The GUTS World Tour, a sold out international arena tour, is no small event – the purple-loving popstar Olivia Rodrigo is hitting a variety of North American and European cities over the course of almost 6 months. One of her recent stops was in Columbus, Ohio, where I was able to live the full GUTS experience.
Ticketing Experience
I was in a state of debate while this show approached. With such a high demand for tickets, official ones were completely sold out on the approved partner site, Ticketmaster, almost as soon as they went on sale. This was hard for me, because I wasn’t sure where I would be during the tour and what show I would be able to go to. While the majority of the arena was seated and able to be resold, ticket prices still soared even the day of the show (consistently clocking in at $250-$20,000 for tickets). I spent weeks checking Ticketmaster for Columbus tickets, along with other resale sites.
Through fan update accounts and word of mouth, I saw that often the tour released a final set of tickets the day of the show. While I’m sure this is to avoid scalpers and empty seats, I found it really hard to get tickets and attend the show. If it was an artist I liked more casually, I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone through the time, effort and money for the show – make sure to congratulate your local Livie for managing to get tickets.
At 10AM on the dot, the day of the show, Ticketmaster released new GA tickets. I spent about $535 on a ticket after fees, which did make me hurt a bit; So I’m here to tell you whether or not it was worth it!
One drawback about such an expensive and high demand show is that everyone I met at the show had traveled for the experience, and that’s not typically something you can plan at 10AM the day of. Most folks were from Cincinnati, West Virginia, etc., and had driven at least 2 hours to make it. I got very lucky being from the host city (Columbus).
VIP Pit Experience
I arrived at the venue around 6PM, and doors for the general public were at 6:30PM. It’s important to note no matter how bad you wanted pit tickets for this tour, you really can’t buy them resale. All pit tickets were will call, and I had to show my ID when picking it up. There was some miscommunication about where to go – on Ticketmaster, my ticket was just listed as “GA PIT” and to pick it up at the box office. Once I got to the box office, they told me to go to the front entrance. I ended up entering through the VIP entrance and my ticket was VIP, which was awesome. However, communication and instructions on that could’ve been better, since VIP had early entry beginning at 5:30, and that wasn’t something I really got to take advantage of.
I was super excited to go to a concert alone as an adult using my hard-earned money for all the fun little things. Something I really looked forward to was getting a drink since I saw that the GUTS Tour did specialized drinks. While a fun idea in hindsight, I didn’t actually find any bars that served the drinks, which made me a sad. I thought I saw someone else who had one, but I never figured out where they were since there wasn’t signage or anything similar.
One of the massive highlights was seeing Rodrigo’s Fund 4 Good live in action. A charity fund started for tour, certain tickets’ proceeds are donated toward organizations supporting reproductive rights and gender equality. Rodrigo and her team also invite local nonprofit organizations aligning with the Fund 4 Good’s goals to set up booths at the show. Our very own Abortion Fund of Ohio was there, with cute specialized items to engage the crowd. Their purple frame, stating “funding abortion? it’s a good idea right?” had a line to take photos with, while their table had GUTS-themed fortune tellers and informational cards for patrons to keep.
There was a good amount of fan fare for the VIP. We were given lanyards, a cute pit wristband, a VIP bar wristband (never figured out what the situation for that was), a “GUTSY” purple dad hat, a GUTS World Tour fanny pack, and a specialized show “trading card”, which were given to all VIPs but also other attendees. I love how her merch team pulled successes from other genres, like the light up glow sticks and the free trading cards that were accessible for fans who maybe couldn’t spend as much money; both of these things are typically utilized in K-Pop experiences. In terms of merchandise, I got a purple long sleeved tour shirt that’s really great quality, and a GUTS world tour poster.
The merchandise lines were, of course, crazy, but the team was fast and patient and kind. I got a shirt for Chappell Roan after meeting my friend in line, which just goes to show the efficiency of it all since I went through those lines twice. I was really impressed by the crew working those insane merch booths; it’s worth it to note that each station had different merch options, so I’m glad I took a walk around to look at the different areas.
Show Experience
The pit itself was surrounded by two catwalks, so no matter where you stood, you were incredibly close. There were a lot of parents and young kids/teens, which was to be expected from a post-Disney popstar, but it really did surprise me the amount of young people I talked to during the show. Because of this, the energy in the crowd was a bit dull at first; As a lot of people’s first concert, there wasn’t really any dancing or enthusiasm that an older crowd would give (particularly for the opener, Chappell Roan, which disappointed me).
However, once the pop princess herself came on stage, all reservations were lost. The crowd was easy to move through and more concerned about watching the show than recording every second, which was another nice surprise. I loved how Rodrigo incorporated dancers and props into the set, which made it much more interesting to watch. I honestly would have loved for them to appear in more songs, because it really kept the energy and movement.
With some cute visuals that tied in with the song’s themes, baby videos of Olivia during “teenage dream” brought me to tears over the nostalgic question of “do I have anything left to offer?” But, her moon songs, where she physically climbed on a crescent moon and sang songs from a floating set piece, really impressed me the most.
Olivia spent a great amount of time on both sides of the catwalk, along with the middle. She seemed to be strategic in the way she gave ample attention to the entire arena. I loved the talking breaks in the show where you were really able to get to know her better, and wished there were a few more of those.
Sonically, it seemed there were some small issues syncing the band, soundtrack and singers, but they all were incredibly professional when getting back to normal, and it seemed like most people didn’t notice. With a general increase in communication and transparency with ticketholders about their experiences, this show could be set up for perfect success. Good communication about things like the GUTS World Tour bus, which is a free and handicap accessible experience anyone can attend, show the validity of Rodrigo’s ideas and executions.
Overall, the GUTS World Tour was successful in their efforts to put on a sparkling curated experience for all who attended. I’m glad I was able to go and make tons of new friends while experiencing all the glitter and guts Olivia Rodrigo had to offer!
Photos by Christopher Polk. Article by Patti Doud. If reposting, please credit @almostfamouszine and @piecesbypatti.
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