Ariana Grande Sweetens Albany, NY

On Monday, March 18, Ariana Grande kicked off her Sweetener tour in Albany, NY. I had the pleasure of being able to attend the show. The first thing I looked at when I walked into the venue was the stage. It’s designed to be shaped like an oval, with an opening in the center for fans who purchased general admission tickets. The two openers, Social House and Normani, were amazing. Social House is a rap group, and though they did not do much dancing, they ran around the stage and interacted with fans. During their set, you could see Ariana and her friends dancing to the side. Normani danced her heart out, and I was so amazed by the dance moves she performed!

    Ariana came onstage at about 9:30 pm. The fans in the audience were so loud; screaming their lungs out the second the lights went down. The first song Ariana sang was her cover of “Raindrops.” The next song was her infamous hit, “God is a Woman.” Just like she did on the VMAs, she danced on a table and wore a very shiny, beautiful outfit, aiming to prove that women do, in fact, rule the world. Throughout the show, Ariana went on to change into about five different outfits, each item custom made by Versace.

    The setlist was very long, with 30 songs featured. She mostly played new songs, from her 2018 and 2019 albums, Sweetener and thank u, next. Fans were especially loud during her most popular songs, such as “7 Rings,” “thank u, next,” and “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored.” The crowd was the absolute loudest during her song “NASA,” with the entire arena chanting along with her.

    The visuals in the background were unbelievable. During “NASA,” she had images of the whole solar system in the background, and it seemed like she was moving through the stars and into space. She had many colors flashing through the room, with greens and blues and pinks shining in front of my face. Ariana also interacted with the crowd a lot, but did not speak as much as usual because she was very emotional, seeing as it was opening night.

    I wholeheartedly recommend that everyone purchases a ticket to their local show on this tour, because this set was one of my favorite concerts I’ve ever seen. The surplus of security before and after the event made me feel so safe and like I could have an amazing time that night without worrying about anything. Wherever you sit in the crowd, you will have a great time and love the show!

Written by: Faith Logue

Edited by: Meg Clemmensen