At most large pop excursions, there’s a second when shrieking followers attain a real fever pitch — when the lights dim proper earlier than the present begins, or when the intro to the artist’s largest hit kicks in, or throughout the break earlier than the encore. All of these occurred at Olivia Rodrigo’s first enviornment tour — however her favourite half of the present was when these eardrum-rattling cries had been, actually, mad as hell.

“When we play ‘all-­american bitch,’ ” Rodrigo tells Billboard, “there’s a part at the end of the song where I ask the audience to think about something that pisses them off and then tell them to scream about it when the lights go off.” On the opener to her 2023 album, GUTS, Rodrigo juxtaposes folksy, facetious calm in the verses with enraged pop-punk in the chorus as she lays out society’s double requirements for younger ladies earlier than unleashing a piercing wail. For practically 100 nights this 12 months, the singer-songwriter has closed her foremost set by including her personal scream to an enviornment already full of them. “It’s definitely cathartic for me,” she says, “and I hope it is for the audience as well.”

The similar may very well be stated of the whole GUTS tour, the place Rodrigo’s followers worldwide discovered the house to launch their pent-up power, in addition to their pleasure about one of the decade’s largest new superstars. After bursting into the highlight in 2021 together with her debut album, Sour, and its No. 1 smashes “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” the former Disney+ TV star gained the Grammy Award for finest new artist in 2022 and rapidly ascended to pop’s A-list. Yet the 2022 tour supporting Sour primarily performed theaters, needed to navigate lingering COVID-19 issues and catered to a restricted quantity of worldwide markets, as Rodrigo, then 19, discovered her sea legs as a stay performer.

Two years later, the rock-fueled GUTS grew to become one other industrial triumph: Lead single “vampire” additionally topped the Billboard Hot 100, and the album scored one of 2023’s 10 largest debut weeks. And this time, Rodrigo was ready for enviornment audiences. The GUTS tour featured greater than double the quantity of dates as her Sour trek whereas touring to 4 continents (South America will turn into the fifth in March 2025) and grossed $186.6 million, in line with Billboard Boxscore — even with its 1.4 million tickets bought at a mean value of $128.81, according to price-conscious acts like Coldplay and P!nk, and fewer than that of a number of main pop enviornment exhibits.

As for the present itself, “I actually made GUTS with the concert in mind,” Rodrigo says. “It’s so much fun to play songs that are more driving and heavy. I had a great time performing that aspect of the show every night.” Here’s the way it all went down.

‘She Knew Exactly What It Was That She Wanted’

As GUTS got here collectively, so did plans for an accompanying tour that amplified each facet of Rodrigo’s earlier stay run — larger venues, extra nations — all guided by a extra outlined level of view from the celebrity at its heart.

Aleen Keshishian (co-manager, Lighthouse Management + Media founder/CEO): Olivia had artistic tour concepts when she was nonetheless writing GUTS, even earlier than we had signed a take care of Live Nation or employed anybody for the tour. She already had visible references, voice notes, photographs.

Zack Morgenroth (co-manager, Lighthouse Management + Media companion): That gave us loads of time to plan, and put collectively the proper workforce, and get the present proper.

Jason Danter (tour manufacturing supervisor): I linked with Zack and Aleen in March 2023; at that time, I used to be deep into getting the Beyoncé [Renaissance] tour up and working. I met Olivia when she got here to the Beyoncé present at SoFi Stadium [in Inglewood, Calif.].

Tarik Mikou (artistic director, Moment Factory): We’ve been working with Olivia for some time — we did her first stay TV efficiency [on Saturday Night Live] and did the Sour tour, so I used to be actually completely happy to get a name again for the GUTS tour.

Melissa Garcia (choreographer): They referred to as me in for the Sour tour, and Olivia and I actually meshed. A trusting setting [and] with the ability to have back-and-forth conversations is so vital, particularly with regards to motion and placing artists in weak conditions.

Jared Braverman (senior vp of touring, Live Nation): It was very clear from preliminary conversations that the aim of this tour was to be world — to get to markets that Olivia had by no means been to and proceed to develop by not simply specializing in main cities. [Olivia] is very large all over the place. That’s a difficult factor to navigate — making time and house for all of these markets.

Morgenroth: The Sour tour was her first day out on the street and was an enormous underplay, given the success of the album.

Dave Tamaroff (companion, WME): Her final tour may have been in arenas, based mostly on every little thing she had occurring.

Michelle An (president/head of artistic technique, Interscope Geffen A&M): There had been loads of conversations about [arenas] on the final tour, and finally, Olivia was the last decision-maker — she felt like she wanted to do the theater run to get to know the followers in a extra intimate means.

Morgenroth: There was a lot demand from followers this time round that Live Nation stated to us that arenas now felt like an underplay — we in all probability may have performed stadiums all over the place. That being stated, there was a lot preparation for an enviornment tour: selecting every venue, ensuring we had a great cadence for her. We tended to do solely 4 exhibits in per week and by no means three exhibits in a row.

Tamaroff: We had been surgical in our strategy to the routing.

Morgenroth: Olivia cares so deeply about the fan expertise, and that was additionally so key in the pricing of the tickets, which may have been priced for a lot extra. Everything, from having the Silver Star program — the place followers may get a restricted quantity of tickets all over the place round the enviornment for one thing like $20 — to the panorama of touring artists and attempting to cost our tickets someplace in the center of them, was very intentional.

Keshishian: [Silver Star] was one thing that Coldplay had first performed with Live Nation. Jared Braverman prompt it and Olivia beloved it.

Braverman: [Pricing] takes a degree of restraint, the place you take a look at what you are able to do versus what you must do. You’ve received a younger viewers that’s very linked to Olivia, and we needed to make this tour accessible for them.

Keshishian: We spent loads of cash on this tour, [but] we had been extremely even handed, going over each single line merchandise in the price range to verify we had been spending cash on the issues that mattered to Olivia.

Garcia: Olivia is the captain of the ship — proper from the very starting, she knew precisely what it was that she needed.

Mikou: We had like, 15 conferences, in Zoom and in individual. She had reference boards on Pinterest. She would present us a picture and be like, “I would love something like that in the show,” and provides us these leads.

An: We undoubtedly needed followers to get to know the album. It wasn’t straight from the album launch [in September 2023] into the tour [which began in February 2024].

Heather Picchiottino (costume designer): Olivia’s songwriting development from Sour to GUTS felt very uncooked and up-front, so we wove punk rock by way of [the tour’s production].

Olivia Rodrigo: I attempted to make the live performance really feel like my very own spin on a rock present. My dream was for individuals to leap and scream and be all sweaty by the finish.

Mikou: When you get to the costume rehearsals and begin seeing the concepts pushed ahead — we knew we had one thing particular with this present.

‘It’s So Much Bigger in Every Way’

When the GUTS tour kicked off at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif., on Feb. 23, Rodrigo unveiled a multi-act, visually hanging stage present with dancing, wailing guitars and even an enormous, suspended crescent moon for her to take a seat on whereas circling the viewers.

Daisy Spencer (touring guitarist): We rehearsed a lot main as much as the kickoff. We had been so prepared and wanting to lastly carry out the present in entrance of individuals who had been listening to it for the first time.

Garcia: Instead of reaching just a few thousand individuals, she was in a a lot bigger setting — which places much more strain on her.

Keshishian: There’s no comparability between theaters and arenas, in phrases of prep.

Spencer: It’s a lot larger in each means. The power on the Sour tour was palpable, like we had been starting one thing very thrilling and everybody in the room may really feel it. But I couldn’t have ever imagined what the GUTS tour can be like.

Rodrigo: An enviornment feels wildly completely different than a theater to me.

Garcia: One of the large notes that I’d say [to Olivia] was “Invite the audience in”: Open your chest up, permit them in. And she completely did that. Between the Sour tour and this tour, she is totally far more snug in her pores and skin.

Picchiottino: Olivia had so many iconic appears on the Sour tour, and a few of the detailing in them had been bows or little ruffles or tulle cloth. We actually contrasted that with GUTS, with references to punk rock by way of clear, ’90s, minimal silhouettes, made out of materials that had been steel mesh jewellery versus a tissue cloth.

Mikou: We labored on creating 4 acts in the present. We begin actually robust with an lively vibe, however we additionally go into her vocal vary early on with “vampire” and “drivers license.” And then in the second act, we embark on a visible journey with dancers.

Keshishian: In phrases of choreography, she didn’t need it to really feel like a conventional pop present the place the dancers can typically overpower the music. I feel the dancers are solely in six numbers.

Danter: It’s primarily a youthful viewers that desires to see her and listen to her, so it doesn’t need to be overly difficult visually.

Garcia: We needed to create a visceral response from her followers, and for Olivia, a rock strategy was extraordinarily vital, so she wasn’t fairly positive if she needed to make use of dancers. We got here up with using the dancers in a really distinctive method to match her artistic intention.

Mikou: And then in the third act, she’s flying on the moon.

Keshishian: From the very first dialog we had together with her, she stated, “I’d love to fly on a moon over my audience.”

Mikou: We had about 60 stars throughout to create this immersive vibe in the enviornment, and the moon was on a 260-foot linear flying observe and was a lightweight field as effectively.

Garcia: Riding round the venue on the moon — that was one other means for her to really feel like she actually gave each single individual her time.

Mikou: That act has these large visible moments, nevertheless it’s additionally actually easy and stylish at instances, like “making the bed,” the place’s she rising alone on a raise, surrounded by followers and their iPhone lights.

Keshishian: And then you might have these lovely acoustic moments the place she’s simply with Daisy [who’s playing] guitar at the edge of the thrust, and it’s nearly the lyrics and her voice.

Spencer: That was all Olivia’s thought, and I really feel so honored to take a seat subsequent to her whereas all of us have an enormous group remedy session collectively on “happier” and “favorite crime.” I’m virtually on the verge of tears after we end that part as a result of it’s such an exquisite feeling to listen to everybody singing together with us.

Mikou: We ended with the punk-rock vibe in the fourth act, exploding every little thing at the finish with the full band and fireplace on the screens.

Picchiottino: I feel my favourite second is the begin of act 4, when the chaos comes into the present. Olivia enters on this purple romper on this foil cloth, and with the shade of the lighting, it simply indicators this unbelievable power.

Mikou: My private favourite second might be “obsessed.” She will get on the plexiglass and begins to take a look at her viewers, however with the digicam beneath [the stage, feeding into the arena screens], it’s simply such a robust picture. That’s Olivia 2.0: so rock’n’roll, a lot guitar, a lot perspective.

Danter: Olivia turned 21 a pair of days earlier than opening night time, and as any individual with such quick touring expertise, she’s very, very skilled.

Keshishian: She will get to the venue each single day six hours early. She practices the piano, she does vocal warmups, she does cardio. She does her sound verify earlier than actually each present, even on a number of nights in the similar venue, which only a few artists do.

Danter: Most artists don’t get that self-discipline till they’ve received a quantity of excursions beneath their belt. But by [the opener in] Palm Springs, we had been all like, “We’ve got nothing to worry about here.”

Rodrigo: The first dozen exhibits or so, it was a giant adjustment for me, energywise. I needed to actually learn to search for and absorb the house. You undoubtedly carry out in another way whenever you’re performing to that many individuals.

Danter: And now she’s an enviornment headliner, and it’s as if she’s been doing it for an extended, very long time.

‘These Gatherings Have Become Like a Ritual’

As Rodrigo traveled North America in early spring, Europe earlier than summer season, North America (once more) in July and August, and Asia in early fall, followers round the world realized about the tour’s unofficial costume code, viral moments, philanthropic targets — and the superstar-in-waiting who opened its first leg.

Keshishian: Tour help is one thing that we talked about very early on. The Sour tour had Gracie Abrams opening, after which Chappell Roan opened in San Francisco on the final Sour date in North America.

Remi Wolf (opener, GUTS European leg): I used to be advised that Olivia very rigorously curated the openers for the present, so it was a serious deal after we received the unique name.

Keshishian: Olivia has this unbelievable data of and reverence for feminine artists, particularly individuals who paved the means for her, like Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow and Bikini Kill. Her mother launched her to loads of these artists, together with The Breeders. I went together with her to see them play at the Wiltern [in October 2023] and was so excited to fulfill Kim and Kelley [Deal] backstage, they usually agreed to open for her in New York and L.A.

Kim Deal (singer-guitarist, The Breeders): [Olivia] has talked about how, you realize, “The Breeders broke my mind — there was pre-‘Cannonball’ and there was post-‘Cannonball.’ ” And I feel she likes loud guitars — this present day! She finds loud guitars thrilling and needs to be round them.

Tamaroff: She did 4 exhibits [with The Breeders] in New York and 6 in Los Angeles, and he or she actually may have performed a dozen extra, based mostly on demand.

Morgenroth: [The openers] are, partially, a tribute to Olivia’s ear. She’s identified Chappell for some time. She’s all the time thought she was an unbelievable artist.

Rodrigo: Having her on the first leg of the GUTS tour was a lot enjoyable. I’m impressed by her a lot as an artist, however she’s additionally been such a great buddy to me over the years and he or she actually helped me by way of some of the extra tense elements of the tour.

Braverman: We all knew what a proficient artist and nice performer [Chappell] is and hoped that followers can be as excited as all of us had been for her to be becoming a member of on these exhibits. The preliminary response was optimistic, nevertheless it wasn’t till the tour received underway that we began to see a shift that actually grew extra each present.

Keshishian: Chappell was a shock visitor in L.A. [in August, after opening for the tour in February and March]. People requested us if we had been going to have visitor performers in any respect six exhibits in L.A., and we didn’t really feel that we would have liked surprises only for the sake of it. But having Chappell come again and seeing her carry out in entrance of Olivia’s viewers in spite of everything this time, after a lot had occurred [in her own career]? It was actually enjoyable.

Rodrigo: It’s been unbelievable to look at her get the recognition she so rightfully deserves. She’s simply additional proof that being unapologetically your self all the time pays off.

Morgenroth: From the second individuals arrived at the present, we needed them to have an excellent expertise, and that’s every little thing from the merch, the place issues had been custom-made for every metropolis, to activations outdoors on the [concourse] and out of doors of the venue, like the interactive tour bus that we put along with Interscope and companions like American Express.

An: As we continued placing out singles and movies from the album [before the tour], followers received a greater thought of what to put on and methods to fashion themselves, after which all of them linked by the time the tour got here.

Keshishian: It grew to become a very enjoyable night time for followers to dress up in artistic outfits that Olivia impressed.

Garcia: Olivia has created a really distinctive vocabulary, and I feel that’s why songs like “love is embarrassing” grew to become so massive on social media, with individuals attempting to study the dance from the present.

Keshishian: Her “love is embarrassing” dance went viral, and all these children had been doing the dance with the little “L” on the brow.

Morgenroth: There was this viral TikTook pattern, “Am I Too Old To Be Here?,” that will be used at the exhibits as a result of there have been so many individuals of completely different ages attending. And then we have now this “Dad Idea, Right?” second, the place the children get a kick out of what number of dads are having fun with the present.

Keshishian: In each metropolis, she wore a unique tank prime [during the encore] that had these cheeky jokes about the metropolis, like “Phuket, It’s Fine” in Bangkok or “Bad Idea, Innit?” in London.

Picchiottino: That was Olivia’s thought: “How fun would it be to have a new slogan for each city and make each show feel special?”

An: I feel for the Livies, these gatherings have turn into like a ritual. They can scream at the prime of their lungs about what’s bothering them and be slightly extra different or punk, however at the similar time be female and girlie. You simply see every little thing that Olivia stands for being celebrated.

Keshishian: Before the tour started, it was vital to Olivia so as to add a charitable part and do one thing that will have a long-lasting influence after the tour was over. That grew to become the Fund 4 Good, and it was centered on what’s vital to her, which helps ladies and women. We vetted every group in each nation that Olivia toured in, and we needed to have a really localized influence as a result of clearly ladies in several nations have completely different wants.

Rodrigo: Being on tour [so soon] after Roe v. Wade received overturned made activism crucial — particularly contemplating I carried out in lots of states that presently have abortion bans in place, I needed to do every little thing I may to help organizations in every territory which might be doing important work in offering entry to well being care and different human rights.

Morgenroth: We’ve tied it past the tour already — she did an Erewhon smoothie, and all of the proceeds from her facet got to the fund. This is one thing that’s going to be half of every little thing from right here on out.

Keshishian: Olivia carried out in the Philippines for the first time in October — which was a dream of hers, as a Filipino American — and he or she needed to do it as a present, so all web proceeds will go to a neighborhood charity [women’s health care organization Jhpiego] by way of the Fund 4 Good.

Rodrigo: Through the fund, I’ve met tons of unbelievable people who find themselves making such optimistic modifications in the world, and I’ve realized a lot. I look ahead to studying extra and persevering with to champion causes I care about.

‘She’s Revealing Another Side of Herself’

As Rodrigo wrapped the GUTS 2024 run and prepares for the Oct. 29 launch of its Netflix tour movie, she has snapped into focus as a new-school enviornment rock performer with a fastidious streak.

Danter: When you get to rehearsals and every little thing begins to fall into place, loads of artists and managers go, “OK, this is the show.” As we received nearer to opening night time, we had been nonetheless getting notes from Olivia, Zack and Aleen. It’s that seek for perfection, which is refreshing.

Garcia: There was that youthful vibe about her on the Sour tour, slightly sillier, and on the GUTS tour, she undoubtedly is considering extra and each element issues extra, regardless of how microscopic.

Picchiottino: I’ve actually loved the course of of refining and refining, being so particular about the tour visuals. I feel I’ve over 60 sketches on my iPad, for 5 appears.

An: You may actually really feel that she was extra assured this go-round as a result of she understood how issues labored and knew what conversations to have. She was the boss of this.

Mikou: The evolution from the final tour, it’s virtually like she’s revealing one other facet of herself.

Braverman: In loads of methods, it’s like a throwback rock present. I don’t suppose loads of these followers had skilled something like that.

Keshishian: Most of the band was on the Sour tour, and each member is feminine or nonbinary. So for all these individuals watching, to see them rocking out in an enviornment, I feel it’s actually highly effective.

Deal: She’s very respectful of the youthful members of her viewers — she is aware of they’re there, she’s very candy with them, and he or she doesn’t discuss all the way down to them in any respect. There are some cusswords and there are some loud guitars, and he or she expects them to be the place she is. And I assumed that was very cool.

Keshishian: Regarding the movie, there are tens of thousands and thousands of those that didn’t get tickets to this present, and we needed to guarantee that all of Olivia’s followers had the capacity to see it. So we arrange 22 cameras for the final two L.A. exhibits, and we selected Netflix to be our companion as a result of they’ve the largest world attain.

Tamaroff: Watching her show who she is as a world celebrity… she’s one of the most proficient singer-songwriters on the planet already, however with the ability to showcase her expertise as a performer, listening to individuals say that this was one of the finest nights of their lives, that’s why all of us do what we do.

Garcia: With age comes slightly bit extra strain, and I feel it’s coming from herself: to be higher, to determine the subsequent problem for herself, to see the place she will break by way of subsequent. She simply retains rising.

Rodrigo: I needed to guarantee that I may nonetheless join with the viewers, even in a venue as large as an enviornment.

Rodrigo might be honored as 2024 Touring Artist of the Year at the Billboard Live Music Summit & Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 14.

This story seems in the Oct. 26, 2024, subject of Billboard.