On October 20th, Sabrina Carpenter took over Hard Rock Live, a venue located in the heart of Universal’s CityWalk in Orlando, FL. Though Sabrina admits to ignoring tornado warnings (in the lyrics of the song appropriately titled ‘Tornado Warnings’), she and her team took the Hurricane Ian warnings seriously, and rescheduled the Emails I Can’t Send tour date until after the storm had passed. The Orlando date ended up being the final stop of the tour, due to the rescheduling of the show.
Upon entering the venue, the energy was palpable. The audience consisted of mainly younger women, many dressed in themed outfits and holding plastic forks (a reference to Sabrina’s track ‘how many things’, which opens with a line about how forks are a reminder of a past relationship because he ‘used a fork once’). The pre show playlist was filled with great tracks from artists like The Strokes, Vulfpeck, and Mac Miller. Closer to when Sabrina came onstage, the audience bonded to Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’, the ten minute version, of course.
A large light up heart sat center stage, and the lights come up to show Sabrina sitting at a piano. She opens with ‘emails i can’t send’, an emotional piano ballad that serves as the album opener as well. She immediately breaks into ‘bet u wanna’, not allowing the audience to wallow in their emotions for too long. She’s wearing large, chunky heels (think: bratz doll), but she dances and struts about the stage with ease. The teenage girls around me hang onto her every word, screaming along passionately to each lyric.
While the majority of Sabrina Carpenter’s songs are fun and upbeat, there are a few stripped back moments throughout the set. The stand out moment happens towards the middle of the set, when she and her guitarist sit down at the front of the stage. She prefaces the song by saying that it was one that she wrote when she was very young, and that it was from her first album. She then gives a heartwarming performance of ‘Can’t Blame A Girl For Trying’, and fans sing at the top of their lungs. It’s a sweet, nostalgic moment, and almost feels full circle.
To determine which cover song she should play, she asks the audience for any juicy gossip. After choosing a fan to tell her story, Sabrina asks what kind of vibe she wants. The fan chooses the “screw you” option, leading Sabrina to play Jazmine Sullivan’s ‘Bust Your Windows’. It’s the perfect choice for the setlist, and she absolutely kills it.
The final encore track is, of course, ‘because i liked a boy’. Sabrina prefaces the song by expressing her gratitude for her fans, and explains that this song was written during a very dark time. While she was part of some very public celebrity drama, it’s evident that the rumors and gossip no longer phase her. The performance is almost cathartic, the room almost shakes as fans sing along with all of their power. It’s a track that really resonated with a lot of the audience, and it’s the perfect track to end the concert. As fans are getting ready to leave, a flurry of red heart shaped balloons rain down from the ceiling. It’s a visual representation of the environment Sabrina created for her audience: nothing in the room except self love and acceptance.
