Words: Elisabeth Xia | Photos: Sophia Carey & Jennifer McCord
Venue: Hyde Park (London, UK) | Date: 27th June 2025

After her successful GUTS tour filling London’s O2 arena for four nights last year, Olivia Rodrigo returned to the capital to headline her biggest show in the UK to date at BST Hyde Park on Friday, the 26th of June. Anticipation for her appearance started bubbling early in the day, as wonderfully curated openers including Between Friends, flowerovlove, girl in red, and The Last Dinner Party set the tone with a varied mix of indie pop, bedroom pop, and indie rock in all their colours. 

Accompanied by her all-female band, Olivia Rodrigo captured her audience from the very start of her 90-minute set. As the sun slowly started setting opposite the Great Oak Stage, Rodrigo made her rockstar entrance with her playful pop punk track, bad idea right?. Her signature rhythmically spoken delivery of the verses blended in with the audience screaming along every word confidently. 


Rodrigo’s set delivered everything from energetic pop punk to piano ballads. The songwriting on hits like vampire and driver’s license included lyrics so relatable that they made me question if she went through the same breakup as I did (ouch), while tracks like brutal and get him back! made me reconnect with my teenage angst. Her Disney star origins are still noticeable in her charisma as a performer, but her set showcased how well she does both, being a pop princess and a rockstar. Her versatility as an artist was underpinned by her ability to shred along with her band on the guitar, and her incredible vocal prowess, belting the high notes in songs like favourite crime and traitor with seemingly little effort. 

Looking out across the field, I saw an ocean of purple; whether it was glitter skirts or cowboy hats, many of which on the heads of young girls accompanied by their guardians. There was no shortage of signs either, one of which Rodrigo read out in disbelief: “‘Wearing diapers for front row’? Is that true?”. While she strutted across the stage in a silvery body suit and biker boots confidently, I had no doubt that this was one of the most devoted crowds I’d seen in a while. Every song was accompanied not only by the highly energetic band, but by thousands of fans singing the lyrics along in unison, word by word. I was touched to see fans across all ages belting out their hearts together, and even caught the occasional bracelet trade between fans - a phenomenon my Swiftie friends often tell me about proudly.

In one of her more casual audience interactions, Rodrigo shares that London is one of her favourite cities in the world, how much she loves having eggs and soldiers for breakfast, and how the BST Hyde Park performance was a “dream gig” for her to play, being set in a park that holds a lot of special memories for her, before starting into her song so american. As the last rays of sunlight disappeared below the horizon, Rodrigo introduces her surprise guest as “one of my favourite Brits and one of the best songwriters of all time”, welcoming Ed Sheeran to the stage, to perform a beautiful rendition of The A Team on acoustic guitar, accompanied again by beautiful crowd vocals.


To send the night off with a bang, Rodrigo asked her audience (in the 65,000 capacity venue) to scream as loud as we could during her song, all-american bitch. Starting off the song with the line “I am light as feather” in a voice just as feather-light, all-american bitch calls out the societal double standards and expectations towards women in a sarcastic way. The song contrasts angelic verses with heavy rock choruses, building tension in the bridge before culminating in a scream, which is where the audience came in: imagine tens of thousands of fans screaming at the top of their lungs, for as long as they can. I can assure you, it was nothing short of spine-chilling, while equally cathartic.

I left the night feeling in awe of Olivia Rodrigo’s true popstar energy, and without any doubt on why she is considered one of the most influential pop powerhouses today.