By Variety and published by AOL.com
OLIVIA Rodrigo will tour Asia and Australia for the first time in her career, the singer announced yesterday (May 8). Rodrigo has added nine international dates to her massive “Guts” world tour for a total of 82 shows globally.
The new dates kick off on Sept. 16 at Impact Arena in Bangkok and continue through Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney, wrapping up on Oct. 19 at Qudos Bank Arena. Additional dates may be added as Rodrigo wrote on social media, “Stay tuned, Manila!” Fans in the comment sections of her social posts are eager to hear when and if Rodrigo will also be adding Latin American dates to the trek but that has yet to be confirmed.
The tour is currently making its rounds in European stops, and started way back in February with a show in Palm Springs. In review of the Feb. 23 concert, Variety wrote, “It’s a rock ‘n’ roll show, by the way — maybe the best rock tour we’ll get all year, even if the season is young. Rodrigo’s albums necessarily have to alternate her pop-punk thrashers and her ballads, to some degree, making for a little bit of whiplash for the few of us who still listen to albums in sequence. But the concert setting all but demands the louder and brasher material is going to be front- and backloaded.”
The “Guts” tour has since made stops in New York, Houston and Dublin, and will make its way towards London in the coming weeks. It will conclude on Oct. 18 in Sydney.
Tickets for the newly added Asia and Australia dates will be available starting with the American Express presale in select markets.
The tour features an inspired selection of opening acts, all of them female and three of them young: British dance-pop singer PinkPantheress; L.A.-based pop singer Chappell Roan, whose debut album is out next week; California pop-rock singer Remi Wolf on all European dates; and veteran alt-rock act the Breeders, led by ex-Pixies singer Kim Deal, who are best known for the string of radio and video hits stemming from their 1993 album “Last Splash.” The latter choice seems unusual but is actually on brand for Rodrigo: During Rodrigo’s debut tour last year, the singer covered the Veruca Salt song “Seether,” from the same era, which she told audiences “came out before I was born” but her mom introduced her to. The Breeders are featured only on the New York and Los Angeles dates.
Rodrigo performed “Vampire” and “Get Him Back!” at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Tuesday night, following Lil Wayne as the second performer of the evening. It was her second-ever appearance at the show as Rodrigo made her VMAs debut in 2021 when she performed her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Good 4 U.”
“Guts” was released to high acclaim on Sept. 8 via Geffen Records and was preceded by two top 10 singles, “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right?” “Vampire” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Rodrigo the youngest artist to debut three No. 1 hits on the chart behind “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U.”
In an interview with Capital FM in England, Rodrigo said she wrote much of the songs on “Guts” with the concept of an accompanying tour “in mind.”
“I think there’s a lot of fun songs,” she said. “I wrote the album with a tour in mind, so I think they’re all songs I wanted people to be able to scream in a crowd. Hopefully, that’s what’s achieved.” A similar teaser — in the form of a faux ticket advertising “Olivia Rodrigo: Guts The World Tour” — appeared in a lyric video for “Making the Bed,” the sixth track off “Guts.”
Rodrigo last toured North America and Europe in support of her debut album “Sour” in 2022. It started on April 5 in Portland and ended on July 7 in London. Gracie Abrams, Holly Humberstone, Chappell Roan and Baby Queen served as opening acts.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Olivia Rodrigo performs during her “Guts” World Tour opening in Palm Springs on Feb. 23, 2024. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Acrisure Arena and published by Grammy.com
Insert: Olivia Rodrigo will be performing in cities such as Bangkok, Singapore and Melbourne in the later half of 2024. Photo: Instagram/oliviarodrigo and published by CNA
Front page: Singer Olivia Rodrigo at the 38th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where she performed with Sheryl Crow. Photo: AFP/Angela Weiss and published by CNA
(Additional reporting by Jem Aswad)
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