A couple years ago, pop star Olivia Rodrigo was living in an apartment on John Stockton Drive, near the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
That was back when she was living in Utah while filming for “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” It was on that set, and in that apartment, that Rodrigo wrote her song “Happier.”
Back then, Rodrigo said she watched people leave concerts at the Delta Center (then called Vivint Arena) from her apartment, and told her mom she dreamed of performing there one day.
“Thank you for making my dream come true,” she told the Delta Center crowd Wednesday night, during her stop at the venue for the “Guts World Tour.” “I cannot tell you how happy I am to be here, I’ve been waiting for this stop the entire tour. ... This sort of feels like a hometown show in a way.”
Two years ago, Rodrigo brought her first solo tour (in support of her spectacular debut album “Sour”) to Orem’s UCCU Center. Her fiery setlist Wednesday night was a split between songs from “Sour” and her second album, “Guts,” which was released last September.
UCCU Center has a 8,500-person capacity for concerts, while Delta Center seats around 20,000. The Wednesday show was sold out. Rodrigo’s stage set-up, presence and show qualities reflected the caliber of a small arena show. She stepped it up and delivered a bigger and more creative show, featuring a well-thought out stage, dancers, visuals and more.
Rodrigo opened the show with “bad idea right?” — the high-energy song melting seamlessly into the anticipation the crowd was feeling as she stepped onto the stage in a sparkly silver outfit. (The night’s opening act, PinkPantheress, canceled “due to unforeseen circumstances,” the Delta Center announced on its Instagram account.)
That hometown energy was prevalent Wednesday — from the nosebleeds to the floor — as fans were often louder than Rodrigo, reciting lyrics in cathartic screams. Fans hugged each other during slow songs, danced during fast ones, but, most of all, they sang — loud. Parents recorded their children belting out lyrics, word for word. Nearly everyone was decked out in shades of silver and purple.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Olivia Rodrigo performs at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Even Rodrigo clocked the energy, asking the crowd during a break, “Salt Lake, you guys are singing loud. Did someone break your heart?”
Rodrigo has previously noted that she wrote many of the songs on “Sour” in Utah. On Wednesday — while sitting atop a crescent moon, strung from the rafters — Rodrigo relayed a story of walking around the Utah State Capitol to write “enough for you.” She said walking through the memories of her time in Utah made her “sentimental.”
The structure brought Rodrigo around for all areas of the crowd to see, illuminated with cascading stars around her. She mesmerized the crowd with the two songs she sang seated there.
Fans knew all the words to her new and old songs alike. Her biggest hits, like “drivers license” (from “Sour”) and “vampire” (from “Guts”), for example, were songs the crowd sang along to so loudly, you could barely hear her.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Olivia Rodrigo performs at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Toward the end of the set, the scream during the bridge of “all american bitch” was so loud, there’s no doubt the decibel measure at Delta Center shot up.
Even in the loudness and enthusiasm, Rodrigo took time to speak to her fans and share the stories behind their favorite songs. For example, she talked about how she wrote the track “Teenage Dream” before her 19th birthday.
“Which was a time where I was so afraid of growing up, I just dreaded it more than anything,” she told the crowd. She noted that she turned 21 this year, and “I feel so happy and loved and excited for the future. If I could give any advice to my 18-year-old self, the girl who wrote this song, I’d tell her not to worry so much, and that she has no idea how many magical things are waiting just around the corner for her.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Olivia Rodrigo performs at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
On this second solo show in Utah, Rodrigo stepped up her game, while also staying true to her roots. Through five outfit changes, a cathartic and loaded setlist, she displayed a steady sense of confidence that showcased her growth as an artist. She may be older, wiser, and a bit more sure of herself — but she’s still a woman who isn’t afraid to scream, and sing, about her emotions with thousands of fans.
“It just makes me really emotional to ... think about how far I’ve come since I was just walking around that little Capitol building writing all these songs,” Rodrigo said.
Rodrigo is scheduled to go on to perform in San Francisco after her stop in Salt Lake City, with 10 stops left on the tour.