When news broke Thursday (Aug. 6) morning that Olivia Rodrigo was playing Brooklyn’s Warsaw — a ballroom-style punk venue nestled in Greenpoint with a capacity of about 1,100 — that very evening, it took less than 30 minutes for the line to start winding around the block as fans biked, Uber-ed and quite literally ran to get in line for tickets, which had to be purchased IRL at the box office. While the venue has played host to plenty of musical legends (Jack White, L7, Stiff Little Fingers, the Prophets of Rage supergroup) over the years, it’s not often a pop star in the midst of their imperial phase performs a one-off underplay like this. (Sam Smith did play Warsaw last winter, but fans had 24 nights to catch them during their residency.)
The hourlong wait for tickets in the brutal 80-some-degree heat was beyond worth it. Ahead of her Unraveled Tour kickoff in Hartford, Conn., on Sept. 25, Rodrigo and her band ripped through 15 songs in 62 sweaty, breathtaking minutes, delivering three of her four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s (“Good 4 U,” “Drop Dead” and “drivers license”) and nine of the 13 songs from You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, her latest (and perhaps best so far) album, which topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks.
“Thank you for coming, thank you for waiting in the heat,” Rodrigo told the packed crowd at the top of her set, which opened with a one-two punch of “Drop Dead” and “u + me = <3” and wrapped with a “déjà vu” singalong.
Here are five standout moments from the three-time Grammy winner’s intimate, hard-rocking Warsaw show.
-
Playing Favorites
Rodrigo introduced the hushed, self-lacerating “The Cure” as her “favorite” song on her new album – a pick that we couldn’t agree with more, given our editorial staff named it the best song of 2026 so far in a recent midyear list.
Aside from revealing new depths to Rodrigo’s songwriting, “The Cure” in concert showed off new shades of her voice – strong and commanding yet vulnerable and pained. A standout on the album, “The Cure” was arguably the highlight of the show, with the crowd watching her in hushed, rapt silence. – Joe Lynch
-
A Deep Cut in Brooklyn
Rodrigo announced that she wanted to perform a deep cut she doesn’t usually sing live, prompting audible gasps from the audience as everyone tried to guess what was coming next. “I was singing this myself, and it’s important to ‘The Cure’,” she said before revealing the song: “Making the Bed.” The moment felt deeply emotional from the start.
“Making The Bed” was released off of her 2023 hit album GUTS. As Rodrigo started to play the piano, the entire room in Greenpoint sang softly along with her, knowing every word. Many fans were very surprised by the unexpected song choice, making the intimate performance even more special. –Kristen Wisneski
-
Buzz Cut
Before performing “Honeybee,” Olivia shared a few words about the song, explaining that it was inspired by the 1999 romcom Notting Hill and holds a special place in her heart. She recalled writing it unusually quickly and said hearing the finished track for the first time brought her to tears because it so perfectly reflected how she was feeling in that moment.
For the Brooklyn pop-up, the performance featured a more understated arrangement, letting the song’s heartfelt lyrics shine while the audience’s voices naturally became part of the performance.
As Olivia delivered the verses, the venue fell nearly silent, with the audience absorbing every lyric before breaking into a powerful singalong on the chorus. The shared moment underscored the song’s emotional resonance and quickly became one of the evening’s standout performances. – K.W.
-
The Right ‘Idea’
Rodrigo’s unabashed ode to bad romantic decision-making was probably the hard-rocking highlight in a night full of them (though “Good 4 U” and “Expectations” were killer, too). “Bad Idea Right?” is just delirious pop-punk fun, and in a venue like Warsaw that’s hosted countless punk artists over the years, it felt like a perfect fit – and had the audience pogo jumping like the intimate Greenpoint venue was Warped Tour for a minute. – J.L.
-
‘Stupid’ Good
“This next song is from my new album,” Rodrigo said prior to the third song in her setlist. “I wrote it in New York — it’s sort of about liking someone so much it makes you kind of go insane. We’ve all been there, right?” she asked, to which the crowd roared agreement. As she began playing “Stupid Song,” it was abundantly clear that Rodrigo and her band are ready for that tour, segueing between soft, subdued moments and anthemic choruses in musical lockstep.
“New York City’s never looked so blue” is the first lyric in the song, and as the audience filtered out into the NYC night over an hour later, the sky, fittingly, was glowing a dark hue of blue. – J.L.