With glitter, flowers and confetti, Olivia Rodrigo put on a dazzling concert focused on her new album.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Sept. 29, Rodrigo performed her third show of the \u201cUnraveled\u201d Tour at the PPG Paints Arena, the opening concert for her two-night stint in Pittsburgh. This international tour follows the release of her album \u201cyou seem pretty sad for a girl so in love<\/a>\u201d earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The stage was a crescent-like shape, with stage left elongated for Rodrigo to walk along. Behind the stage was a screen in the shape of a semicircle, displaying a field of pink and white flowers. The entire perimeter of the set was decorated with lights that glowed a blush pink. A thick wall of pink and white flowers with grassy stems mimicked the image that was displayed on the screen, and left the performers a small walkway to perform within. In the middle of the pit, disconnected from the main stage, there was a small circular platform for Rodrigo to perform on.<\/p>\n While waiting for the performance to start, audience members walked down the aisle towards the stage and took pictures in their Rodrigo-themed outfits. Concert-goers wore babydoll dresses, recreating the outfit from her recent album cover and, of course, wore tons of pink. Each attendee was gifted an electric bracelet as they entered the venue which would light up during the show. As it approached the time for the opener to come on stage, more people trickled into the pit to fill in the back portion \u2014 the space directly in front of the stage was already crowded.\u00a0<\/p>\n At 7 p.m., the lights in the arena darkened while the image of the meadow faded from the screen and was replaced with a graphic designed to look like an old Hollywood billboard that read \u201cWolf Alice<\/a>.\u201d The crowd applauded as the British band took the stage, with the lead singer front and center. While I couldn\u2019t really understand the lyrics with how loud they sang, I really enjoyed the music that they played. It was a very entertaining mix of pop and punk rock, introducing me to songs I had never heard before. Whenever the band members would attempt to hype the crowd up, the audience would reciprocate by clapping along to the beat, with a few members of the pit jumping around and dancing to the music.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once their set was over, the lights returned to normal, and audience members started making conversation again. The stage crew began switching out instruments for the main performers to use, fixing the flowers that were on the stage and adding even more to make it appear as if it were a full flower field this time. The semi-circle screen where there was once an empty field, now contained a bird\u2019s-eye view of Olivia Rodrigo resting gracefully in the middle.<\/p>\n As the clock neared 8 p.m., any small movement coming from the stage elicited clapping and hollering from the crowd. People watched intently, waiting for something to happen as it got closer to Rodrigo\u2019s scheduled performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the screen, the digital image of Rodrigo slowly zoomed in until her body took up a majority of the picture. Then, the lights finally dimmed on stage. The crowd erupted in loud cheers that filled the stadium as the camera switched from pre-recorded footage to Olivia laying in the flowers on stage. She opened with her song \u201cyou + me = <3<\/a>,\u201d slowly rising from the flower field and dancing along the stage. Once the song reached the chorus, Rodrigo lifted the hem of her white baby doll dress to reveal her custom boxer shorts that read \u201cpgh + me = <3.\u201d<\/p>\n In between each of her sets, montages displayed on the screen that indicated the changing seasons. The show began in the spring, with images of grassy fields and flowers, and shifted through summer, fall and winter \u2014 each with its own set of nature footage and Rodrigo interacting with it. Each season came with an outfit change, the video giving her enough time to get ready between each collection of songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n During her summer set, Rodrigo sported a white crop top with hot pink micro shorts and checkered Vans. The stage lights that once glowed pink were now a summery orange, as she sang her more upbeat songs. As Rodrigo performed \u201cpurple<\/a>,\u201d the mood of the set darkened \u2014 the lights becoming low and purple. As she sang the different colors mentioned in the song, the lights and audience members\u2019 light-up bracelets would shift in sync. From red to blue to purple, the lights of the venue changed until she \u201cmelted\u201d into the stage \u2014 lowering into the floor and disappearing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n One of my favorite parts of the show happened during the closing number of the winter set, when Rodrigo performed \u201cthe cure<\/a>.\u201d She sang the entire song standing on the small circular stage in the middle of the pit, looking out into the audience. As soon as she got to the chorus, water began falling from above like rain, and the white dress that she was wearing disintegrated and revealed the most gorgeous bedazzled red mini dress underneath.\u00a0<\/p>\n