As I said earlier, American Express is at the top of the list of brands that understand musicians. This means being able to work with artists, including organizing the right type of events to showcase their strengths.
Monday night (October 9) in Los Angeles was a perfect example of this. Am Ex presented Olivia Rodrigo in what was, by her standards, an intimate performance at the Ace Hotel Theater. The show was the perfect format for Rodrigo. She and producer Dan Nigro (who worked with Rodrigo on both Sour And GUTS) did a show on VH-1 Storytellers now (Bruce) Springsteen on Broadway format, playing songs from the new album and telling the stories behind each song.
This format was so effective for the duo because of the ease and comfort between the couple and Rodrigo’s absolute charm as a storyteller. Taking the stage to a deafening roar just after 8, Rodrigo launched right into the booming song “Vampire” with the crowd screaming the chorus of “Bloodsucker, famous bastard, bleed like a damn vampire” with the fervor of 20,000 fans.
She then took on the role of host, introducing her “friend/associate” Dan. She noted that this was the first time they had played many of the GUTS live tracks. And Nigro joked, showing the ease between them: “We’ll tell you stories that will make Olivia very, very uncomfortable.”
“We picked up a lot of fun, interesting and weird facts along the way,” she said. “I hope Dan doesn’t embarrass me too much.”
Among the early tidbits was that Rodrigo was in college at the University of Southern California, where she studied poetry, which led to the song “Lacy.” They then spent the next seven minutes chatting casually about when they first met, how they started working together and more, leading to a rocking version of “Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl” that brought the crowd to their feet.
One thing Rodrigo excels at is conveying the angst of youth and alienation in his lyrics, which is why the crowd also had fun screaming along to the “It’s Social Suicide” bit. She is a gifted songwriter, and the ability to tap into those feelings is one of the true, time-honored traditions of great rock/pop songwriting.
From Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” The Who’s “My Generation” and Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen” to Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” and My Chemical Romance’s “I’m Not Ok (I Promise),” the annals of rock are filled with great youth anthems. And that’s a special gift for those who can do it sincerely, and Rodrigo certainly has that skill set.
She has a singer-songwriter mentality at heart. And Am Ex gave her the space and format to show everyone her side.
The show is currently on her YouTube channel.
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