Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ Tour Was Worth Traveling 200 Miles

• Olivia Rodrigo performed in Philadelphia on Friday for her sold-out “Sour” tour.
• As Insider’s music reporter, I spontaneously traveled 100 miles from Brooklyn (and back) to attend.
• It was one of the most exhilarating concerts I’ve ever been to, making the trip totally worth it.

Thursday evening, I received a surprise treat in my inbox: a ticket to Olivia Rodrigo’s sold-out concert in Philadelphia the following night.

Insider’s music team (editor Courteney Larocca and myself) had previously been denied access to Rodrigo’s “Sour” tour stop in New York City due to overwhelming demand. Indeed, even non-fans might remember how quickly Rodrigo’s first-ever headline tour sold out when it went on sale in December.

Although we were thrilled about the prospect of seeing Insider’s album of the year performed live, doors would open in less than 24 hours. I live in Brooklyn, about 100 miles from the venue.

Luckily, I was feeling spontaneous enough on Friday to take a subway into Manhattan, a train to New Jersey, an Uber to Newark Airport, rent a car, drive to The Met in Pennsylvania — and then do the same trip in reverse after Rodrigo left the stage at 10:20 p.m.

And there’s no question in my mind that given the chance, I would do it all over again.

The trip itself was long and tedious, mostly thanks to traffic and rainy weather — but it was worth it

 

Callie Ahlgrim

I left my house at 12:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon. After a brief stop at Insider’s office in downtown Manhattan and a short detour to pick up Courteney in New Jersey, my door-to-door trip took about six hours. We finally found a parking spot in Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m., about 30 minutes before the show was scheduled to begin.

Compare this to a trip I took just three weeks prior: a six-hour flight from New York to San Diego to attend Coachella, California’s iconic music festival that is often hailed as the music lover’s paradise.

Immediately upon my return to the East Coast, I decided that Coachella was not worth the time and money I spent to attend, despite having seen some of my favorite artists perform live.

But three days after seeing Rodrigo perform, I am still yearning to return to her amethyst-colored, angsty world. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been living in my head, replaying clips of the concert — which Rodrigo later revealed was her favorite of the tour so far.

The 19-year-old singer-songwriter delivered an experience better than all three days of Coachella combined.

As a live-music enthusiast, Rodrigo’s was one of the most exhilarating shows I’ve ever attended

 

Callie Ahlgrim

After Holly Humberstone opened the show with an intimate set, Rodrigo alerted fans to her own arrival by blasting One Direction’s “Olivia” through the venue.

Right away, the air became electric. The crowd shrieked and trembled, like trees in the wind before a thunderstorm.

When the powerful guitar riff of “Brutal” began to play and the curtains pulled back to reveal Rodrigo onstage, lightning struck. The teenager’s stage presence is effortless; her connection to the audience is immediate.

Even in a smaller venue (The Met has a capacity of about 3,500 people), it’s rare for a concert to be stuffed with authentic, dyed-in-the-wool fans; when every single person in the venue seems to know every single word; when you can scream lyrics at the top of your lungs without fear of embarrassment because everyone around you is doing the same. These are the shows that you leave feeling energized, rather than exhausted.

It’s an even rarer concert that increases your appreciation for a collection of songs you’ve already burned into your brain. Insider’s music team fawned over “Sour” from our very first listen, and it went on to top our ranking of 2021’s best albums.

 

Callie Ahlgrim

You’d be shocked to know the number of times I have stood in the shower and thought, “‘Good 4 U’ would be amazing live.”

Naturally, the punk-rock hit that wields the word “sociopath” better than any pop song in history was Rodrigo’s show-stopping closer. And whatever I was imagining for her live arrangement, the reality was even better.

Rodrigo’s all-female band is given the freedom for crunchy guitar solos and massive drum beats, showcasing Rodrigo not as a pristine pop star, but as the successor in a long line of eccentric female rockers — further underscored by her enthusiastic covers of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and Gwen Stefani’s “Just a Girl.”

Most impressive of all, the show had the intensity and grandiosity of a victory lap, but Rodrigo managed to maintain her archetypal humility.

When she introduced the heart-wrenching acoustic medley of “Enough for You” and “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” Rodrigo told the crowd, almost off-handedly, “I wrote these next songs about not feeling good enough for this guy I was dating.”

“I’m about to play them for a sold-out crowd,” she added. “So that’s pretty cool.”