of doing a sound check experience is that you can really have a chance to see how human an artist is at their core.
If you have been keeping up with pop culture news recently, you would know that after much speculation, McRae and the Kid Laroi, who had been dating for at least a year, recently broke up. The why isn’t currently known to the public, but Laroi pretty much confirmed their split when he released his song “A COLD PLAY” on the fifth of September. McRae’s choice of sound check song was also quite interesting, as she chose “boy x,” a song from her first album that has to do with, coincidentally, a breakup.
As someone who also struggles to express themselves unless they are singing or dancing, this song choice meant a great deal to me. In the moment, I felt for McRae because, regardless of whose fault it is, you still have to grieve when something is over. While one usually takes time for themselves to cope with something major like a breakup, McRae has chosen not to publicly address the split. It reminds me of when Taylor Swift was going through a similar experience during The Eras Tour after the news broke that she had broken up with Matty Healy.
The best moment of soundcheck, though, was when McRae said that the best advice she had gotten from her mom, a dance teacher, was to go after anything she wanted, and she was glad that she had someone in her life who encouraged her like that. She also said that life gets way better after high school, and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment.
Zara Larsson came on around 7:30 p.m. and had a killer set, featuring some of the singles from her upcoming third album, Midnight Sun, set to release on Sept. 26. I saw her when she came to UCF in April, and I can tell you that she never fails to deliver, especially when it comes to her choreography. She also played an unreleased song from her new album, “Hot and Sexy,” which was awesome, as I love it when artists play their unreleased music. PSA for Zara Larsson fans: she is coming back to Orlando on April 8 of 2026, to tour the new album!
When McRae came on stage, the atmosphere completely changed. As someone who has been to a lot of concerts, it was surreal for me to see the artist I have adored for the last six years live, in person, in the lower bowl, playing all of the songs that caused me to fall in love with her in the first place.
The choreo? Insane. Dance breaks? Also insane. Dancers? Extremely talented, and seeing pop girlies singing and dancing makes my dancer and artist heart so happy. Opening with “Miss possessive” is such a power move, and the “Like I do” moment where she crawls down the stage made the crowd go wild.
She brought out a stripper pole to perform “uh oh,” which was especially crazy, and of course, her pole dancing skills were top-tier. Her acoustic set, where she performed the more ballad-like songs of her album, was one of the parts of the concert that I was most hype for, especially since she performed “Greenlight,” “you broke me first” — that song carried me through high school, by the way — and “run for the hills.” Again, based on her performance of these songs, it was easy for any trained eye to see that she was struggling, and I would be too if I were singing songs in front of 20,000 people that I had written about my ex-boyfriend after a recent break-up. She also chose to play verses from some of her older songs on the piano, including “that way,” and, most notably, “feel like sh*t.”
She ended the concert with her most danceable hits, including “greedy” and “it’s ok im ok,” which is always a crowd pleaser, but in my humble opinion, her best single off of So Close to What is 100% “2 hands.”
I will say this: money comes back, but the opportunity to see your favorite artist may not always be there. I am so glad that I got to see Tate McRae live, and I don’t regret a dollar that I spent or the hours I sat in line waiting for the doors to open.
I can’t wait to see what McRae does in the future, and I will 100% be at her next tour. If you don’t know who she is yet, you should definitely go check her out on Spotify!