Olivia Rodrigo Rocks Out at the Kaseya Center, Debuts "Can't Catch Me Now" at Guts World Tour

We take it for granted that Olivia Rodrigo is a full-fledged rock star.

It could be because, though she broke out of the mold quite seamlessly, she's the latest prodigy in a long line of Disney child stars who have ruled the pop charts for the last three decades. It's also at least partly because she's a petite young woman who doesn't fit the historical archetype of what a rock star is supposed to look like. Or maybe it's because she doesn't strap on a guitar until 20 songs into her 23-song Guts World Tour set. And one major reason why she's reflexively tossed into the pop pile — a designation she's repeatedly dismissed — is that she is a young woman writing about young women's emotions. On her debut album, Sour, that meant documenting the profound sadness of her first major heartbreak. Her sophomore effort, Guts, is an exorcism of her rage, and, to paraphrase The Virgin Suicides, anyone who doesn't know why Rodrigo is angry has never been a 21-year-old girl.

On Wednesday night at downtown Miami's Kaseya Center, Rodrigo asked her audience — overwhelmingly populated by Gen Z and Alpha girls — to release their own demons as she thrashed about on stage and compelled the crowd to "think about something that really pisses you off" and scream about it as loud as humanly possible. (I obliged and got a head rush.)

Rodrigo is a natural at commanding an arena stage, and that's no small feat, considering it's her first time doing it. She was first approached about headlining an arena tour after the meteoric success of "Drivers License" and, subsequently, her debut album Sour. But she turned down those offers, opting for a theater tour to hone her skills as a solo performer. Her instinct was spot-on, as her time on smaller stages helped develop the ease and comfort she needed to captivate her massive audience with authority.
That ability was especially impressive because Rodrigo largely eschewed the intricate pomp audiences have come to expect from the touring productions of today's chart-toppers. There were no movie-quality interludes during costume changes, and, for the most part, the show consisted of Rodrigo rocking out with her band, sitting at the piano, or singing at the foot of the stage with acoustic guitar accompaniment. She largely left the dancing to her backup dancers, save for some goofy moves during "Love Is Embarrassing." The choreography was meant to be silly and, well, embarrassing on that one, but it mostly highlighted the fact that Rodrigo doesn't seem as eager to dance onstage as her pop contemporaries might, and truthfully, she doesn't need to — she's much more believable as a songwriter and frontwoman.

Her lyrics were always the primary focus of the set, with Rodrigo letting the audience take over during some of her punchier lines like, "Every guy I like is gay," "Fuck it, it's fine," and "Each time I step outside/It's social suicide." In the past, Rodrigo has stumbled when she's tried to adapt her songs for elaborate TV performances, but she shines brightest when she drops the props and spotlights her songwriting and soaring vocals. "Drivers License" and "Teenage Dream," both sung at the piano, were particularly moving, with the latter backed by home videos of her childhood.

Another highlight was the Guts World Tour debut of "Can't Catch Me Now," the singer's contribution to The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes soundtrack. She followed the sullen song with performances of her ballads "Happier" and "Favorite Crime" with band member Daisy Spencer on acoustic guitar.
Still, it can't be overstated how heavy her band can get, as they proved in their intro to "Brutal," part of the show's final act. Rodrigo jumped on electric guitar during "Obsessed," a Guts bonus track only available on physical deluxe copies of the album and a Record Store Day vinyl EP released via Third Man Records last November. The track was co-written with Annie Clark, better known as virtuoso guitarist and songwriter St. Vincent, and Rodrigo fittingly played the artist's custom purple Music Man St. Vincent Goldie signature model guitar during the performance. She also writhed around in a sparkling red bodysuit à la Madonna in her wedding dress in the 1984 Video Music Awards as a camera filmed her from below the stage, and she closed out the set with an electrifying performance of "All-American Bitch."

As her star has risen, Rodrigo has been criticized for skirting the line between inspiration and imitation. Still, she's not hiding her influences. There were clear nods to Madonna, St. Vincent, Courtney Love, and riot grrrl throughout the set, but anyone who doubts whether Rodrigo is a fully realized artist in her own right should witness the spectacle of the Guts World Tour, a spectacle built to showcase her greatest musical asset: her songwriting.

Setlist:
- "Bad Idea Right?"
- "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl"
- "Vampire"
- "Traitor"
- "Drivers License"
- "Teenage Dream"
- "Pretty Isn't Pretty"
- "Love is Embarrassing"
- "Making the Bed"
- "Logical"
- "Enough for You"
- "Lacy"
- "Jealousy, Jealousy"
- "Can't Catch Me Now" (Guts Tour debut)
- "Happier"
- "Favorite Crime"
- "Deja Vu"
- "The Grudge"
- "Brutal"
- "Obsessed"
- "All-American Bitch"

Encore:
- "Good 4 U"
- "Get Him Back!"

Photos From Olivia Rodrigo's Guts World Tour in Miami

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