Olivia Rodrigo walked into downtown Austin Wednesday with a new album, a 16-song set and a room full of fans who had beaten extraordinary odds to see her. Her second Austin City Limits taping mixed glossy pop hooks with grunge, new wave and the kind of emotional whiplash that has become her specialty.
The demand was unmistakable: 64,000 people entered the lottery for the July 29 performance, while only 2,000 received tickets, according to The Austin Chronicle. The finished episode is scheduled to premiere on PBS October 9, giving the taping a second life well beyond the Moody Theater crowd.
This was not merely a greatest-hits cameo. In its official announcement, Austin City Limits described the appearance as Rodrigo’s first full-set performance of you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, five years after her ACL debut as an 18-year-old.
Rodrigo Let The New Record Get Loud
Backed by a 12-piece band made up entirely of women and nonbinary musicians, Rodrigo opened with the sharp-edged “my way” before moving through the new album’s mix of Eighties synths, Nineties grunge attitude and early-2000s emo melodrama. As The Austin Chronicle reported, the set also included the live debut of “stupid song,” along with “drivers license,” “vampire,” “good 4 u” and “bad idea right?”
She saved “the cure” for a late-set emotional pivot, introducing it as a favorite from the new record before turning the song’s melancholy into a sweeping chorus. The performance then snapped back into celebration with “expectations” and a crowd call-and-response on “deja vu,” a tidy reminder that Rodrigo can make heartbreak sound both theatrical and extremely fun.
A Major Austin Tapings Moment For Season 52
The official ACL announcement says Season 52 will be the first in the series’ history to feature full-hour episodes devoted to individual artists, making Rodrigo’s performance more than a quick television segment. For Austin, the taping landed as a particularly loud showcase for the city’s enduring role as a place where pop stars still have to prove themselves in a room full of live-music skeptics.
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