As time goes on, it shows this decade will be a decade of amazing concerts. After being deprived of many live shows because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that more and more artists are going on tour these past two years. This trend didn’t stop for Olivia Rodrigo, who announced the “GUTS World Tour” on Sept. 13, making fans run to their Ticketmaster account and giving some lucky Hoover students and alumni tickets. 2023 Hoover alumna Emma Curd is a freshman at West Virginia University. She was able to see Olivia at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on March 22 with Hoover High School senior Miranda Johnson.

Curd purchased a purple cowboy hat for the show while Johnson wore more deep purples and chose outfits to fit more of the vibe of the album.

Something that makes a show better than others is the opener. Chappell Roan opened for the first leg of the GUTS World Tour. Hoover senior Brynn Boylan saw the concert in Chicago.

“Chappell Roan was an amazing opener,” she said. “She had such great energy to her and set the night up perfectly. I do not always think openers are necessary but if you are going to have one, it should be like Chappell Roan. Her music fits that of Olivia’s really well and she did a great job getting everyone excited. I loved her set.”

Curd also stated her opinion on Chappell and how she prepared the audience for Rodrigo.

“I thought she was a good opener because she got everyone hyped up for Olivia,” she said. “She also had some good music that I think a lot of people haven’t heard before so it was good to hear some new music.” Another factor for a great concert is audience participation, according to Hoover junior Lexie Shundry.

“I think the audience plays an important role in making a concert successful,” she said. “I felt like everyone around me was very kind and knew how to have fun. The whole audience was yelling, screaming, singing and dancing the whole time. The audience helped make the concert as lively and fun-loving as it was.”

Anyone can sound good on a recording, but how did Rodrigo’s vocals keep up during the show?

“Her vocals live were incredible,” Boylan said. “Coming from someone with little knowledge of the music industry, I was amazed at the control and power behind her voice. She sounded even better than on the radio because it was raw emotion. She sang a few songs just a little bit differently, making them absolutely beautiful.”

Concerts can often feel they went by too quickly because of this it’s important to have a moment about the show you won’t forget.

“I absolutely loved when Olivia got on the moon and went around the crowd,” Johnson said. “We were able to see her so much better and she was looking around the crowd and even talked directly to a few people.”

Curd shared another moment of the show that felt memorable to her.

“I liked the ‘Hunger Games’ song [Can’t Catch Me Now] that she wrote for the movie and played live because it was unexpected and really good,” she said.

With every show, there is always something to improve on, though it was hard to come up with something to improve upon for many concertgoers.

“My least favorite thing about the show was that it was a little shorter than other concerts I have been to,” Boylan said. “I am choosing this mostly because there wasn’t much I disliked but compared to some of the more recent concerts, hers seemed a bit shorter. I realize though, she is a younger artist and doesn’t have quite the same amount of songs as say, Taylor Swift. It was still such a good show but another song or two would have been great.”

All in all, while a show can be entertaining — how does it look compared to past concerts attended by the viewer?

“I have been to my fair share of concerts, and from those, I would say this is in the top three of my favorites,” Shundry said. “The production, vocals, imagery, dancers and the thought you can see went into it made it one of my favorites.”

While it can be hard to compare one show to another because of the different genres or feel of music, Boylan responds with how the environment made the show great.

“I have been to so many concerts over the last year, including Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan and they were all so good, yet so different,” she said. “It is hard to compare all three of those but I will say I loved the environment Olivia created. It was so fun and emotional, angry yet powerful and had such punk rock vibes. She looked amazing and it was a great experience.”