I am an unapologetically huge fan of Olivia Rodrigo, so when I was finally able to get tickets (trust me, you don’t want to know the price), I knew it was to be the experience of a lifetime. 

So, like any good Sports Editor journalist looking to review a concert, I took the perilous four-and-a-half-hour drive to Cincinnati (shout out to my mom) to provide a first-hand account of the experience that is Olivia Rodrgo’s Sour Tour. Here is what I think:

TIME. OF. MY. ACTUAL. LIFE. 

I don’t have any other way to say it. It was the time of my life. The night was so incredible.  I don’t think I could accurately describe it with words. But let’s start at the beginning:

The sold-out Sour Tour’s stop in Cincinnati came at The Andrew J. Brady Music Center, a venue that is beautiful from the outside, and sleek on the inside. Open for less than a year and holding around 4,500 people, the venue allows for a more intimate concert, while also letting a large number of fans attend. 

Olivia Rodrigo’s opening act in Cincinnati, Gracie Abrams, was amazing in her own right, performing numerous songs off of her EPs This Is What It Feels Like and minor, which shares a similar style to some of the songs off of Rodrigo’s Sour. 

Abrams called Cincinnati the “best crowd” and said that she had chosen to wear her glasses so she could see everyone in the crowd clearly. She also received multiple bouquets of flowers from fans standing against the barrier, a gift she seemed to cherish. 

Abrams also performed her newest single “Block Me Out,” a song she said she believed could really resonate to people with anxiety. 

Fans had lined up for hours (some since the early morning) in the hopes of getting as close to Olivia as possible. Fans with general admission tickets rushed into the venue as fast as they could, as a guy with a megaphone asked people not to push and shove. Even fans with seats up in the balcony (like me) were rushing to get inside, as the excitement continued to build as the clock inched closer to 8PM. 

The three-time Grammy winner performed all 11 songs off of her smash hit debut album Sour, as the fans sang along to every word with just as much passion as Olivia herself. She also covered Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and Veruca Salt’s “Seether” (not all the fans knew the words to those). She also sang “All I Want”, arguably her most popular song from Disney’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, in which she has starred since 2019.

Olivia said that she usually does not get so emotional during her shows, but admitted the night was holding back tears.

Her tour concluded with an enthusiastic performance of “good 4 u”, going out with a bang and sending the crowd into a frenzy of cheers. Before she left the stage, she thanked the roaring crowd, saying “Cincinnati, this has truly been one of the most amazing nights of my life.”

As someone who is a huge fan and was so excited to see her, it was one of the greatest experiences ever. But even for the more casual fans (or the dads who were clearly dragged along and did not want to be there), Olivia and Gracie still put on an amazing show, one that could make even a disinterested attendee excited.

(Oh, and because I’m the Sports Editor, I feel obligated to tell you that the Cincinnati Reds—who were playing right across the street—lost 4-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals that night, which at that point put the Reds at 2-12 on the season.)