The Mickey Mouse ears are long gone as Olivia Rodrigo proves her stripes as a once-in-a-lifetime pop rock performer.
Shades of purple, red and silver sequins swarmed into Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena for the first of four shows from America’s Disney musical theatre star turned pop-rock reincarnation Olivia Rodrigo. From young glittered girls with their mums, to teenagers, and young adults, the sensation has quite a specific crowd following – predominantly young females full of feminine rage that can only be let out through belting out breakup songs. By god, does it make for a euphoric singalong!
Olivia Rodrigo
- Wednesday 9 October
- Rod Laver Arena Melbourne
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Opening the night was New Zealand pop powerhouse BENEE who is no stranger to the Australian stage as a festival favourite. Powering through a set of high-energy anthem including ‘Kool’, ‘Soaked’, ‘Sad Boiii’, ‘Green Honda’ and wrapping up on ‘Supalonely’ BENEE surely won over some new young fans as they piled in awaiting the superstars 8.30pm prompt start.
The stage spread like a flying V guitar with two diagonal runways bringing Rodrigo closer to the seated wings was backlit by a full scale screen, opening up more of the arena for the hungry fans. Overwhelmingly piercing screams quaked the stadium as a projection of the word GUTS spelled out in candle wick, both the tour title and Rodrigo’s sophomore album title, burnt down as a timer. The screams were inevitable but the shrill, high pitch and deafening roars were a reflection of a dedicated fandom.
The candles burnt out and a video of Rodrigo knocking on a purple door with the 5 finger punch of the ‘bad idea, right?’ signalled the start to an explosive set. Hearing aids might be on the purchase list after this epic show – normally shows have lulls where only the true fans know every single word to each song but the intensity of the singing from the crowd remained entirely unwavering throughout the 24 song set, even during her softer acoustic moments. It was feeding off of Olivia’s energy on stage – a presence that is far beyond the 21 year olds years. Her high kicks rival one of her idols Hayley Williams of Paramore, getting as much height as a gymnast as she bounced through each song across the runways. ‘ballad of a homeschool girl’, crowd favourite of many ‘vampire’, ‘traitor’ and ‘driver’s licence’, ‘teenage dream’, ‘pretty isn’t pretty’, ‘love is embarrassing’ and ‘making the bed’ built the first half of the show, balancing the intensity of emotional drivers and the hyperactivity of the humongous belters.
Olivia Rodrigo’s vocal performance should be commended as she soared effortlessly through the vocal acrobatics of each song – from the whispered head to the uncaged chest bursts including whilst laying on her back for the entirety of ‘making the bed’ – a provenly difficult position for projection. This is where her musical theatre background elevates her starpower and technical skill on the stage.
Flying audiences to the moon, quite literally, Rodrigo is mounted on a moon mechanism that flies overhead, through hanging stars and brings her face to face with fans cascading down the seating bank. She takes it down for ‘logical’ and ‘enough for you’ in a beautifully intimate and delicate moment, separated only by the encouraged scream competition that orchestrated. Again, another reason for the hearing aid appointment!
Descending from the stars back to the stage, Olivia Rodrigo is elevated on a platform for ‘lacy’, a glorious country ballad backed by her dancers. Discussing her time in Melbourne having breakfast in Collingwood makes for a segue into ‘so american’ and ‘jealousy, jealousy’, before she takes to the floor with her guitarist for acoustic versions of ‘happier’ and ‘favourite crime’. The main set is brought back up and closed out by ‘deja vu’, ‘the grudge’, ‘brutal’ (in which an outfit change to a bold red playsuit only added to the punch of the track), ‘obsessed’ and ‘all-american bitch’.
Encores of Paramore homage ‘good 4 u’ and ‘get him back’ as sung into a red megaphone, featuring red, white and blue confetti cannons sent the evening home in the most epic way; thrilling and tunderous!
There is a reason why Olivia Rodrigo has been named Billboard’s touring artist of the year and it is so simple. She performs like it’s her first show and her last show – the excitement through the roof, the vocal performances fresh, the energy off the charts and the gratitude of it all on her sleeve.
