Why Taylor Swift’s bestie Gracie Abrams stopped Aussie show
Rising pop star Gracie Abrams has delivered a masterclass in how to deal with a crowd safety emergency during her first Aussie tour.
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Taylor Swift bestie and Eras tour opener Gracie Abrams has confirmed her future superstar status with sold-out shows on her first Australian tour.
Just as Swifties camp out ahead of her stadium shows, so Abrams’ fans queued for hours before gates opened for her gigs in Brisbane and Sydney this week.
Extra shows were added and some shows moved to bigger venues to meet the huge demand from her mostly young female audience.
Abrams and Swift share The National’s Aaron Dessner as a songwriting and production collaborator; he was instrumental in helping the 24-year-old artist find her sound on debut record Good Riddance which was released last February.
She has enjoyed a clutch of gold and platinum singles in Australia, starting with the 2019 breakout song Stay and 2020’s I Miss You, I’m Sorry.
From the moment she took the stage in Sydney on Thursday, the screams were deafening and the crowd singalong threatened to drown out Abrams’ vocals, a sure-fire signal that she is a star on the rise.
“I can’t get my head around that f..., this is happening,” she told the young fans, many of whom were crying for most of the show.
Abrams has more of an altrock and indie pop edge to her music, with songs including opener Where Do We Go Now? and Mess It Up plucked from the 90s music time capsule.
Clearly matchfit as a performer after the invaluable apprenticeship of opening for her friend Swift in front of tens of thousands of fans during the North American leg of the Eras tour last year, Abrams naturally employs those tricks of the trade which strike a connection with her audience.
She pointed out individuals singing the loudest or overwhelmed with all their feels – a signature move for John Farnham at every show – threw heart shapes as their voices swelled and did plenty of in-between chats to break up the set.
Abrams also delivered a masterclass in how to deal with a crowd safety emergency, stopping the show during Amelie and calmly asking people to make way for staff to attend to overwrought or overheated fans who had fainted.
After the Australian tour wraps in Melbourne on Monday, the daughter of Star Wars director J.J. Abrams and film producer Katie McGrath heads back to the US for the Grammy Awards on February 5 where she is up for the coveted Best New Artist.
No doubt she will be hanging out with Swift, who is up for six awards at the 2024 Grammys.
“I talked to Taylor and we were just screaming at each other over text like, lots of all-caps: Holy f – king s – t,” Abrams told Billboard when the nominations were announced in November.
“We were just screaming at each other over text like, lots of all-caps: Holy f...ing shit,” she said. “And obviously she just deserves all of it, all of it, all of it. In moments of career celebration or any personal crisis, I text her, so to be able to celebrate this one mutually felt so wild.”
“In moments of career celebration or any personal crisis, I text her, so to be able to celebrate this one mutually felt so wild.”
Abrams is nominated for Best New Artist alongside her friend, Stick Season chart star Noah Kahan, who is also touring Australia right now to sold-out crowds.
She plays a second show at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Friday before heading to Melbourne’s The Forum on Sunday and Monday.
Gracie Abrams setlist – Hordern Pavilion, January 18.
1. Where Do We Go Now?
2. This Is What the Drugs Are For
3. 21
4. Block Me Out
5. I Should Hate You
6. Friend
7. I Know It Won’t Work
8. Full Machine
9. Amelie
10. Rockland / Will You Cry?
11. Difficult
12. Camden
13. Fault Line
14. The Blue
15. Best
16. Feels Like
17. In Between
18. Mess It Up
19. minor
20. I Miss You, I’m Sorry
21. Right Now
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Originally published as Why Taylor Swift’s bestie Gracie Abrams stopped Aussie show
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