“I don’t think growing up is so scary after all. It gets better with every passing year, so cheers to that,” Olivia Rodrigo said to her Moody Center audience on Wednesday. A week after her 21st birthday, Rodrigo spent a night in Austin on stop four out of 77 for her “GUTS World Tour.” With her, she brought eight back-up dancers, Y2K themed screen graphics, three costume changes and a comfortably messy stage presence for a dynamic 90-minute set.
The show sandwiched slow ballads in between the pop-rock anthems as Rodrigo delivered every line with spunky theatrics and youthful charm. Though jarring at times, the modern dance elements from the backup dancers created visuals so stunning they belonged on a magazine cover.
Kicking off the night with anthems like “bad idea right?,” “ballad of a homeschool girl” and “vampire,” the singer transitioned to melancholy energy with “traitor” from SOUR and teased the show’s breadth of discography. Playing all 12 tracks from GUTS, nine from SOUR and one bonus track, the singer finally has enough songs to omit covers from her setlist.
As Rodrigo rose from the stage floor sitting at a baby grand piano, “drivers license,” the anthem that ignited Rodrigo’s career three years ago, bathed the crowd in wild nostalgia and her signature purple glow. At the beat drop, the lights beamed red in sync with the lyrics “red lights, stop signs,” making the song an experience, not just a performance.
Mid-concert atop a floating crescent moon, Rodrigo orbited the stadium singing slower hits “logical” and “enough for you,” giving fans a chance to see the singer up close. Solemnly amongst the dangling stars, the scene symbolized Rodrigo’s humble beginnings, growing megastardom and continued musical vulnerability.
Using “brutal” to transition back to an angstier feel, Rodrigo delivered the highlight of the concert: “obsessed,” a bonus track from limited-edition vinyls. Camera shots through a plexiglass floor revealed a dominating bottom-up view of the singer thrashing around the stage.
The viral performance exemplified Rodrigo’s growth away from her Disney Channel days that has allowed her to embrace explicit, youthful rage, and make a career out of it. She further emphasized that idea with the “all american bitch” line changed from “perfect all-American hips” to “perfect all-American tits” in concert.
For an encore, Rodrigo returned holding a ruby red megaphone, clad in a white tank reading “BRAT” and sequin shorts to finish the night with “good 4 u” and “get him back!” Rodrigo made the idea of revenge look exciting as she smiled and a rainbow of star-shaped confetti unleashed onto the crowd. A sea of bobbing lavender cowboy hats reached desperately for bits of confetti to save a memento of the night.
With the perfect mix of gritty and endearing, Rodrigo continues to solidify her place as one of Generation Z’s favorite artists and the voice of lamenting teens and young adults. After finishing her set, Rodrigo ventured into the crowd to greet fans. With a few kisses to the camera, the singer disappeared backstage, leaving a lingering sweetness in her place.
