Sabrina Carpenter is currently on her Short n’ Sweet tour across America following the release of her new album by the same name. She performed in Tampa on October 25th and I had the pleasure to attend. Although I was in the nosebleeds, the concert was still an exhilarating experience.
Carpenter played all 12 songs off of her recent album “Short n’ Sweet,” along with sprinkling in 8 fan favorites from her previous release “emails i can’t send fwd:.” There is also a segment near the middle of the show where she spins a bottle and sings a notable song from pop culture. My song was Madonna’s “Material Girl.” I enjoyed dancing along with my family to a song we all already knew. My personal favorite songs and performances were “Juno” and “Coincidence”. Not only were these my favorites before the concert, but she also incorporated fan participation which is always fun. The opener was a smaller artist named Griff. She played some of her own tracks along with a cover of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” I liked the opener and felt that her girly upbeat songs paired well with Sabrina’s style of music. The total concert was around 2 hours long which is relatively common and didn’t feel too long or too short.
The stage set was crafted to resemble a 1950s penthouse. Additionally, she has prerecorded transition videos and faux commercials to contribute to the retro vibe of the entire concert. All of these set choices perfectly matched the theme of her new album and the music videos she has already released for her newest album. Her costumes were not exactly vintage but still very cute and eye-catching. She changes the colors of her attire each night so it’s fun for the fans to guess what outfits and accessories she’s going to wear each night. The yellow bodysuit she wore at my concert fit well with her bubbly image.
Her performance was incredibly entertaining and upbeat. The lively choreography not only made me want to dance, but got the whole crowd dancing along as well. The amount of fan interaction was by far my favorite aspect of the show though. Between almost every other song she talks to the crowd and has little comments specific to the city you’re in which makes the concert feel deeply personal. Before her song “Coincidence” she has the crowd shouting the background vocals as a competition between the different sides of the arena. Before her song “Juno” she pretends to flirt with a member of the crowd and gives them handcuffs as a surveyor. During the same song she does a different pose on a platform each night before rising up in the air and encouraging the crowd to dance with her. The pose is another fun game for the fans to guess what she’s going to do that night.
The only gripe I had with my night was the view I had. Although her set was pretty large, It was difficult to see her performance unless she was on the extended part of the stage. She’s a smaller girl so having to watch her from a couple hundred feet in the air doesn’t help. Although they did have a large screen displaying her performance which is where I mainly watched the show.
All in all, this was an extraordinary concert that I would definitely recommend to fans of fun and girly pop music.
