Olivia Rodrigo’s new tour did not simply begin with a setlist. It opened with a garden, changing seasons, a deeply emotional “drivers license” moment and a finale that left the singer standing in artificial rain.
The Unraveled Tour officially began on September 25, 2026, at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Connecticut, launching an 86-date journey that pulls together Rodrigo’s entire career while turning the concert itself into a constantly changing theatrical production.
Olivia Rodrigo Kicks Off the Unraveled Tour in Hartford
Rodrigo opened the first of two consecutive Hartford shows with Wolf Alice as the opening act.
The timing was notable because difficult weather conditions were affecting the Northeast. A National Weather Service wind advisory was in effect for the Hartford area on September 25, with wind gusts forecast to reach as high as 45 mph overnight and rain expected later.
Inside the arena, however, the atmosphere was almost the complete opposite.
The stage was transformed into a giant garden filled with thousands of artificial flowers. Birds and crickets could be heard between performances, while music played throughout the venue before the show began.
That peaceful setting eventually became the foundation for something much more dramatic.
| Tour detail | Opening-night information |
| Artist | Olivia Rodrigo |
| Tour | The Unraveled Tour |
| Opening date | September 25, 2026 |
| Venue | PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford, Connecticut |
| Opening act | Wolf Alice |
| Total tour dates | 86 |
| Opening-night structure | Spring, Summer, Summer Twilight, Autumn, Winter, Spring encore |
| European run | March–May 2027 |
| Final scheduled show | May 10, 2027, London |
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The Unraveled Tour Turns Into a Journey Through the Seasons
Rather than arranging the concert simply around albums, Rodrigo built the main performance around the changing seasons.
The show begins in spring, moves into summer, shifts into summer twilight, becomes darker during autumn and eventually reaches winter.
Then, after the main performance, it returns to spring for the encore.
The stage changes along with that progression.
The flowers that dominate the opening section do not remain untouched throughout the concert. Variety reported that approximately half of the flowers had been removed by the time Rodrigo reached the autumn chapter.
That physical transformation makes the seasonal concept more than a visual backdrop. The stage itself changes as the night progresses.
And by the time Rodrigo reaches the final winter sequence, the production has moved far away from the calm garden that greeted fans at the beginning.
“Drop Dead” Opens the Concert Before “Good 4 U”
The first live section began with “drop dead,” the opening track from Rodrigo’s 2026 album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.
She then performed “u + me = <3,” “so american” and “good 4 u.”
“Deja Vu” appeared next as a video interlude rather than as a full live performance at that point.
The show then moved into summer, where Rodrigo performed “my way,” “serena joy,” “bad idea right?” and “ballad of a homeschooled girl.”
“Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl” featured an extended introduction and band introductions.
The shorter summer twilight chapter followed with “vampire” and “purple.”
From the beginning, the set made one thing clear: the new era would not replace Rodrigo’s earlier work. Instead, the songs from all three of her studio albums would be woven into the same seasonal story.
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The Autumn Chapter Gets Darker
The mood shifted again when autumn arrived.
Rodrigo performed “stupid song,” “maggots for brains,” “traitor,” “begged” and “cigarette smoke.”
The changing stage design continued to mirror the shift in atmosphere, with the reduced flowers making the setting look noticeably different from the opening garden.
“Cigarette Smoke” was also singled out in Variety’s opening-night report as one of the strongest vocal performances of the evening.
The placement of “traitor” alongside songs from you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love also created a connection between Rodrigo’s earlier heartbreak-driven material and the emotional world of her newest album.
“Drivers License” Turns Into One of the Night’s Biggest Moments
The winter chapter brought some of the most recognisable songs of Rodrigo’s career.
The sequence included “honeybee,” “favorite crime,” “drivers license,” “less” and “The Cure.”
There was also a personal moment before “favorite crime.”
Rodrigo sang “Happy Birthday to You” for her mother, who was celebrating her birthday. The birthday song is listed as a separate performance in the documented opening-night setlist.
Then came “drivers license.”
The arena erupted into a major audience singalong as fans joined Rodrigo on the song that became her breakout single.
“Drivers License” was also Rodrigo’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 and spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the chart.
Its position within the winter chapter gives the performance an unmistakable sense of looking back at the beginning of Rodrigo’s rise before the concert moves into its biggest theatrical sequence.
“The Cure” Brings an Artificial Rainstorm to the Stage
Then came the moment that transformed the entire production.
During “The Cure,” artificial rain began falling over the stage.
Rodrigo was soaked as she performed in a white dress. As the simulated storm continued, the dress appeared to break apart, revealing what appeared to be a cherry-red latex-style bodysuit underneath.
The visual also recalled elements of Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour looks, connecting the new production with her previous major tour.
The rain sequence effectively turned winter into a literal storm.
After spending the earlier sections surrounded by flowers, changing colours and seasonal imagery, Rodrigo was suddenly performing in artificial rain.
It became the defining visual climax of the main set.
Olivia Rodrigo Brings the Show Back to Spring for the Encore
The dramatic rain sequence was not the end of the night.
Rodrigo returned for the encore wearing a white tank top and low-rise jeans, bringing the concert back to its spring chapter.
The encore featured:
- “Deja Vu”
- “All-American Bitch”
- “Expectations”
This also resolved the unusual placement of “Deja Vu” earlier in the concert.
The song had first appeared as a video interlude, but Rodrigo performed it live during the encore.
The result was a circular structure: spring opened the show, the production moved through summer, autumn and winter, and then the concert returned to spring.
The Complete Opening-Night Setlist
The Hartford performance featured 23 Olivia Rodrigo songs, plus the birthday-song moment for her mother.
“Deja Vu” appeared both as a video interlude and later as a live encore performance, but it is counted only once among the 23 distinct Rodrigo songs.
Spring
- “drop dead”
- “u + me = <3”
- “so american”
- “good 4 u”
- “deja vu” — video interlude
Summer
- “my way”
- “serena joy”
- “bad idea right?”
- “ballad of a homeschooled girl”
Summer Twilight
- “vampire”
- “purple”
Autumn
- “stupid song”
- “maggots for brains”
- “traitor”
- “begged”
- “cigarette smoke”
Winter
- “honeybee”
- “Happy Birthday to You” — sung to Rodrigo’s mother
- “favorite crime”
- “drivers license”
- “less”
- “The Cure”
Encore / Spring
- “Deja Vu”
- “All-American Bitch”
- “Expectations”
All Three Olivia Rodrigo Albums Get a Place in the Show
The Unraveled Tour is not simply a promotional tour for Rodrigo’s latest album.
The Hartford set draws from all three of her studio albums:
- SOUR (2021)
- GUTS (2023)
- you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (2026)
Rodrigo’s third studio album was released in June 2026.
The new record is heavily represented through songs including “drop dead,” “serena joy,” “maggots for brains,” “begged” and “The Cure,” but those tracks share the stage with songs that helped establish Rodrigo’s earlier career.
Ticketmaster’s artist information confirms that “drop dead” became the lead single from the new album and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Unraveled Tour Has 86 Shows Across North America and Europe
The tour is considerably larger than a standard promotional run.
It currently contains 86 dates across North America and Europe, beginning in Hartford on September 25, 2026, and ending in London on May 10, 2027.
After Hartford, Rodrigo continues through cities including Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Chicago, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Columbus, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando, Sunrise, Nashville, Vancouver, Seattle, Oakland, Sacramento and Las Vegas.
The North American schedule extends into February 2027, with the final North American shows taking place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
The European leg begins in March with Stockholm and Amsterdam, followed by dates in Munich, London, Paris, Milan and Barcelona.
The current schedule includes 10 nights at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, and 10 nights at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, followed by an extended run at London’s O2 Arena.
The support acts rotate throughout the tour and include Wolf Alice, Devon Again, The Last Dinner Party, Grace Ives and Die Spitz.
What Comes Next After the Hartford Opening?
The Unraveled Tour continues with Rodrigo’s second Hartford performance on September 26 before moving to Pittsburgh for two shows on September 29 and 30.
The wider tour will continue across North America through 2026 and into February 2027 before crossing the Atlantic.
The opening night has already established the production’s central language: flowers give way to changing seasons, the stage gradually transforms, Rodrigo moves between all three albums, and the emotional winter chapter builds toward “The Cure” and its artificial rainstorm.
The concert ultimately ends where it began — in spring.
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Conclusion
Olivia Rodrigo’s Unraveled Tour opening night in Hartford was built around more than a collection of songs. The 86-date tour launched with a flower-filled garden, moved through five seasonal stages, revisited some of Rodrigo’s biggest career moments and culminated in an artificial rainstorm during “The Cure.”
“Drivers License” delivered the major audience singalong, Rodrigo marked her mother’s birthday with “Happy Birthday to You,” and the encore brought the production back to spring with “Deja Vu,” “All-American Bitch” and “Expectations.”
With all three albums represented and the tour scheduled across North America and Europe through May 2027, the Hartford performance established the visual and emotional blueprint for the Unraveled era.
Source disclaimer: This article has been prepared based on thorough research of the sources provided with the supplied material, including Variety, Ticketmaster, Olivia Rodrigo’s official tour information, Live Nation, the National Weather Service, Pollstar and Billboard. The article reflects the information available from those sources and the documented opening-night material provided above. Setlists, staging and performance details may change during the tour.
Sources
- Variety — Olivia Rodrigo Launches Her ‘Unraveled’ Tour in Connecticut
- Ticketmaster — Olivia Rodrigo Tour Dates and Opening-Night Setlist
- Olivia Rodrigo — Official Tour Dates
- Live Nation — Olivia Rodrigo: The Unraveled Tour
- Ticketmaster — The Unraveled Tour Setlist and Tour Information
- National Weather Service — Hartford Weather and Wind Advisory, Sept. 25, 2026
- Pollstar — Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Unraveled’ Stretches To 86 Dates
- Billboard — Olivia Rodrigo’s Unraveled Tour Setlist
Featured Image Credit: Instagram @oliviarodrigo
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