Olivia Rodrigo spills her ‘GUTS’ in Seattle (2024)

In 1929, Virginia Woolf wrote in her extended essay “A Room of One’s Own” that “it is the masculine values that prevail,” noting that where “football and sport are ‘important,’ the buying of clothes ‘trivial.’”

Today, over 90 years later, Woolf’s point still stands, as art and products marketed towards a young female audience are often painted as inherently frivolous in the media — from young adult literature and pumpkin spice lattes to boy bands and anything pink.

In light of this, public figures who embrace their youth and femininity become increasingly important to young women who may otherwise feel embarrassed to exist as young women. Olivia Rodrigo, who famously “knows [her] age and acts like it” happens to suit this role perfectly.

The three-time Grammy-winner most recently performed in her ongoing “GUTS” world tour at the sold-out Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Aug. 6 and 7. I attended the first of the two shows. With over 15,000 audience members and no opener following PinkPantheress’ recent cancellation of all of her remaining 2024 performances, anticipation had reached its peak by the time the word “GUTS,”displayed as birthday candles on the stage’s screen, had melted, and Rodrigo entered the stage to sing “bad idea right?”

Each of Rodrigo’s performances of the night were distinct, infused with an air of theatricality and fun. She threw herself to the ground as she performed her second song of the night, “ballad of a homeschooled girl,” and then stood as the silhouette in a full moon to perform “vampire,” the most successful track of her sophom*ore album. This was shortly followed by “traitor,” the first performance to come from her debut album “SOUR” and to be complete with a choreography routine.

Upon briefly exiting, she once again rose to the stage, this time accompanied by billowing clouds of smoke and at a piano to perform “drivers license” and “teenage dream.” In just the first 20 minutes, Rodrigo had already displayed her range and ability to alternate freely between pop-punk and piano ballads, all while playing to the crowd and every camera with meticulous timing and the type of stage presence and perfection typically only reserved for musical theater.

The real show-stopping event came three songs later, in the form of a large crescent-moon prop that Rodrigo sang atop of for “logical” and “enough for you,” with glowing stars accompanying her above the audience as she flew over the public and waved to the nosebleeds. The gorgeous scene lended itself well to the slower songs while providing an unforgettable element to Rodrigo’s performance.

Other highlights were plentiful, however. The energetic, awkward dancing to “love is embarrassing” had an immediate joyful effect on the arena's atmosphere, which was followed by Rodrigo laying on a moving block to sing the more somber “making the bed.”

Beautiful choreography surrounded her in both “pretty isn’t pretty” and “lacy.” Closer to the end of her set, she encouraged the crowd to scream as loud as possible when the lights turned off during “all-american bitch,” and shortly after went on to play electric guitar herself as the crowd rocked out to “obsessed.”

At one point, Rodrigo led her thousands of audience members to sing “happy birthday” to a fan, and later traded a guitar pick for the temporary use of another fan’s pink beret. This served to spark envy in one of her musicians as a prelude to “jealousy, jealousy.”

Despite Seattle being Rodrigo’s 50th stop on her world tour, every step of the way felt far from rehearsed, and instead more improvised and natural in a way sure to leave her PNW crowd feeling special.

Alongside the entirety of “GUTS,” audience members were treated to more songs from “SOUR,” alongside those previously mentioned, such as “happier,” “favorite crime,” “deja vu,” and “brutal.” Near the midway point she also sang “so american” to an ecstatic audience who were grateful to see at least one other “GUTS (spilled)” track played.

The encore performances featured “good 4 u” and “get him back!” in a wildly upbeat conclusion. It was complete with Rodrigo wearing an iron-on T-shirt that read “never Se(a)ttle” and star-shaped confetti shooting up from the ceiling in the final song.

As a whole, the entire performance felt like a tribute to Rodrigo’s younger self. Having turned 21 this year, the majority of her songs were written when she was aged 17–19, yet this is a fact never expressed with shame. Rather, Rodrigo takes the time to express love for her teenage self, creating a validating space for the angry teenager that perhaps still lives in all of us.

By extension, and maybe more importantly, Rodrigo’s lyrics manage to legitimize the teenage girl experience in a way that I like to think would have pleased Virginia Woolf 95 years ago.

Reach writer Jolene Pollich at arts@dailyuw.com. X: @jolenepollich

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