Watching Olivia Rodrigo reign supreme over about 16,000 screaming fans at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Friday night, one couldn’t help but keep thinking she just turned 21 last month and released her debut single a mere three years ago.
That song, “Drivers License,” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, smashed numerous Spotify records and topped the charts in two dozen countries around the world. At the time, she told the New York Times that “my entire life just, like, shifted in an instant.” For most acts, a hit of that magnitude will define an entire career. Rodrigo, meanwhile, performed it five songs into her 90-minute set.
An avowed Taylor Swift fan who calls herself the “biggest Swiftie in the whole world,” Rodrigo has clearly picked up a few tricks from Swift, starting with lyrics that feel ripped out of her diary. Friday night, she proved to be confident, but never cocky. She’s also a fierce feminist who fronts a band full of female musicians and vocally promotes women, both in the industry and her audience.
Young women made up most of the audience Friday and they treated Rodrigo with complete reverence, screaming their lungs out at the appropriate times and singing along to every song in the set, which included nearly all the tracks from her two albums, 2021’s “Sour” and last year’s “Guts.” She was already popular enough to fill the X on her first tour in 2022 when she hit the Armory in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets for Friday’s show sold out in mere moments, suggesting she could have easily added a second night.
Rodrigo, who writes the majority of her songs with producer Daniel Nigro, has a real knack for crafting ear worms with smart lyrics and deep hooks. She dabbles in numerous styles, too, from relatively straightforward teen pop to ’90s-inspired alt-rock. (She claimed Minneapolis punk trio Babes in Toyland as a key influence on “Guts.”)
She performed on a massive, uncluttered stage with catwalks on either side that let her get close to the fans in the general-admission section up front. There was some razzle-dazzle along the way, like when she sang “Logical” from a flying purple crescent moon, surrounded by stars hanging from the rafters. And seven songs in, a pack of eight dancers emerged who joined her off and on through the rest of the show.
But, really, Rodrigo was the main focus of the evening, whether she was perched behind the piano for the ballad “Teenage Dream” or sitting cross-legged next to her guitarist for “Happier,” complete with the crowd chiming in at key moments. She oozed with charisma, but crucially remained entirely approachable and down to earth. She never once displayed the sort of showbizzy moves one would expect from a performer who got her start starring on Disney Channel fare. (She’s the anti Demi Lovato!)
As remarkable as it is to see how much Rodrigo has achieved in three short years, her performance Friday night showed she’s just getting started.
