5 Highlights from Night One of Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour at Kia Forum

As edgy as some of her music sounds, a strain of the Disney star Rodrigo once was remains. Given her outsized pop stardom, it’s easy to forget that up until 2019, the 21-year-old was best known for her starring role on the squeaky-clean High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and she retains some of the polished charm she no doubt learned while making her way through the gauntlet of Mouse House stardom.

In a way, Tuesday night’s show illuminated this intriguing dichotomy. Rodrigo is a master at playing to the camera with the sort of larger-than-life facial expressions that seem in part designed to appeal to her youngest fans — even as she liberally (and gleefully) sprinkles her speech with f-bombs. This career arc is represented in the arc of the show itself: While the first half boasts its share of hard-charging tracks like “Bad Idea Right?” and “Vampire,” in the final stretch it becomes a much more rock-forward show, complete with bone-rattling guitar riffs and a steroidal rhythm section. Her performance of late-set tracks like “Brutal” and “All-American Bitch” build up a full head of steam, making a potent case for Rodrigo as a one-of-a-kind pop star who is capable of catering equally well to the High School Musical set and the ‘90s rock-loving parents who once blasted Nirvana, Hole and Pearl Jam through their open car windows.

From “Drivers License” to “Vampire,” the capacity crowd at Tuesday night’s show belted the lyrics to Rodrigo’s songs right along with her, reflecting the deep chord the talented songwriter has struck with her (mostly) young fans. More than any other concert in recent memory, the mass sing-along created a unifying energy that belied the size of the venue, serving as a testament to the way Rodrigo’s lyrics can feel both deeply personal and universal all at once.

Rodrigo grew up in the Southern California community of Temecula, located southeast of Los Angeles, before moving to L.A. in middle school after landing a starring role on the Disney Channel sitcom Bizaardvark. That made her first L.A. show something of a homecoming for the globe-trotting star, and she didn’t let that fact — and her fondness for a certain fast-food burger chain — go unmentioned.

“Boy, am I f—ing happy to be in L.A., oh my god!” Rodrigo remarked from the stage before launching into a rendition of her Guts (Spilled) standout “So American.” “You guys, we’ve been on tour for so long, and I got to sleep in my own bed last night, it was amazing. We’ve been all over the place,” she explained. “We got to, like, drink wine in France and eat pasta in Italy, but you know what? It’s so good to be home and have a f—ing In-N-Out burger, for real. That was my first stop after getting home. I literally flew to LAX and then drove to pick up In-N-Out burger.”

Rodrigo’s opening act on Tuesday night was The Breeders, the ‘90s alt-rock icons who stormed the Billboard Hot 100 with their 1993 single “Cannonball” (the song ultimately peaked at No. 44). That hit served as a centerpiece of the band’s fabulous performance, during which they also busted out a set-closing rendition of “Gigantic” — a highlight of Surfer Rosa, the debut full-length of Breeders frontwoman Kim Deal’s former band the Pixies, co-written with her then-bandmate Black Francis.

Choosing The Breeders as an opening act may seem like an outside-the-box choice for a 21-year-old pop star, but for Rodrigo it makes sense. Though she wasn’t even born when the band reached its career zenith, Rodrigo grew up listening to the ‘90s alt-rock her parents played at home and was heavily influenced by the bands of the era in creating her own music. On Sour and especially Guts, that influence comes through loud and clear, so it’s heartening to see Rodrigo introduce one of the Gen X bands who helped inspire her sound to a brand-new audience.

And The Breeders made the most of the opportunity: The band, which is opening all four Forum shows and previously opened for Rodrigo at Madison Square Garden, played a tight 40-minute set that will doubtless win them a new set of young fans.

Just before launching into a performance of Sour track “Happier” while sitting cross-legged on the floor with her guitarist Daisy Spencer, Rodrigo called herself “a wizard at the art of Instagram DM.” That led in to an explanation of how a fateful DM brought her and Sour/Guts producer Dan Nigro together.

“I’ve met so many people that I’ve dated on Instagram DM, some of them a little questionable so maybe that’s not a good example,” Rodrigo began, before explaining how, after catching wind of a “Happier” clip she’d posted online, Nigro reached out to ask if she’d like to work with him. “That was the catalyst for two albums and kind of this show and tonight right here,” she said. “So I have Instagram DM to thank for a whole lot in my life.”

“Bad Idea Right?”
“Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”
“Vampire”
“Traitor”
“Drivers License”
“Teenage Dream”
“Pretty Isn’t Pretty”
“Love Is Embarrassing”
“Making the Bed”
“Logical”
“Enough for You”
“Lacy”
“So American”
“Jealousy, Jealousy”
“Happier”
“Favorite Crime”
“Deja Vu”
“The Grudge”
“Brutal”
“Obsessed”
“All-American Bitch”
Encore:
“Good 4 U”
“Get Him Back!”