Olivia Rodrigo, Hammersmith Apollo review — songs of rage and hurt

It was surreal, a beaming Olivia Rodrigo told a packed Hammersmith Apollo, to be on stage singing songs that she had written while crying in her living room. A poignant image of the weeping singer scribbling on a tear-stained notebook formed — only to be obliterated by her audience’s response, an almighty mass scream that contained not a jot of fragility or pathos.

This was the tribal roar of fandom, directed towards the new totem of US pop. Outside the venue, a group of “Livies” — the official name for Rodrigo’s followers — were hunkered down in sleeping bags in preparation for the following night’s concert. Inside, 5,000 more Livies sang every word of every song, and cheered and screamed at every syllable of every remark. They were mostly teenage girls or younger.

The 19-year-old Californian is touring her debut Sour, one of 2021’s best-selling albums. It chronicles a break-up. At the nub of its songs are rage and hurt that an ex-boyfriend has taken a mere two weeks to start a new relationship with a prom-queen rival. That is even quicker than Claudius shacks up with Queen Gertrude in Hamlet.

The gig’s first song was album opener “Brutal”. Teased by a big rock fanfare, the curtain fell to reveal Rodrigo fronting a five-piece band. The music was blaring pop-punk. The singer leapt about singing sparky lyrics about self-pity at top volume, a lively emo pastiche. The sound was live and unfiltered, without pre-recorded elements or computerised polishing. (“I want it to be, like, messy” are the album’s first words.)

Her set was short, lasting just over an hour. The presentation and execution fitted with her decision to tour smaller theatres rather than arenas as a learning curve. The black dais on which her band stood was covered in stickers, like a rock dive. She did not repeat her Glastonbury Festival denunciation of the US Supreme Court’s anti-abortion judges, but there was a feminist message amid the songs’ teen dramatics. Her backing musicians were all women.

The tracks were split between ballads and pop-rock anthems. The former mode was epitomised by her big hit “Drivers License”, which she played at a grand piano. A lot of driving takes place in her songs; in true Californian style, catharsis involves cars. Another theme is the angry ex’s bind of not being able to get the former boyfriend out of her head while simultaneously wanting to make the forgetful wretch think about her.

In “Enough for You”, played alone on acoustic guitar, she sang about learning his “favourite songs by heart” when they were together. The words were sung back at her by fans who have learned her own songs by heart. Here catharsis involved pop music, not cars. The scenario suggested a Gen Z reboot of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill — a comparison that Rodrigo embraced when she duetted with Morissette in May.

She has a keen sense of her place in female pop history. At the Apollo, Natalie Imbruglia joined her for a cover of the Australian singer’s 1997 chart-topper “Torn”. Will the songs that a weepy Rodrigo penned in her living room have the same legs for the long haul? This fast and fervent concert answered in the positive.

★★★★☆

oliviarodrigo.com