Gracie Abrams’ Australian tour inspires Taylor Swift-like fervour in patient, passionate fans
Fans in Brisbane lined up for 48hrs prior to Gracie Abrams’ show, her pop pedigree emboldened by her friendship with the most popular performer in the world today.
When Gracie Abrams took to the stage at 9.30pm on Monday, she was met with the sort of pent-up, ebullient, roof-raising roar that all performers dream of receiving, from reigning pop queen Taylor Swift down to today’s up-and-comers.
At Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall, a capacity crowd was in thrall to Abrams’s every look, shimmy, wave, air-kiss and note sung, as the 24-year-old pop singer-songwriter from Los Angeles performed the first show of her Australian tour.
But it was the signage and detritus outside the concert venue that truly told the story of an artist who inspires rare devotion and impressive patience in her young audience.
“Camping prohibited” read the bold letters printed onto A4 pages affixed to the glass doors of the theatre, in a fruitless effort to discourage the extraordinary scenes that had taken place on the surrounding streets of the city’s nightclub district in the days leading up to showtime.
No tents were in sight, but a dozen or so camping chairs had been stacked near the entrance, and scattered underfoot were coloured Uno playing cards – the sort of game you might play with your friends if you’ve elected to spend up to two whole days on a busy inner-city mall while waiting to be first in line to run to the front-of-stage barrier.
It helped that this particular tour began in the final week of Queensland’s school holidays, for the vast majority of the 3000 or so attendees at this sold-out show were teenage girls, plenty of whom had begun staking out their turf days in advance.
But Abrams’s pop pedigree has been emboldened by her friendship with the most popular performer in the world today, Taylor Swift. Both trade in the mode of confessional, true-to-life songwriting, but each have distinctive voices; evidently, both create music to which listeners worldwide feel deeply and personally connected.
Last year, Abrams played about 30 dates as a support act on Swift’s record-breaking The Eras Tour, with more to come later this year; Swift, meanwhile, touches down in Australia next month, to be supported by pop singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter at five outdoor concerts held in Melbourne and Sydney.
Ahead of Abrams’s second show in Brisbane, Secret Sounds Venues head of bookings Mark Gibbons said his team was “essentially managing a line for kids who were coming to not one, but two Gracie shows on Monday and Tuesday, for at least 48 hours prior – which is incredible.”
According to Gibbons, the multi-day queue of fans numbered “in the low hundreds”. “It speaks to the level of act that came through the venue,” he said.
“I’m really thrilled that kids are taking this stuff to the next level, in a way,” said Gibbons. “It’s proper fan stuff, and you see it with Taylor Swift – but it’s really great to see it come through into some of the more up-and-coming, developmental pop names that are coming out. People are really engaging with live music; it’s not about Spotify and recorded stuff – it’s really getting a feel for an artist based on a live experience.”
As a vocalist, Abrams alternates between softly-sung, confessional phrasing and defiant exclamations. On Monday night, the crowd echoed her every word and intonation, having evidently studied these pop songs with fervour.
Touring in support of her debut album – titled Good Riddance, issued in June last year by Interscope Records – the release contains 16 songs that narrate the end of a fractured relationship and all the confusion, frustration and longing that come with it.
On a mid-album track arranged around a loping acoustic guitar phrase and gentle electronic percussion, she plaintively sings: “When you talk, you get shallow / Where I’ll walk, you don’t follow / When I scream, you’re my echo / Will you cry if I let go?”
Accompanied by a three-piece band on guitar, keys and drums, it took 15 minutes for the main attraction to address the audience.
When she spoke, it was with the disbelief of someone who has travelled around the world to find thousands of people willing to put their lives on hold just to be in her presence for 90 or so minutes.
On her first visit to Australia, Abrams is clearly an artist in demand. Her six-date tour swiftly reached capacity, selling about 21,000 tickets in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
With general admission tickets priced at $80 and limited “VIP early entry” packages at $180, it’s an easy $2m-plus gross for the performer and her promoter, Frontier Touring, for a week spent in Australia.
Since emerging with her debut single in 2019, Abrams has turned heads, not least because her father is acclaimed writer, director and producer J.J. Abrams – who created TV hits Alias and Lost and captained the latest Star Trek and Star Wars films.
At 24, Abrams’s global audience now exceeds 10m monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and the US record industry is paying attention, too: Abrams was recently nominated for best new artist at the Grammy Awards next month.
But it’s her Australian tour schedule that tells the story of her work ethic, too: six shows in eight days is the itinerary of an artist hungry to prove herself worthy of matching the hype that surrounds her ascent. After selling out theatre dates, her next tour to our shores will likely move onto much bigger arenas.
In the meantime, for her remaining Australian dates, venue managers have learned from the extraordinary events in the lead-up to the first concert and begun distributing strongly-worded messages for Abrams’s ardent fans on social media.
“Overnight queuing and camping for all events is strictly prohibited,” read a note posted to the Facebook page of Sydney venue the Hordern Pavilion. “Patrons are encouraged not to line up more than a few hours before doors open (7.30pm). Queuing spaces are unsheltered […] All fan-made numbering systems will not be honoured for this event.”
On the website of Melbourne venue The Forum, meanwhile, managers posted a notice: “We do not recommend queuing at the venue before 9am on Sunday 21 January.”
Gracie Abrams’s Good Riddance tour continues in Brisbane (Tuesday January 16), followed by Sydney (Thursday 18 and Friday 19) and ending in Melbourne (Sunday January 21 and Monday January 22 2024).
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