Gracie Abrams
By Maiya Tomlin
In early September, my friend, Cate Turner, and I decided we would join our friend Ariana Lotfi in attending the Gracie Abrams concert at the Coca-Cola Roxy. We had to convince our parents to let us go out on a school night, of course.
The Coca-Cola Roxy, located in the Battery, is split into general admission and reserved seating. Our tickets were located in general admission, aka the “pit.” Lots of people planned on camping out for most of the day in order to be located in the front.
One of these people was Ariana. “I left school around 11 am, got ready at home, and got ready in line at around 12 pm, ready to camp out in the long line,” she said.
As for Cate and me, we agreed that missing another period of chem did not seem like a good idea, so we powered through the rest of the day and booked it to the Battery after school.
We found Ariana sitting in line doing her pre-calc test review packet. “Believe it or not, I fit my French review packet in here too,” she said, while lifting up a tiny clear bag.
(The Coca-Cola Roxy only allows tiny clear bags, FYI, coming from someone who almost got her bag taken at security.)
Ariana has previous concert “camping out” experience. Last summer she camped out for 12 hours at the Eras Tour in Germany. She told us she picked up a few tips and tricks there. One: bring a portable tent, which she was rolling up when we arrived. “It protected my outfit from the rain this morning,” she said proudly.
Freshman Cece Cruz, an attendee of all three popular concerts last week, joined the line at normal time. “I personally don’t see the appeal of camping out unless you’re at the very front of the line because then you just get stuck in the middle of the crowd once you get in the venue,” she told me.
Cece also told me she has seen Gracie live before, when she opened for Taylor Swift in 2023, so it’s understandable why she did not feel the need to camp out for hours.
Apart from Gracie, Cece told me she’s been to the Roxy one other time to see a band called Two Door Cinema Club. “I was ‘barricade’ for that show and it was amazing being that close to the stage,” she said.
When we got into the venue, we were pretty close to the front (as seen in the photo). Despite the few tall people in front of us, we had a good view. Cate also offered to squeeze out of the pit and grab us merch while Ariana and I held our spots.
Gracie recently came out with an album last summer called The Secret of Us (hence the tour’s name), but Gracie did play a few older songs, such as 21 or Full Machine. Cece told me her favorite album besides The Secret of Us is Good Riddance. “It was one of the first albums I got on vinyl,” she said.
Gracie played a total of 21 songs, including surprise song, Difficult, which Ariana claims she predicted. “Gracie switched between piano, guitar, and just singing, so it was fun to see a variety,” Cate told me as we exited.
We were out of the Roxy by 11 pm, thankfully, so I could go home and study for my French test the next morning.
After talking to Cece about the first of three concerts she attended that week, I asked her the question we were all wondering: “How did your parents let you go to all three?”
To which she responded: “Honestly they didn’t really care because I’ve been to so many concerts, so they know I can plan accordingly for school the next day.”
Conan Gray
By Eliza Pieschel
On October 4th, Conan Gray performed at Cadence Bank Amphitheater in Chastain Park. This tour follows the release of his third studio album, Found Heaven. My friend and I didn’t realize he was coming until 1 pm the day of, and Ann Reed and I got tickets that were a pretty good price at 4 pm, just three hours before the concert.
After running to Willy’s for dinner before the concert, we missed most of the opener, Maisie Peters. Sophomore Fannie Bradley described her as “a British Sabrina Carpenter.” What I heard of Peters as we were walking into the amphitheater and finding our seats sounded good, so later I looked up the setlist and found the songs on Spotify she had finished up with. The songs, History of Man and Lost the Breakup, are two of her most streamed songs.
With less than an ideal amount of time to prepare for the concert, Ann Reed and I were perhaps less on theme outfits than others. Most people were sporting outfits with black and yellow, given those were the album’s main colors, and some wore outfits with handmade merch featuring the album’s logo, a tear shape with a star in the center.
When Conan Gray came on, Ann Reed and I were still checking out in the merch line, but as soon as we heard everyone cheering and had snagged our sweatshirts, we sprinted back to our seats.
I knew there was going to be a really good mix of fun songs and more emotional ones. The concert started with one of the most upbeat and popular songs from his new album, Fainted Love. Most of the amphitheater knew the words.
The treat of the night was an unreleased song, The Holidays, which Conan Gray described as “a song about growing up in the south,” very fitting for our location. He’d played it in Philadelphia and New York before Atlanta, but since he’d released it so recently, most people didn’t know the lyrics.
Later on, Conan played his most popular song that shot him to fame, Heather. However, the song had an extended outro with the original lyrics that were no longer in the song.
Overall, it was a really fun night, and probably my favorite concert I have been to.
A few days later, I asked Ann Reed for her highlights of the night, and she said she liked getting to hear the unreleased song. She said he was a good performer and enjoyed how he participated with the crowd. She also liked “being able to meet new people and it was a really good group of people.”
Ann Reed would have liked to be in the pit, but it was sold out by the time we were getting tickets. It was still fun to watch Conan Gray interact with fans, like when he pointed out a girl dressed “as him as an apple” and when he had us sing Happy Birthday to a girl named Brooklyn in the most southern accent we could.
As for the stage set up, there was a star in the background comprised of neon lights that changed colors throughout the concert. “The set was cool,” Ann Reed said. “And the lasers and lights were super cool.” She was referring to the beams of light that beamed over the crowd during certain songs.
Overall, we decided that although it was stressful getting tickets late, there was something so fun about being spontaneous. The album itself sounds very 80s and had the same upbeat, very danceable music that made the concert super vibrant and energetic.
Charli XCX
By Mylee Dubin
Though brat summer may have come to an end, Charli XCX’s popularity continues to stay at the front of everyone’s minds.
When Charli’s SWEAT Tour made its way to Atlanta, I knew there would be many mega-fans in attendance. I tracked down one of them to ask about her experience with the concert.
When I sat down with senior Caroline Liu in the cafe, I could tell she was buzzing with excitement to tell me all about the concert that I had heard her talk about for weeks prior to the event.
“I love her,” were the first words Caroline said when I first asked about Charli XCX. “I’m such a big fan of her.”
Caroline got 2 tickets to the SWEAT Tour in May. “My sister bought them for me as an early birthday present because my birthday was the week before the concert,” she said. Since she did not purchase the tickets, she did not know exactly how expensive they were, but she did add, “[My sister] has a big girl salary.”
I asked if she had a general idea of how expensive the tickets were, especially in her section. “I heard from the other people that were in the pit around me around $100-$200, something like that,” she said. Even though they were a bit pricey, Caroline confirmed that she probably would have bought them herself if it weren’t for the generous gift. “I worked a lot this summer, so yes,” she said. “But it was just kind of a nice plus.”
I know whenever I am going to a concert, I have a certain set of expectations, due either to my love for the singer or from what I’ve seen on social media. I asked Caroline how it met hers.
“It absolutely surpassed my expectations,” she raved. “I’ve never been to a concert like that.” Caroline also mentioned that it was her first time experiencing a concert from the pit. “It felt like I was in a different world,” she said. “All of the people around me were so cool and just had the same music taste and we were exchanging Instagrams and phone numbers.”
“It just felt like a big party,” she said. She explained that Charli also has Troye Sivan on tour with her, calling him, “one of the most vocally talented artists I’ve ever seen live, and I go to a lot of live music, so that’s a pretty big deal.” Troye, if you’re reading this, I hope you feel how big of an accomplishment that is, coming from Caroline.
Caroline had mentioned that is was her first time experiencing a concert from the pit. I asked how it was different from being in normal seating. “I loved it!” she exclaimed. “I think the energy is so much more fun in the pit and just everybody’s going crazy and screaming and yelling, which I really like. It just made the experience better to be around a bunch of people that were also huge fans.”
Personally, anytime I go to a concert, I’m always thinking about what the merch is like. I was curious to find out if Caroline approved of the SWEAT Tour merch or not. “Well, the merch was really, really cute,” she said. “I got a T-shirt that said SWEAT Tour on it, and then I bought another one for my little brother because he also likes the album…I got a hat that said SWEAT Tour on it, and then I got a little white tank top that says 365 Party Girl on it.” As she listed out her haul of items, I couldn’t help but be jealous that if I bought that much in merch, it would have surely broken the bank.
As for the general vibe of the concert, she said it was a diverse group of fans who were sporting their full identities. “It was lit, I loved it.” She was glad “there was not a single op in sight, just so many good vibes,” she said. “It was just cool people who love cool music and I don’t know, just a lot of the girls…the girls came out dressed to the nines. It was awesome.”
Now that she mentioned outfits, of course I had to ask about hers. “I was wearing a jean skirt, a black lace top, these alien-looking sunglasses, and boots,” she said. I got to see a few pictures, and I can confidently say she was looking like a 365 party girl.
In any concert, there are songs or performances that top the rest. For Caroline, she told me what songs she thought were the best, performance-wise.
“She has this one song from her album Pop 2 called “Track 10”, which is one of my favorite songs of hers,” she said. “And the first time I listened to it, I just broke down hysterically sobbing. I think it’s one of her best songs.” She also mentioned Charli’s performance of “I love it,” which she described as, “just a classic. Everybody knows it, and the vibes were just super high. I think [it is] arguably one of the best pop songs written in the last decade.”
“And then also my favorite song on the album [brat], which is called “Everything Is Romantic”, was amazing because she just repeats the line, fall in Love again and again,” she added. “And I love that because I’m kind of a romantic and it just makes me so happy. It makes me think of Summer.”
It’s safe to say that this was definitely a concert worth going to, and if she had the opportunity to go to another Charli XCX event, Caroline would say: “Absolutely. I would literally go every single weekend if I could. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to in my life.”
