Olivia Rodrigo responds to backlash over how small her Sour Tour venues are

13 December 2021, 11:36

Olivia Rodrigo sings the original version of Drivers License

By Sam Prance

Sour Tour tickets immediately sold out leaving Olivia Rodrigo fans who missed out devastated.

Olivia Rodrigo has opened up about her decision to only do small venues for 2022's Sour Tour following backlash from fans.

Last week (Dec 6) Olivia Rodrigo took to social media to announce that she would be headlining her first-ever tour from April to July in 2022. The 18-year-old superstar announced dates for the US and Europe and revealed that Gracie Abrams, Holly Humberstone and Baby Queen would all open for her. Tickets went on sale on Friday (Dec 10) and immediately sold out.

However, thousands of fans were left unable to get tickets due to the venue sizes. All the dates are at amphitheatres, which hold 5,000 people maximum, whereas arenas, for example, can hold up to 20,000 people. For one of the London concerts, over 40,000 fans were in a queue for a venue with a 3,500 capacity.

Now Olivia has explained why she's chosen to do small venues and has no plans on upgrading the venue sizes this tour.

READ MORE: Olivia Rodrigo will return to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series for season 3

In a new interview with the LA Times, Olivia revealed that she's really "excited" to finally take Sour on the road. When asked why she's avoided arenas, Olivia said: "I don’t think I should skip any steps." In other words, it seems likely that as it's her first tour, Olivia wants to perform in front of smaller crowds and then work up to arenas and stadiums in the future.

As for what we can expect from the tour, it seems likely that her all-female band will be present. In the same profile, Olivia praised her band at a rehearsal for a 'Brutal' performance, by saying: "It’s all girls. Six girls on electric guitars and things, rocking out on this super-crunchy grunge song — I feel like I didn’t get to see enough of that when I was a kid."

Olivia is also already writing music for her second album and has just written a song about the "way that young women are so competitive with each other and tear each other down in a way that’s so counterintuitive". As for when she'll be able to finish her next project, Olivia has to film High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 3 in January.

That doesn't mean she'll stop writing album two though. Olivia said: "I never take a break from music. When I was shooting season 2, I wrote like five of the songs on my album. So, honestly, I’m probably gonna be more productive."

Fingers crossed that arenas are on the cards for her second tour.

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