Olivia Rodrigo fans wait hours for concert in Kansas City

Paige DeWeerdt, Samantha Fitch, Harper Heston and Lauren Tetzlaff woke up at 2 a.m. on Friday with one goal: to be front row at Olivia Rodrigo’s sold-out show at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

After a three-hour drive from Des Moines, Iowa, the group had no idea how many people would be in line for general admission.

They just knew they would have to be almost first in line, so they woke up before sunrise at a nearby hotel they had booked and planned to wait outside the venue, hoping to be first.

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They hadn’t been so lucky when they saw Rodrigo in Chicago during her 2022 tour, so they were willing to do whatever it took to secure the No. 1 spot at the Oak Street entrance.

For DeWeerdt, Fitch and Heston, this is their first girls’ trip as adults, months after graduating from high school. Fitch and Heston will join Tetzlaff at the University of Iowa this fall, while DeWeerdt will attend Iowa State University.

Armed with bags full of snacks, energy drinks and makeup to complete their outfits, the group risked a ticket from T-Mobile Center security to get in first, but they got the job done.

“We didn’t expect to be first in line,” DeWeerdt said. “We thought, let’s just get there early because we want a good spot.”

The story is similar for thousands of Rodrigo fans in Kansas City for the GUTS world tour. Fans traveled from all over North America to see the pop superstar perform.

The arena gates didn’t open until 5 p.m. for VIP guests, including the Des Moines group. Still, fans waited in line all day Friday to visit the bus experience or the merchandise line on Grand Boulevard.

Fans reported lining up at 10 a.m. to board Rodrigo’s bus, which is decorated with themed items for her two albums, “SOUR” and “GUTS.”

Long journeys

Claudia Ramos drove 17 hours from Kansas City to visit family in Chihuahua, Mexico, and drove back with very excited nephews.

She doesn’t know much about Rodrigo, but she’s ready to see the excitement on her cousin’s faces. They’ve spent the last six months planning the trip, exchanging friendship bracelets with other fans in line on Friday afternoon.

Ramos isn’t the only adult excited to see his younger family members in concert. Many parents, like Chris May, a broadcaster from Little Rock, Arkansas, remember how excited he was as a kid to go to Grateful Dead concerts with his parents. Now he feels like he’s passing the torch to his daughter, 15-year-old Mary Evelyn May.

“I feel like I’ve passed that gene on to my daughter, and now she’s made friends with people who like the same thing,” he said. “They love live music, they love the experience and don’t mind waiting in line to be up close to experience it.”

May drove for six hours with his daughter and her friend, a 15-year-old Emma Duncan, for the show. Kansas City was the closest destination to where they lived.

Last year they saw Taylor Swift in Nashville for her birthday and he said it’s great for his daughter and many other young women to get in line early and be in the crowd so they can see female artists like Rodrigo.

Family traditions

The concert could mean the end of summer plans for many of the children in the building. Schools will reopen in August, and they will have an experience to share with their friends and classmates the next time they see them.

Every summer, before her children go back to school, Jondelyn Catlette of Oxford, Mississippi, takes her daughter, 12-year-old Iris, to a concert.

They saw Lizzo in 2022, Taylor Swift in 2023, and now it’s Rodrigo who’s closing out the family’s summer. It’s a mother-daughter tradition, as Catlette has two other children at home.

The eight-hour drive was close enough for Catlette to make with Iris and one of her friends, 12-year-old Clark Brimm. The friends spent hours making friendship bracelets with song titles from some of Rodrigo’s biggest hits, like “Deja Vu” and “Bad Idea, Right?”

Iris wants to hear “Can’t Catch Me Now,” the song Rodrigo wrote for the film adaptation of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes.”

The practice of exchanging friendship bracelets continued throughout the line. Jennifer Hendricks’ daughter, 14-year-old Parsons Hendricks of Lee’s Summit, befriended 15-year-old Anna Schuler of St. Louis while waiting for bus photo ops.

Family and friends braved the soaring temperatures and created countless memories before the show started.

Some formed groups with people they had never met before. While some went to restaurants in the Power & Light District, others in the group held their place in line.