Olivia Rodrigo might be playing arenas on her upcoming tour, but the “Drop Dead” singer shocked fans this week as she announced a surprise gig costing a fraction of the price.
Fresh off of releasing her third studio album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love to critical and commercial acclaim, the former Disney Channel star, 23, is heading out on the road in September for The Unravelled Tour.
Ahead of the tour, a post was shared by Rodrigo’s official fan Instagram on Thursday (6 August), announcing that the pop star was playing an intimate, one-night-only concert that night at Warsaw in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Tickets went on sale at 10am on the same date for the 1,000-capacity show, which is one of Rodrigo’s smallest ever New York shows, and were only available in person at the venue’s box office. Notably, all tickets for the concert were $25 (£19) and sold out within two hours.
Rodrigo performed a 15-song set, with the majority of the songs taken from her new album, along with hits ”Driver’s License” and ”Good 4 U”.
The chart-topping singer kicks off her world tour on 25 September, with the concert series running for 86 shows and concluding at London’s O2 Arena in May, following an 11-show run at the venue.
The $25 tickets to Rodrigo’s show at Warsaw reflect a long-standing commitment by the singer to ensure affordable tickets are available for her shows amid the rising cost of concert tickets.For the second tour in a row, Rodrigo is running her ”Silver Star” programme, where a limited number of $20 (£15) tickets are available for every date.
Tickets are sold in pairs and, crucially, not purchased with a seat number, which is instead revealed when tickets are collected from the box office on the day.
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Rodrigo isn’t the only artist to offer ”lucky dip”-style tickets at reduced prices, with the Rolling Stones, Coldplay and Charli XCX having all introduced similar programmes.
The drive to reduce the price of some tickets has reportedly come from artists themselves, even if it means a reduction in overall revenue.
It comes after a recent survey found that 57 per cent of Gen Z called the cost of tickets the main barrier to attending concerts.
Last December, The Independent reported that the average UK concert ticket price has increased by 521 per cent over the last 30 years.