Behind the Sea of Phones, Olivia Rodrigo Is a Rock Star
Article and Photo by Jack Iboshi
Olivia Rodrigo's fans are growing up with her, though some have quite a bit of catching up to do. For many of the kids that filled Chicago's United Center, proving attendance on their Snapchat stories was maybe more important than hearing the music live. Yet behind the sea of phones pointed in her direction, Rodrigo stood a remarkably singular artist, delivering a rock show thats musical sophistication might get overlooked with her towering youthful fandom.
Overcoming a potentially precarious audience clash, Wolf Alice were truly the gold standard of an opening act. Strutting between each curve of the long catwalk, lead singer Ellie Rowsell riled up the young, still-sparse crowd, even celebrating the birthday of a 10-year-old fan. Despite using only a fraction of the headliner's sprawling production, the British rock band was never confined, cutting through the arena with a sharp spotlight and full strobes during “Bread Butter Tea Sugar.” Rowsell's confidence was hardly the only thing radiating throughout the venue. Belting the bridge of “The Sofa,” her powerful vocals carried effortlessly from stage to nosebleeds with breath control that proved her to be a premier performer.
Following Wolf Alice's strobe-soaked intensity, Rodrigo opened in near stillness. Asleep in a field of pink daisies, “drop dead” stirred her awake. Any tranquility was short-lived. Soon enough, Rodrigo kicked through the bed of flowers, welcoming the sold-out crowd to the Unraveled World Tour. The show, divided into seasons, traced the rise and collapse of a relationship in one calendar year. Seasonal shifts were accompanied by elaborate video interludes. The lingering ambient soundscapes occasionally stalled the show's momentum, leaving the, otherwise jumping, crowd seated between acts.
During these breaks, many took the opportunity to revisit the night through their Snapchat stories. Groups of middle schoolers replayed videos of themselves singing along to moments that had happened only minutes earlier. Understandably, for an audience likely still developing its musical palette, the decades of musical influences Rodrigo has carefully studied and made distinctly her own may go largely unnoticed. During “serena joy,” the ferocity of Bikini Kill's riot-grrrl tradition seemed to seep through the guitars; by “ballad of a homeschooled girl,” Rodrigo was being sliced into collaged, floral screen graphics like a photocopied punk zine.
It's incredibly apparent Rodrigo has the grit and tenacity to never stop improving. The criticisms that once followed her early live vocals feel juvenile and callow today. During “u + me = <3,” she skipped from one side of the stage to the other, delivering full-bodied lines with the breath control of someone who rehearses while running on a treadmill. In closing “maggots for brains,” she briefly stopped trying to impress the audience and seemed determined to impress herself. Hunched over her instrument, Rodrigo watched her fingers as she meticulously strung together the final guitar solo. Even in an arena designed to magnify her celebrity, she looked most absorbed in the craftsmanship itself.
Rodrigo has pulled up the bar so high that “good 4 u,” one of the hits that built her career, could almost feel like dead weight that she's obligated to include in an encore. Instead, she planted it squarely in the middle of the set and made it grow teeth. Blending abrasive guitars with grungy lighting, she reshaped the five-year-old anthem into something as excellent as the newer material.
The show's most blistering rock moment came with “cigarette smoke.” The album cut was expanded into a guitar-driven centerpiece. As nasty riffs piled up, Rodrigo slammed into her instrument, and the outro stretched well beyond the recorded song's confines. Holding her vocal lines over the noise until the stage fell almost completely dark, her voice was left vulnerable for one final acapella line.
Following the release of her third studio album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, Rodrigo has continued to build momentum onstage with her headlining The Unraveled Tour, bringing the record to life across North America, Europe and the UK. Fans can catch her continuing The Unraveled Tour in Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Columbus, Philadelphia and Atlanta as she continues one of the biggest headline runs of her career. To stream you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love or to catch her live, visit oliviarodrigo.com.
