Recent from large headline slots at Glastonbury and London’s Hyde Park, we head to Denmark’s Roskilde Competition to see one of many largest artists on the planet unleash her rock aspect and meet the group of followers she has introduced alongside for the journey.
Again in 2021, the quintessential teenage dream turned bitter. Armed with a jerrycan of gasoline and a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile, Olivia Rodrigo would burn her demure girl-next-door persona to the bottom – and rework right into a multifaceted younger lady able to unleashing anger, heartbreak and fury with a chunk of eye-rolling perspective and pop-rock riffs.
Whereas Rodrigo’s tender, chart-topping energy ballads might have attracted the plenty, ‘Good 4 U’ defied any expectations that youngsters needs to be ‘seen and never heard’ – and it did so with the assistance of Rodrigo’s most aggressive output thus far. However this tease of a heavier sound was simply the tip of the iceberg.
Whereas 2021’s ‘Bitter’ loosely dabbled with different textures (the opposite main instance being the grunge-heavy opener, the Veruca Salt-esque ‘Brutal’), Rodrigo’s 2023 sophomore document ‘Guts’ would lastly see her embracing her interior rockstar, balancing ultra-clean ballads together with her new love of bruising riffs and scrappy, chaotic manufacturing.
Over the previous couple of weeks, Rodrigo has been proving herself on a world stage. Her ‘Guts’ world tour amped up the rocky edge for her reside present, Rodrigo routinely collapsing to her knees to carry out bursts of high-calibre punk rock riffage on her electrical guitar. The most important names in alt are additionally completely happy reward Rodrigo for the versatile, gifted artist that she is. From Avril Lavigne thanking Rodrigo for reviving rock ‘n’ roll, to Jack White calling her a “very cool, very actual lover of music” and “gifted musician”. Only a few weeks in the past, The Remedy’s Robert Smith even emerged throughout her Glastonbury set to carry out ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Simply Like Heaven’ together with her – in addition to doing pictures together with her backstage beforehand.
Tonight, she’s set to headline a completely sold-out Roskilde Competition – and the followers have turned out en masse. From the second you step foot onto the Danish competition grounds, small teams of ‘Livies’ will be noticed all over the place. A younger lady skips alongside in a purple tutu and butterfly headbands, dragging her father or mother behind her. A bunch of youngsters readjust one another’s tiaras and straighten each other’s ‘Obsessed’ sashes. Volunteers on the bar babble on about how they will’t wait to go off tonight to catch the set as they sloppily hand you a beer.
Whereas some followers initially acquired into Rodrigo’s extra poppy tunes, they’re now embracing her rockier edge. “I actually solely volunteered this yr to see Olivia,” one rubbish-picking competition employee explains. “I really like all of the pop women like Charli XCX and Tyla, however Olivia is my favorite. She’s most likely probably the most rock artist I get pleasure from, however I really like her a lot.”
The sentiment is shared by one other native Danish fan, who proudly exhibits off an Olivia Rodrigo crop prime and matching tote bag. “’Good 4 U’ was my favorite music off ‘Bitter’ so I used to be SO excited after I heard ‘Guts’ for the primary time,” they grin. “I used to be so completely happy she had made extra music that appeared like that.”
“So many different followers on-line, and clearly Olivia herself, have since really helpful me tons of bands I now love,” the fan continues eagerly. “Like Paramore – I hadn’t identified a lot about them earlier than. But additionally Gap, and No Doubt as nicely… It’s so cool that Olivia helps followers discover all these new artists. It’s like studying in regards to the historical past of feminine rock music and rockstars, if you may not have identified about it earlier than.”
It’s one thing that harks again to Jack White’s emotions about Rodrigo. Her love of music is tangible and she or he’s by no means quiet about her inspirations, recurrently masking most of the artists who encourage her onstage with that complexity and depth of her musical intelligence coming by means of on her newest tracks.
“I sort of didn’t care about her till my girlfriend confirmed me ‘Unhealthy Concept Proper?’” feedback one lad, stood subsequent to his girlfriend in Rodrigo’s signature shade of purple. “I appreciated the rock sound right away, it felt so cool, so completely different… however the lyrics actually made me like it. It was so humorous to us, as a result of it’s how we acquired again collectively; we each stored it a secret from buddies, as a result of they didn’t suppose we must always date once more. It simply made me actually like Olivia, as a result of it felt like somebody joking a couple of mistake with out making an attempt to cover behind something.”
Finally, because the night time begins to roll in, the girl of the hour lastly emerges. Decked out in a studded purple leather-based halterneck, matching hotpants, and knee-high boots, she’s the imaginative and prescient of a swaggering Gen Z Rockstar. As she riffs alongside together with her guitarist Emily Rosenfield, unleashing a uncooked, chaotic model of ‘Obsessed’, it’s clear Rodrigo is in her ingredient. As she loses herself within the noise, she curls right into a backbend, nonetheless enjoying her electrical, a sight few might have predicted again in 2021.
Hovering ahead, the power solely continues to extend. ‘Love Is Embarrassing’ already has that new-wave of punk-rock really feel, but the reside setting really units the punk edge ablaze as Rodrigo rambles by means of the lyrical craving and self-deprecation. Even older cuts like ‘Deja Vu’ really feel amplified and hit more durable with the kick of the reside band. And all of it one way or the other makes these anthems of insecurity really feel effortlessly cool – it’s nearly inconceivable to check this lady, this firecracker of allure and catchy hooks, might ever doubt herself.
As she rolls into the ultimate leg, ‘All-American Bitch’ sees Rodrigo inviting the gang to let all their anger out. It’s a facet of the music metalheads and rock gatekeepers have been eager to chastise when ‘Guts’ first dropped – one way or the other mistaking this innocent show of teenage frustration as an try at gutturals, presumably. However, on this second, everyone seems to be eager to understand the chance to simply let unfastened.
“Consider one thing that makes you so indignant… and SCREAM!!” she howls, earlier than the sector erupts into a protracted wail of angst. After, everybody sighs in aid – and Rodrigo beams with pleasure, earlier than sprinting her away throughout the stage as soon as once more, an over-energised bunny operating on pure adrenaline and completely thriving off of it.
In just a few days, Rodrigo will landing in Belgium to carry out at Rock Werchter competition. If the identify of competition doesn’t give it away, it’s an indication of Rodrigo being accepted into the ranks of the rock world – and, if tonight has proved something, it’s that she’s nicely and really on her approach to being a definitive rockstar of the following technology.