The eternal sunshine tour kicked off in Oakland, California, at the Oakland Arena on June 6th, and we were there. What a dream come true! We definitely did not take this opportunity for granted. Here’s how our night went as fans attending the opening night of the eternal sunshine tour, including our recommendations for securing a last-minute ticket, our view, and the setlist.
Securing A Ticket
Step one to getting into any concert? Getting a ticket. However, getting your hands on a ticket to the eternal sunshine tour, let alone opening night for face value, is no easy feat. So, how did we get in? Thanks to our delusional (we call it manifestation) selves, we were one of the few lucky fans to get off the waitlist a mere 48 hours before the concert. Due to this, we weren’t able to be too picky with our seat selection. After receiving that coveted “you’re selected!” email from Ticketmaster, we rushed to the app with our credit card in hand to choose our seat. The only option available at the time was an obstructed view in the nosebleeds (read what our view actually looked like further into this article). Any seat with our name on it was one we needed to have! We were so grateful for the opportunity to be able to attend!
So this is your sign to not give up hope! And please, please, don’t give in to resellers charging an extremely high price. Join the waitlist for any of Ariana’s upcoming shows here! Good luck!
Arriving At The Venue
Arriving at the venue took some time, so if you are also attending the tour in Oakland, make sure you leave enough time to get to the venue, take photos outside, stand in line for merch, and wait in the final line to get into the physical building. From the time it took to arrive at the venue to taking pictures outside to getting to our seat was about an hour and a half. If you feel like you may need more time than that, please plan ahead and arrive early! You definitely don’t want to miss Ariana’s opening number of ‘yes, and?’ Note: there is no opening act for this tour.
The Official Concert Look-Book
The most important part! What was everyone at the show wearing? Going to the opening night of a tour is always a toss-up – you never know what fans will decide to wear! If you are still brainstorming your eternal sunshine-themed outfit, here’s a peek at what we saw other fans wearing on opening night. In inspiration of the album cover, many fans sported red and white looks. Whether it was a copycat version of the white babydoll dress and red hand gloves, or it was just a simple red top with a white skirt, most fans followed this theme. If you want to pay homage to a different Ariana moment of the same era, try dressing up as Peaches from the ‘we can’t be friends’ music video! We also saw lots of polka dots, black Mary Janes, red tights, cat ears, black corsets, and, surprisingly, astronaut costumes (R.I.P. ‘NASA,’ you would’ve loved the eternal sunshine tour). Whatever you have in store for your tour date, we’re sure it’s going to be eternally beautiful!
Getting Merch
As with any major artist, getting merch can sometimes be met with long lines and high price tags. Featured on the eternal sunshine tour (and exclusive pop-ups) are hoodies, crewnecks, keychains, baby tees, socks, t-shirts, R.E.M. products, teddy bear keychains, vinyl, hats, gloves, & more! Prices for these items range from $10 to $100, with most fans selecting at least two items. At the venue, you can find merch both outside and inside. The official merch truck was stationed directly outside of the Oakland Arena, with more opportunities for purchase inside the arena, both on the 100s level and the 200s level.
Pro tip! Ariana will be having merch pop-ups in every city on this tour, featuring exclusive pieces that are not for sale inside the venues. Make sure you are following her, her team, and fan pages online to see when the pop-up will be in your city and what the specific address and hours will be. As with any fan event, especially when it comes to Ariana, make sure you line up early and have your wallet ready!
Having An Obstructed View
This is our experience at the Oakland Arena, sitting in section 221, row 9, seat 11.
With an obstructed view seat, the biggest thing to note is that you will be unable to see the front of the set on the mainstage; however, there are giant (and very high-quality) screens that wrap around the sides of the mainstage, allowing for a great screen view for fans in the nosebleeds. These screens stay on the entire duration of the show. During the following songs, we could not see Ariana at all – the opening choreography of ‘yes, and?,’ ‘dandelion,’ ‘imperfect for you,’ ‘warm,’ and the beginning choreography of ‘Into You.’ Considering these were the only songs we missed out on in terms of seeing the choreography and Ariana herself, we call this a win. Thanks to the very long and wide catwalk in the center of the floor, we were able to have a great view of every other song on the setlist.
If you are considering buying an obstructed-view ticket, or already have your hands on one, don’t be discouraged! Once the curtains fall at the top of the show, you’ll be able to see almost everything happening, and it’s likely you’ll even forget about the limited view, because you’ll be having so much fun singing and dancing. We can’t forget about one of the most exciting parts! Two representatives from Ariana’s team chose seven people from our section to be upgraded to floor seats. Although this wasn’t our lucky day, it could be yours! Nosebleeds seats are never a bad option, especially when there is potential for a major free upgrade.
The Setlist
All that to say, yes, the show was fantastic, and seeing Ariana embody her craft so well in a live setting was everything we could have dreamed of. Our top two favorite moments? Hearing those ‘saftey net’ vocals live for the first time and seeing Ari and her guitar player completely smash it during ‘Dangerous Woman.’ Although we could have sat in that arena and heard Ariana sing for three hours, she only sang for an hour and a half (plus some change). Here was every song Ariana sang in Oakland, night one:
- ‘yes, and?’
- ‘positions’
- ‘dandelion’
- ‘the boy is mine’
- ‘Saturns Returns Interlude’
- ‘eternal sunshine’
- ‘just like magic‘
- ‘thank u, next’
- ‘7 rings’
- ‘imperfect for you’
- ‘warm’
- ‘safety net‘
- ‘One Last Time’
- ‘Rain On Me’
- ‘Break Free’
- ‘twilight zone’
- ‘past life’
- ‘Dangerous Woman’
- ‘Honeymoon Avenue’
- ‘Hampstead’
- ‘Into You’
- ‘hate that i made you love me‘
- ‘we can’t be friends (wait for your love)’
- ‘supernatural’
- ‘ordinary things’
What an amazing night we had! What a dream come true! Are you attending the eternal sunshine tour? Tell us which song on the setlist was the biggest surprise for you! Buzz with us in the comments or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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