Vibrant lights through different angles, vibrations from electric guitars pulsing in your veins, screams merging into harmonies, hearts pouring out, crowds jumping up and down, dancing the night away, and beautiful voices embracing the audience–welcome to the Guts World Tour.
The Guts World Tour is a celebration of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album, Guts, which was released on September 8, 2023. This tour now also features her latest addition to the album, Guts (spilled). Rodrigo commenced the tour on February 23 at Palm Springs in California, and then continued in Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida. Then, in April, she sang in front of the enchanted crowds of Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Rodrigo held five shows in Madison Square Garden, beginning on Friday, April 5 and concluding on Tuesday, April 9. I attended her concert on Monday, April 8, and I can truly say that it was an invigorating experience. Rodrigo’s opening act, The Breeders, began performing at 7:30 p.m. and lasted until 8:30 p.m. If you wanted your eardrums to pop, then the opening act would have been perfect for you. However, because I was not fond of The Breeders and their violently loud music, I used the opportunity to purchase Guts World Tour merch.
Finally, the rush began at 8:30, when the beloved star began singing “Bad idea, right?” to the energetic crowd. As we cruised through her songs from both of her albums, the Sour album and the Guts album, the performances that struck me the most were “The Grudge,” “Drivers License,” “Teenage Dream,” “Get him Back!,” “Brutal,” and of course, we cannot forget about the powerful and spirited screams of “Perfect All-American B‒‒.” At one point during her concert, Rodrigo’s voice truly touched me as she began singing from the beautiful crescent moon (she rode on a floating machinery decorated into a crescent moon that moved in a circular motion throughout the whole venue), gracefully making her way through the crowd. She made us feel like we weren’t merely the audience listening to her sing, but as if we were singing alongside her.
One aspect of the concert that I enjoyed the most was the extraordinary sound quality. The pulses from the drums and the electric guitars engulfed the audience, motivating us to jump, dance, and scream our hearts out. I will also never forget about how natural and soothing her voice was, serving as a constant source of reassurance to the crowd. The passion she expressed within each of her songs, especially “Driver’s License,” was truly life changing. In fact, her live performance made her voice sound even more powerfully delicate than it does on Spotify.
Rodrigo’s concert was not just magical; it was the most therapeutic experience imaginable. In that span of 1 hour and 30 minutes, all of my troubles and stress faded away, and it was just me immersed in Olivia Rodrigo’s unimaginable world. Despite the enormous amount of homework I had to get back to, this experience was completely worth it.
