The announcement dropped on a pulverizingly humid Thursday afternoon in New York City: just a few hours later, an Olivia Rodrigo surprise gig would take place at Brooklyn’s intimate, 1,100-capacity venue Warsaw. The expected mad dash for tickets — only available at the venue’s box office — ensued, with fans lining up in heat that was technically 91 degrees but with a “real feel” of 105. But of course, the venue was packed long before the 8 p.m. showtime, even though it was just as hot inside.
Rodrigo, clad in a red flowered schoolgirl dress and black go-go boots, dove in at the deep end, starting the set ambitiously with the album’s first single, “Drop Dead” — a challenging song to sing, with its upper-register chorus that offers few opportunities to take a breath — but she pulled it off with ease. “We’re going to be playing a lot of songs from my new album for this first time,” she said, and promptly obliged with three more tracks from “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” concluding with the Wet Leg-esque “My Way.”
Her five-piece band was razor-sharp — they’ve played a number of concerts this year, from the Primavera Festival in Spain and “Saturday Night Live” to a surprise cameo with the Smashing Pumpkins at Lollapalooza last weekend — but apart from an “Austin City Limits” taping last weekend, this was indeed the first time most of the eight new songs have been performed for a concert audience.
