Concert review: Olivia Rodrigo brings GUTS tour to Vancouver

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There are sing-along shows. Then there is an Olivia Rodrigo concert.

The singer brought her GUTS world tour to Rogers Arena on Friday, performing a 22-song set to a sold-out crowd of screaming fans. It’s been a few years since her previous show in support of Sour and last night’s concert showcased a far more mature and experienced artist.

A good many of the concertgoers were probably still in training pants when Sour’s breakout hit Driver’s License established the former Disney actor as the next mega star to come from the House of Mouse. All of them apparently take singing lessons and had been rehearsing for the concert.

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“Geez, Vancouver, you are all really good singers,” proclaimed Rodrigo after a rendition of Vampire where the crowd sang every single verse. She wasn’t exaggerating either.

It’s entirely possible that the gig could have gone off without a hook if all the marquee musician had done was turn up to take a few skips across the stage and switch one mirrored mini dress/crop top combo for another as the crack backing septet did its thing. The precision execution of the evening’s entertainment didn’t take away from the thrill either.

Songs such as Traitor, Brutal and Obsessed slam home with genuine vitality, riding on smart nods to such classic rockers as Elastica and Hole. That probably almost no one in the audience or their accompanying guardians will recognize those names is easily solved by looking on the YouTubes. Or just skip it.

Simply stated, when Rodrigo rocks, it’s convincing. It’s also fun.

That’s probably why a lot of GUTS headed in that direction rather than remaining in the confessional ballads of her debut. The show did have some Jekyll and Hyde qualities to it’s pacing, with the Sour-era ballads often bringing down the buzz the guitar workouts brought to the room. One more album of material will sort this out for Rodrigo. Otherwise, a few wisely chosen covers could deal with the pacing problems.

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Not that anyone but the archaic music critic in the crowd cared about such finicky minutiae. They were having the night of their lives.

OK, there may have been a few other adults who were surprised by Rodrigo’s liberal release of the F-bomb almost every time she spoke in the mic. But that hardly seems relevant in today’s world.

Far more resonant was when the singer asked how many people came with their besties and had them all hug. It is entirely likely that this was a first arena concert for many and one that will resonate for years to come. Rodrigo gives off a kind of “all of us in this together” vibe that isn’t too slick or jaded.

Sometimes, things were kinda goofy.

The raised dais that rose up mid-stage for Lacy that Rodrigo writhed around on proved to be a neat visual shot from above and projected on the big backing screen. When the dances all slid out from under it to do some quirky choreography the closest thing to compare it to was one of those old Busby Berkeley water ballet routines from the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals.

Mining ideas from that far back turned out to be refreshingly new in a concert setting.

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Ditto the floor shimmying shot from below through the Plexiglas flooring on the stage runway for Enough For You, which Rodrigo pegged as her fave number from her first album.

In many ways, that chart-topping debut seems like it came out a lot longer ago than it did. The singer who released Guts is very much an adult now, and can’t turn back the clock to more innocent younger days. Inevitably, that is going to mean more changes coming to her music moving forward.

Personally, it should be quite interesting to see what happens when she finally quits penning pieces about bad dates and feeling down about them and gets even. I expect that her devoted audience will not only grow into that phase well, but feel just fine about the jagged little lyrics that come with such songwriting.

Her band will certainly know how to deliver the goods and so will she.

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

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