Olivia Rodrigo Hong Kong Concert

Olivia Rodrigo, a world-famous pop star, performed at Asia-World Expo on September 24, 2024, and gave a stunning performance to a packed Hong Kong stadium. Starting in February, she traveled worldwide on her global tour, performing her albums GUTS and SOUR.

After we showed up at 5:00 pm, we were greeted by the sight of hundreds of eager fans, all dressed in purple and lined up to buy merchandise. The entire venue was filled with ‘Livies’–her most dedicated fans–some of which showed up at noon. 

After acquiring our merchandise, we moved towards our section, where we bought some water along the way. The VIP section’s audience was given a gift bag containing a purple cap (reading “GUTSY”), a lanyard, a small fanny bag, and a stunning photo card. Once we walked in, we realized we were a bit too late. Fans crowded up more than half of the section, even an hour and a half early. In addition, eager fans were pushing me backward, splitting us up. Though a bit angry, I waited for the concert to begin.

 At around 7:45 pm, the screen showed purple candles spelling G-U-T-S. One by one, they fell as we were shown a pre-recorded video of Olivia running to the stage from a hidden path. Once we heard the chords of the first song “bad idea, right?,” the crowd went wild as she appeared onstage and began singing. As she jumped with the drumbeats, the crowd’s singing got louder and more enthusiastic. Her sparkly two-piece illuminated the crowd’s excited faces. 

Then, with a smooth transition, Olivia moved on to her second song, “ballad of a home-schooled girl.” She kept the audience engaged by telling them to sing along. Then, she moved on to the fan favorite “vampire,” with the audience screaming along to the lyrics, myself included.

 After that, she sang two iconic songs from her debut album SOUR. As she began with “traitor,” which toned down the sound the atmosphere became more tranquil and calm. Then, she began singing “driver’s license,” and even though the song was very calm, the audience was the opposite, screaming the lyrics, jumping around, and holding up their phones as high as they could. 

Throughout the concert, Olivia would walk up the extensions of the stage, making her closer to us, but unfortunately, not enough for her to notice us. After seven stunning songs, some of which she performed while flying over the audience on a glittering purple moon, she turned back to the album SOUR, starting with an unexpected transition. 

An audience member had given Olivia an egg tart and she said that her drummer was feeling “jealousy, jealousy”, which was the name of the next song. Then, she sang other songs, such as “deja vu,” “brutal,” and “happier.” 

Then, she moved on to the encore, playing what is arguably her most famous song: “good 4 u.” She had a different shirt for the encore for every city she went to, and this time was no exception. It read “dumpling him,” which was fitting because it was supposed to be “dump him,” but since Hong Kong is known for its cuisine, namely dumplings, “dump” was replaced. At the end of the song, we ran for the exit and, luckily, we found a taxi that we quickly flagged down and entered. Sadly, that meant that we had to skip the song “get him back!” since there were going to be long lines, and it was also a school night.

Upon reaching the taxi, there was a silence and a sense of exhaustion inside the vehicle. I took this time to reflect upon my experience. It was my second concert ever, but it was certainly amazing. It raised my expectations significantly. If Olivia Rodrigo decides to come back on tour, I would happily attend her concert.

Images:

The merchandise on sale.

The amount of people when we came in.

The wristband we were given when we entered the venue.

Olivia Rodrigo onstage with the "dumpling him" shirt on

The free hat given in the bag.

The fanny bag we were also given in the bag.

The photocard given in the bag.