Gracie Abrams at the Hydro
By: Fatima Krida
Perhaps it is to be expected that once an artist opens for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and gets a viral TikTok song, their demographic will begin to shift. Gracie Abrams’ unparalleled recent success has allowed her to embark on her first headline UK arena tour. Within a year, she was nominated for a Grammy, had her first UK number one single with ‘That’s So True’ and became the subject of intense media scrutiny for her body, sadly a marker in the celebrity sphere of growing stardom.
When I saw Gracie Abrams on her Good Riddance tour in 2023 it was at Birmingham’s O2 Academy, a venue with a capacity of just under 4,000. This time, at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro Arena there were approximately 14,500 attendees. As soon as you arrived at the appropriately pink lit-up arena, you were in the middle of a swarm of bows and long white skirts, a combination which has become synonymous with Abrams as a sort of ‘uniform’ for the fandom. What was perhaps most notable was how young the audience was, it felt like this was the perfect destination for young people’s first concert experiences, so much so that Abrams acknowledged this by asking how many people had never been to a concert before this during her set.
Her appearance at the Hydro had all the elements of a good pop show by an artist who is starting to become more mainstream. Opening with one of her more popular songs ‘Felt Good About You’ and then her album The Secret of Us’ first single ‘Risk’, there was a slightly frantic energy created, heightened by Abrams’ clear anger at the song’s subject matter of being let down by your partner. The bolder songs such as ‘Tough Love’, ‘21’, and ‘Let it Happen’ with their emotional filled choruses and bridges which recount refusing to slip back into toxic situations and feeling slightly unprepared for life’s hardships worked the best in such a large venue. The more stripped down tracks such as ‘Told You Things’ and ‘Gave You I Gave You I’ fell slightly flat due to the lack of movement of both Abrams, on a bare stage apart from a singular projection sheet, and the track’s lack of distinct chorus. However, the encore of Abrams’ two most popular songs, ‘Close to You’ and ‘That’s So True’ resulted in a sea of 14,500 people jumping up and down as the camera projected groups who were screaming the lyrics passionately on the screens behind Abrams.
Without trying to sound like a Debbie Downer, the crowd was insufferable. I don’t believe that young people should be taunted or mocked for being passionate about music, or for enjoying mainstream music. In fact, I think fans being so passionate is ultimately a good thing. However, I also am a big proponent of returning to more appropriate concert etiquette, which has arguably shifted since the return to live music following the COVID pandemic. This crowd turned their flash on to take 0.5x videos of them screaming along to every chorus Abrams sang. Abrams stopped the show incessantly to say ‘Hi’ and ‘I love you too’ to every person who shouted at her, only furthering the number of heckles she thus received. During Abrams’ most popular songs, which often have wordy, prolonged bridges, all around us there were friendship groups grasping onto each other screaming the words so loudly that Abrams was essentially silenced for everyone apart from the front rows of the standing area. There’s a difference between being a passionate fan and ruining other people’s experiences at a show. Whilst the show was good, the crowd did ruin it for my friends and I to the point that I probably wouldn’t be rushing to see Gracie Abrams live again.