{"id":487754,"date":"2026-06-07T16:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T16:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/487754\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T16:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T16:14:14","slug":"ariana-grande-makes-grand-return-with-eternal-sunshine-tour-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/487754\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariana Grande Makes Grand Return With ‘Eternal Sunshine’ Tour Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAriana Grande<\/a> needs everyone in Oakland Arena to be quiet. It\u2019s opening night of the Eternal Sunshine tour and she\u2019s standing at the circular end of the stage\u2019s lengthy walkway with a loop station positioned in front of her. Her request asks a lot from the more than 17,000 people who\u2019ve waited nearly seven years to share space with her again. She\u2019s aware of this. When she emerges from a lift on the stage, it\u2019s to the sound of piercing cheers. She takes it in for a moment, blowing kisses and holding her hand to her heart. \u201cI\u2019m almost afraid to ask, but maybe can you remain calm for just this one part?\u201d Grande asks, gesturing to the loop station. \u201cIt feels like not the right time to ask you to be quiet.\u201d The crowd responds with more noise, then settles as Grande gets to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first few layers she records are different versions of the same lyric, \u201cI don\u2019t care what people say is true.\u201d She adds some higher harmonies to one, then builds on it with a few more, then builds on that with even more. She moves on to the next section in her live mix. Won\u2019t break. Can\u2019t shake. This fate. Rewrite. Deep breaths. Tight chest. Life. Death. Rewind. The words loop over and over in different harmonic variations, some light, some more stern, some punctuated with an airy \u201cbuh, buh, bum.\u201d Once it\u2019s all loaded up, Grande gives the crowd a thumbs up. The audience\u2019s collective voice joins in like a choir as she finally launches into \u201cEternal Sunshine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s just like old times \u2014 though a lot has changed since Grande wrapped her last headlining tour in December 2019, not least of all her relationship with pop stardom and its demands. \u201cThe last 10 or 15 years will look very different to the ones that are coming up,\u201d Grande said earlier this year regarding her career. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say anything definitive. I do know that I\u2019m very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long, long time.\u201d There isn\u2019t much about the Eternal Sunshine tour that can be considered small. It\u2019s both a triumphant return and an alleged departure wrapped up in nearly two hours of audiovisual spectacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKatia Temkin<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 20 minutes that precede \u201cEternal Sunshine\u201d include Grande\u2019s kiss off \u201cYes, And,\u201d which opened the set, and the first live performance of \u201cPositions\u201d in front of a live audience. She also leads with Eternal Sunshine tracks \u201cThe Boy Is Mine\u201d and \u201cDandelion,\u201d a bonus song released on last year\u2019s deluxe, Brighter Days Ahead. It\u2019s the Eternal Sunshine tour, so it\u2019s obvious the record takes up the majority of the real estate across the 23-song tracklist. But Grande pays particular attention to those extra songs that came after the original album was released in 2024. Every single deluxe track makes it into the set: \u201cWarm,\u201d \u201cTwilight Zone,\u201d \u201cPast Life,\u201d and \u201cHampstead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHampstead\u201d isn\u2019t a particularly remarkable track, especially when considering the original Eternal Sunshine songs that were left off the setlist entirely, like \u201cDon\u2019t Wanna Break Up Again,\u201d \u201cTrue Story,\u201d and \u201cI Wish I Hated You.\u201d The set aches with their absence, though there\u2019s something about \u201cHampstead\u201d that stands out live in a way it never did as a mere studio track. Here, on this stage, it feels more like a narrative device. Grande performs the track while sitting on stool with one leg tucked under her. There are no frills to the moment, just her and her microphone. The hits hold their weight \u2014 like \u201cInto You,\u201d \u201cRain on Me,\u201d and \u201cBreak Free\u201d \u2014 but there\u2019s nothing more essential to the legacy of Ariana Grande than that voice. She seems comfortable sitting under that spotlight. Pop stars typically need more in their arsenal than this, but there\u2019s a sense Grande could have performed the entire show this way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKatia Temkin<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, the show she builds around Eternal Sunshine is pointedly physical. Not necessarily in the sense of being physically demanding \u2014 the choreography Grande joins in alongside her 12-member dance crew is inspired, but nothing more complex than what she\u2019s done before. But the movements they engage in draw attention to how all of these bodies move together in conversation with one another. Grande engages in a tense back and forth with one dancer during \u201cThe Boy Is Mine,\u201d quite literally pushing and pulling her away with a whip in between their embraces. <\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring \u201cPast Life,\u201d six dancers hoist her into the air. When she leaves the stage after \u201cHempstead,\u201d two dancers deliver an intimate ballet routine set to the song\u2019s instrumental. It all crafts a certain magnification, like when Grande sings, \u201cDon\u2019t comment on my body, do not reply\u201d on \u201cYes, And?\u201d as she\u2019s surrounded by a dozen other freely flowing figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGrande has never been the type to ignore the whispers and presumptions that have accompanied her life in the public eye. At the top of the set, she acknowledges the time she spent playing Glinda in Wicked with a teasing reference, asking, \u201cIt\u2019s good to see us, isn\u2019t it?\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThen, of course, there\u2019s the divorce. Grande can\u2019t ignore the irony during the bridge on \u201cThank U, Next,\u201d where she talks about wanting to get married some day. \u201cOnly wanna do it once, real bad,\u201d she sings, holding up two fingers and laughing. \u201cGon\u2019 make that shit last.\u201d She\u2019s still good at finding humor in moments that are generally devoid of it, but it\u2019s another reminder of how much has changed since we last saw her on stage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c7 Rings\u201d is perhaps the most cutting example. Sitting in front of the image of a hot pink house, Grande seems like an entirely different artist now than the one who set the internet ablaze with the single in 2019. Even Positions, the album that followed the blockbuster release, seems like it was a lifetime ago. The album got more love on the Eternal Sunshine tour setlist than expected. Grande previously admitted to scrapping plans for Positions after picking up on what she called a \u201cthis is not what we want\u201d vibe from some of her fanbase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe never should have listened to them, but at least the manifestation mantra \u201cJust Like Magic\u201d made it to the set, as did \u201cSafety Net\u201d and \u201cPositions.\u201d Some of her career bests from the album, like \u201cPOV\u201d and \u201cOff the Table\u201d were left off \u2014 but she also can\u2019t be faulted for not wanting to spend every night on tour singing love songs she wrote about someone who later inspired her songs about falling out of love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJulian Dakdouk<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, Grande doesn\u2019t want to forget it all. The set design for the Eternal Sunshine tour heavily references the visual world she built around the album in the Brighter Days Ahead short film, featuring her own take on the memory erasure clinic from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The set design is centered around the flooded, burned down, and demolished house that appears in the album visuals and is somehow still standing despite it all. In one scene, it even begins to bloom with flowers. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn between set and costume changes, Grande continues the story. Holding hands with her younger self while trudging through murky water from the flood she endured at the start of the show, she passes different versions of herself who sought out the treatment in search of a clean slate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne wears her outfit from One Love Manchester, the tribute concert she hosted after 22 people were killed in a bombing during the Dangerous Woman tour in 2017. \u201cOne Last Time\u201d still feels like their song as a chorus of thousands of voices plead to take each other home. It\u2019s one of the most uplifting and emotional moments of the entire show. Another patient at the clinic is an even younger version of herself. That pumps and flared mini dress combo can only belong to Yours Truly-era Grande. She honors her with a jazzy, string-filled version of \u201cHoneymoon Avenue,\u201d the opening track on her first album. There\u2019s nothing to represent the Sweetener era, but then again there are no songs from the album on the setlist, anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tGrande nearly brings herself to tears thanking the fans who have stuck with her since her debut 13 years ago. The final stretch of songs on the setlist make a great case for why they continue to. The live debut of \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me<\/a>,\u201d the first single from her upcoming eight album Petal<\/a>, elevates the studio version to the point of them feeling like completely different songs. The biggest difference is that she\u2019s really singing. The vocal runs and harmonies she adds to the live version light a needed fire under the words she wrote. \u201cIs it really my fault you all gave me your hearts of your own accord?\u201d she sings. There\u2019s an intriguing tension in the act of asking that question to a room full of people yelling the same words right back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf this really is the last time Grande will share this space with them for a long while, it\u2019s imperative that they hear her \u2014 even over the sound of their own screams. Just for a moment, she needs everyone to be quiet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ariana Grande needs everyone in Oakland Arena to be quiet. It\u2019s opening night of the Eternal Sunshine tour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8420,93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-487754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ariana-grande","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}