Photo illustration by Sarah Atito with photo from Netflix
Collage of photographs taken at Olivia Rodrigo’s Salt Lake City concert, and screen capture from Netflix trailer.
The best seat in the house to see one of the highest selling artists in the world is only going for $6.99, and the deal is not too good to be true.
Olivia Rodrigo’s concert film, “Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS World Tour,” released in collaboration with streaming service titan Netflix on Oct. 29, gave over 200 million people a ticket to one of her sold-out shows. The film came as a surprise to many fans, as it was announced only a few weeks earlier on Oct. 2.
The GUTS World Tour welcomed 1.4 million people over 97 concert dates and five touring legs, becoming Rodrigo’s largest tour and first time performing in arenas. Filming took place during her performances at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, on Aug. 20 and 21.
Zach Morgenroth, Rodrigo’s co-manager, shared the overwhelmingly positive reception in tour ticket sales in an interview with Billboard magazine.
“There was so much demand from fans this time around … that arenas now felt like an underplay — we probably could have done stadiums everywhere,” Morgenroth said.
The film exists in the perfect balance of offering the experience to all the fans who could not make it to the in-person shows, virtually expanding the venue for fans to dance and sing along in the comfort of their home, and also offering something new for the fans who attended.
As someone who spent hundreds of dollars to attend the GUTS tour in the flesh, and watched countless concert videos on social media, I find the film still offers something fresh and new.
The film opens with unseen footage of Rodrigo’s pre-show routine, huddling with her dancers backstage to chant “Let’s make LA and Netflix our (expletive) best!” Rodrigo expressed in an interview she does this at every show to help her with her nerves, showing a rare human vulnerability lens of the extremely successful popstar.
Attending her show in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 31, my experience as a fan was unforgettable. Even with my seat in the nosebleeds, screaming along with thousands of strangers to songs that feel like pages of our diaries lyricized, under the glow of blue and purple lights, the room felt electric.
Somehow, the film captures the true essence of the concert and I caught myself singing along even as I watched it at 3 a.m.
Rodrigo has affirmed that her second studio album, GUTS, was written with the tour in mind, with high beats and lyrics meant for screaming out loud. The songs have the power to breach the barrier of the screen.
“I wanted to make an album that you could kind of jump to and scream to and songs that could fill up an arena like that,” Rodrigo said to Vanity Fair.
Rodrigo brought out Chappell Roan as a surprise guest on stage on Tuesday night, Aug. 20, for a once in a lifetime rendition of “HOT TO GO!”. Many fans who did not get to see it live mourned the loss as they saw videos trickle in on social media, but the new film immortalized the performance.
“Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS World Tour” offers something unexpected: the perfect fan experience. Fans may laugh or cry with a gift no one expected; ticket prices for the tour were about $50 at the lowest, simply being out of budget for many who had to long accept they may never get the chance to experience the tour.
Rodrigo told Vanity Fair it was heartbreaking to hear that she was not able to welcome all her fans who were not able to see the show for one reason or another, and wanted to create a more accessible experience so everyone could experience GUTS ‘live’.
“I’d go out and get coffee before a show and people would be like, ‘Oh I really wanted to come tonight, but I wasn’t able to get tickets.’ That always made me really sad,” Rodrigo said.