Attending an Olivia Rodrigo concert is a purple-coated dream come true for most teenagers. And if you’re not a teen, watching her perform live may make you want to relive your adolescence — one in which Rodrigo was fully present. At the Atlanta stop of her Guts World Tour, the Gen Z powerhouse transforms into rock royalty whose screams are her superpower.
An hour before Rodrigo’s concert began on Tuesday night, an avalanche of purple filled State Farm Arena. Her devoted fans, aka Livies, wore any article of purple clothing that you could think of: purple hair bows, skirts, bodysuits, purses, T-shirts, cowboy hats. If Rodrigo wanted to drop a line of her Olivia-core, it’d sell out. And not just for teenage girls. Her concert at State Farm Arena was a family affair. Moms matched their daughters’ purple style, dads wore Rodrigo’s “Dad Idea Right?” T-shirts (based on her song “Bad Idea Right?”) and couples walked hand-in-hand.
The standom was so pervasive that you’d think the 21-year-old pop star was running for president. Over the course of four years, Olivia Rodrigo has become much more than a musician. She’s a statement.
Rodrigo kicked off her tour, which supports her sophomore album “Guts,” in February. She resumed its North American trek this month after trekking through Europe in May and June. Throughout the tour, she’s raised money for reproductive rights organizations. Ticket proceeds will go to Fund 4 Good, her initiative dedicated to supporting nonprofits that center girls’ education, reproductive rights and eliminating gender-based violence. Proceeds from Tuesday’s concert went to ARC-Southeast, an organization that provides funds and education to ensure people in the South receive reproductive care.
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Tuesday’s show started promptly at 7:30 with an opening set from singer and producer PinkPantheress, another internet darling. For 20 minutes, the English artist delivered a very mild set that mainly featured her swaying to the rhythm of her U.K. garage-influenced songs like she was at a house party with a few friends.
Around 8:15, a sign with “Guts” spelled out with purple candles appeared on the screen, marking the beginning of the crowd’s deafening screams. Rodrigo, wearing a silver bra and skirt, graced the stage 15 minutes later. She opened with the songs “Bad Idea Right?” and “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl” with the energy of a seasoned veteran. She engaged with her band and jumped around both sides of the stage as if she was hosting the party of a lifetime. For the crowd, she was.
“I want you to jump, I want you to scream, I want you to sing at the top of your lungs,” she told the audience.
She switched to a more intimate performance for her hit “Vampire.” Rodrigo’s rock star mood became more subdued with a moonlight theme and a black-and-white background that turns red as her voice gets louder and her scorned lover angst turns more vicious — all while standing still behind the mic.
Indeed, this is the crux of the three-time Grammy winner’s sound: music that represents the quintessential playlist for teenage romance and rebellion. Watching the crowd react to this is recommended viewing. Across Rodrigo’s 23-song set, the roars erupting from the audience were splendidly rapturous―the catharsis you didn’t know you needed.
The screams peaked during “Logical.” For that track, which details the consequences of having a manipulative partner, Rodrigo takes a dreamy approach as she sings the song on top of a crescent moon apparatus that swings to each side of the venue. She inched closer and closer to the crowd while instructing them, yet again, to scream as loud as they could. In fact, the screams were so loud that it felt like everyone in the audience experienced the painful consequences of being in a toxic romance just like Rodrigo.
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Other highlights of the show included “Teenage Dream,” a song she wrote when she was 19 and unsure if life would get better. Now, at 21, the pop star assured fans that it does. It was a tear-jerking performance that featured clips of a younger Rodrigo ― reminding everyone to always think about what their inner child needs. For “Lacy,” she told fans to hug their loved ones. She even stopped her set to do an audience member’s gender reveal (spoiler alert: it’s a boy). The crowd screamed so loud at the announcement that you would’ve thought it was their baby. And for “Traitor,” Rodrigo becomes too hard to hear against the audience screaming the chorus.
Her fans yelled nearly every part of her songs, even the quiet ones. By the time the encore arrived, the roars became a fundamental part of the show. Rodrigo ended her set with the revenge-fueled “Get Him Back” while wearing a white tank that read “peace up, a-town down” in orange letters.
For an hour-and-a-half, Rodrigo gave Atlanta fans the electrifying pop-rock showcase that they deserved — proving that she’s the musical dynamo of the present and future. And speaking of the future, Rodrigo made headlines Wednesday morning after posting a video of Vice President Kamala Harris’ first speech of her election campaign, seemingly backing her presidential bid.
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