Olivia Rodrigo spills 'Guts' at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena and helps one fan have the best birthday ever (2024)

It was a Good Friday indeed for Olivia Rodrigo’s legion of fans lucky enough to score a ticket to the first of two sold-out shows at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.

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One devoted “Livie” named Leo, who was celebrating his birthday with his first concert, caught the pop star’s attention and was treated to a “Happy Birthday” sing-along.

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After supporting the blockbuster success of her quadruple-platinum debut Sour with an intimate theatre tour that touched down at Massey Hall two years ago, the 21-year-old pop star has taken the next step as she tours behind last year’s Guts, her second No. 1 album.

Leaning into the rock stylings spread across Guts’ brutally honest 12 tracks, Rodrigo pranced around the V-shaped stage as she raged through every song on that album and the majority of Sour’s 11 songs (she also played Can’t Catch Me Now, from last years Hunger Games prequel, and Guts’ pop-punkbonus song Obsessed).

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Opening with her peppy Bad Idea, Right?, a riff-filled song about hooking up with an old ex, the three-time Grammy winner set the stage early for what would be a night of catharsis for the emotive audience. Many of her teenage fans likely haven’t experienced the heartbreak Rodrigo would sift through during her elaborate show, but they sang every word as if they all had already been there and done that.

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As she breathlessly mined ’90s grunge for Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl and Vampire, virtually every person in the crowd of more than 15,000 screamed her lyrics back to her, eliciting a big grin from the former Disney star.

“We’re going to have so much f—ing fun tonight,” Rodrigo promised early on. “I want everyone in here up out of your seats. I want you to jump, I want you to scream. I want you to feel all your f—ing feelings. Can you do that for me?”

It was a request that she didn’t need to make. From the moment she took the stage to the closing notes of her main set banger, All-American Bitch, the crowd was out of their seats dancing, shrieking, jumping and, most importantly, feeling. As they sang through the night’s 23 songs, all those emotions that ring around your brain as you’re figuring out where you fit in the world — love, jealousy, betrayal, confusion — were on full display. Collectively, Rodrigo’s fans picked at the scabs of adolescent angst as they sang back her many confessional lyrics. The hurts she sings about on Traitor (“You betrayed me/ And I know that you’ll never feel sorry”) and Teenage Dream (“They all say that it gets better, it gets better the more you grow/Yeah, they all say that it gets better, it gets better, but what if I don’t?“) were less bruising as they were being sung along by her audience at the top of their lungs.

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Attendees who have already gone through those messy emotions, ones that were in their late 20s and 30s — and yes, I wasn’t smack dab in a roomful of teenagers — sang those words with the same abandon. As if they were telling their younger selves: “It’ll be OK.”

“I’m 21 now and feel so happy. I feel like I know myself so well,” Rodrigo said as she introduced Teenage Dream, a song she wrote before she turned 19. “If I could give any advice to my younger self it would be that growing up is f—ing amazing. It’s nothing to be scared of.”

A month into the Guts Tour, Rodrigo’s gregarious stage presence is polished. Along with her seven-piece band and a gaggle of dancers, she’s confident taking on the role of one of music’s biggest, brightest, most confessional artists. There were no setlist surprises, but her vocals were perfect as she (and her fans) belted out songs like Drivers License, Deja Vu, and Jealousy, Jealousy (which saw her make a brief foray into the crowd).

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When she sat down near the edge of the stage with one of her guitarists to perform acoustic versions of Happier and Favorite Crime, you could almost picture her as a kid in her bedroom spilling her guts, literally, into the notebooks that served as her earliest creative outlets. The lyrics to the former, Rodrigo told the arena, in which she sings about another bad breakup, came to her while she was on the set of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

Rodrigo’s stage banter was genuine as she played the part of everyone’s best friend. Someone in the crowd held a sign letting her know they’d driven 1,500 miles to see her (of course she thanked them). When she saw Leo was celebrating his birthday and his first concert, Rodrigo couldn’t resist. She treated him to a singalong and told him, “Happy birthday, bud.” Elsewhere, she gleefully shared old home videos of herself showing she was a star in the making from a young age.

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She complimented outfits, good-looking friend groups, and couples on dates. Even the parents in the crowd got a shout out.

Rodrigo also brought out a crescent moon, suspending herself over the audience among a sea of stars as she sang the ballads Logical and Enough for You, as she ringed her way high above the floor seats.

But the end came quickly. A little over an hour-and-a-half after she began, after wrapping with a propulsive encore of Good 4 U and Get Him Back!, Rodrigo was greeting fans near the front and thanking the crowd by making a heart with her hands and blowing kisses.

Growing up might have been something she was afraid of once upon a time. But she’s not too far away in age from her young fans. Her perspective proves both she — and them — are going to be just fine.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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