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Olivia Rodrigo Brings Rock Energy and Catharsis to Toronto's Scotiabank Arena: Recap & Setlist
Night one of the Unraveled Tour in Toronto was a rollercoaster of emotions, including a surprise rendition of "Lacy."
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If she wanted to, Olivia Rodrigo could put on a killer no-frills rock show.
She showed that with the first two acts of her Unraveled Tour concert in Toronto last night (Oct. 21), which leaned into the indie and alt-rock influences that seep through her catalogue with references to Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure and The Breeders. Clad in a white babydoll dress, she brought the jump-around energy of some of her most infectious hits like "So American," "good 4 u," "Serena Joy" and "Bad Idea Right?"
Her natural charisma, performance chops, well-curated taste and top-notch all-women/non-binary backing band (including her own pink heart guitar) could easily carry the show on their own. But the Unraveled Tour amps that up with impeccable art direction, pacing and structure that makes it a masterfully staged two-hour arena pop concert.
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Supporting her 2026 album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, the concert was structured into six acts, each representing a season ("Spring" gets the opening and closing act, while "Summer Twilight" is also its own act). Rodrigo performed on a stage full of pink wildflowers, which became a multifaceted prop for frolicking, stomping and love offering to her screaming fans (or the occasional fellow artist). Between acts/outfit changes, stagehands harvested the flowers, which let the stage change like those seasons.
She saved her more emotional ballads for the middle of the set, and the fans were ready to belt along with their full souls to songs like "Vampire" and "Traitor." As she moved between the b- and c-stages, fans with floor tickets followed like a bee to a daisy. It was clear the fans were ready to lose themselves in the music, even if they mostly knew what was coming.
It's hard to surprise people in the age of TikTok concert spoilers and instantly traded setlists. Rodrigo has combatted that by bringing up unexpected guests on her last tour and at some of her biggest performances. She had plenty of Canadian songwriters to choose from if she wanted to go that route, since she's shown love to everyone from Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan (at her Lilith Fair-inspired Daisy Chain Fields festival, which brought righteous feminist politics and fundraising to her young audience) to Feist to Montreal-bred Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.
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Unraveled is more of a solo jaunt, but she still had a surprise song in store, launching into the folkie Guts acoustic ballad "Lacy" immediately after "Begged," which elicited a loud scream from the audience and a spirited singalong.

She returned seated at a piano for emotional renditions of songs like "Honeybee" as fake snow fell from the sky. With some of that confetti still in her hair, Rodrigo explained the few doe-eyed songs were a remnant of "sweet naive Olivia's" original plan for pretty sad to be an album full of love songs. She's better known for her breakup songs, naturally, and she's happy to play those hits. Though she wrote it as a teenager before plenty of early-20s life experience, her rendition of her original breakthrough hit "Drivers License" is still a showstopper.
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"The Cure" was another major highlight, though anyone following the tour would already be familiar with the stage moment. Rain fell from the sky as she reached catharsis, and her dress literally melted away.
She was back for a short set of tunes to close out the night, back in high-energy mode, for "Deja Vu," "All American Bitch" — a pop-punk-leaning tune that showed she'd be just as comfortable at Warped Tour as Lilith Fair — and "Expectations." The latter, boosted by a Chappell Roan remix (co-written by Canadian Mike Wise), is her song of the moment and it's a perfect show-closer.
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Rodrigo let the crowd know it would be her final song, with no encore, so they should use all their energy singing and jumping around with her. As soon as the new wave synth intro started, it was clear they were ready to oblige, and the male/female call-and-response vocal had full participation.
Under all the flowers and props, the most compelling aspect of her shows is still the singer herself.
Full Olivia Rodrigo Night One Toronto Setlist:
"Drop Dead"
"U + Me = <3"
"So American"
"Good 4 U"
"My Way"
"Serena Joy"
"Bad Idea Right?"
"Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl"
"Vampire"
"Purple"
"Stupid Song"
"Maggots For Brains"
"Traitor"
"Begged"
"Lacy"
"Cigarette Smoke"
"Honeybee"
"Favorite Crime"
"Drivers License"
"Less"
"The Cure"
"Deja Vu"
"All American Bitch"
"Expectations"
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