As one of Friday’s Lollapalooza headliners, Olivia Rodrigo’s set was much anticipated, but as the minutes ticked past her original start time, the crowd became more and more antsy.
An hour before her start, festivalgoers were instructed to take several steps back to give those at the barricade space to breathe. Even with this instruction, the audience was tightly packed and humming with the chance to see Rodrigo with their own eyes.
Before the audience saw her, they heard the opening chords to the powerful and driving “obsessed” off of Rodrigo’s most recent album, “Guts: Spilled.”
Once Rodrigo filled the screen, her stage presence was captivating. Her sparkling outfit was enough to catch the audience’s eyes, but the confident way she carried herself around the stage added another mesmerizing dimension to the performance.
Stepping on stage clad in a tightly fitting sparkle ensemble whilst shredding away on an electric guitar is not necessarily the image of a standard Disney role model, indicating how far Rodrigo has come since the start of her career. Additionally, throughout her set, Rodrigo sprinkled in a healthy dose of swear words in both her songs and monologues. And the last and most apparent element of her rebrand was her embracing her sexuality and even playing up a homoerotic stage romance with one of her band members.
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Rodrigo followed “obsessed” with “ballad of a homeschooled girl,” another tune with a strong beat and addictive lyrics that the crowd screamed along to.
Surprisingly, Rodrigo shifted the mood of the performance with “vampire,” a somber ballad about being destroyed by a toxic relationship. Although this change felt very early and slightly abrupt, once audience members learned of all of the tricks up her sleeve, this became the perfect timing.
Rodrigo continued this subdued portion of the performance seated at the piano, playing both “drivers license” and “traitor.” She then expertly brought the energy back up with “bad idea, right?” and “love is embarrassing.”
Just as quickly as she transitioned the first time, Rodrigo swung back to a mellow mood with “pretty isn’t pretty,” “happier” and “enough for you.” Despite these songs’ slower beats and tear-evoking lyrics, Rodrigo was still able to engage the audience like when she requested everyone to wave their flashlights back and forth during “happier.”
She also shared parts of her interests as an artist that made the audience feel like they were getting to know Rodrigo on a personal level, despite the sheer number of festivalgoers in the crowd.
“I think the only thing that I maybe love more than playing music is writing music,” Rodrigo said. “It’s just my favorite thing in the whole world to write a song. This next song that I’m going to play actually happens to be my favorite song I’ve ever written.”
Once Rodrigo finished performing “enough for you,” she went on to mention how many young people she saw in the crowd who were experiencing their first concert. She then bridged this into talking about her first concert and the influence it had on her.
“I think you always remember your first concert,” Rodrigo said. “It’s a very, very special moment. I remember my first concert, it was a very memorable night, and I watched this incredible band, and I’m so over the moon because tonight, that incredible band is actually here tonight to play a few songs. Will you please say hello to Weezer?”
As Weezer appeared on the T-Mobile stage, the crowd went wild with surprise. Together, Rodrigo and Weezer performed “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So.”
“That was f— amazing,” Rodrigo said after Weezer left the stage. “If you would tell little Olivia that, she would flip her s—.”
Still on the high of Weezer’s presence, Rodrigo finished out her set with “so american,” “jealousy, jealousy,” “lacy” and “deja vu.”
The clock inching closer to 10:00 p.m. did not stop Rodrigo from performing a lengthy encore of four songs, including “brutal,” “all american bitch,” “good 4 u” and “get him back.” Not one to leave without a bang, fireworks continuously shot out behind T-Mobile stage as Rodrigo finished her set, leaving a physical impression of her performance on the night sky.
Rodrigo’s popularity is a testament to the quality of her music, but her ability to deliver a solid performance makes her shine as a musician. The screens and lighting were well-utilized to set distinct atmospheres for songs off her album “Sour” versus “Guts.”
She also moved around the T-Mobile stage with ease and confidence, making her show very visually interesting.
If anyone was doubting whether the former Disney star had changed at all from adolescence to young adulthood, this performance made her rebrand clear.
Rodrigo is undeniably making a name for herself separate from her Disney beginnings and, in turn, is delivering memorable performances that captivate audiences.
