Ariana Grande’s tour shines with surprisingly emotional cracks in her popstar armour

Ariana Grande has been seemingly unavoidable recently, with endless discourse surrounding her personal life rather than her music.

So when I arrived at the O2 for her Eternal Sunshine tour opening night, I was anticipating a more timid, reserved singer.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Far from those early show wobbles – caught in 4K by fans on her US leg of the tour – she was cool, collected, and surprisingly vulnerable.

Before Ariana, 33, was even revealed, fans were screaming as she posed behind a curtain with her dancers. Every time her ponytailed silhouette moved, a huge cacophony erupted (although that may have just been the excitable megafan screeching behind me).

Finally, after a 10-minute countdown and an intro film, the curtain fell and there she was in all her five-foot glory. I was immediately in awe.

Despite Yes, And? being one of the weaker songs off Eternal Sunshine, it made complete sense to open the show with the number.

It was her last big single before Petal, even if some people were more concerned about dissecting her dating life when it dropped than the song itself.

It’s an easy crowd pleaser without bringing out anything too nostalgic too early on. She then switched things up and gave us Positions – a timeless bop.

The set hopped effortlessly between her upbeat tracks, complete with dance breaks in dizzying high heels, and her slower emotional numbers.

She’d divided the show into five acts, each with a high-concept interlude, which were a nod to the Jim Carrey film the tour is named after.

Each interlude video paints a scene of Ariana travelling through her own mind as memories are wiped clean, relieving her from any pain in the past.

It was particularly gut-wrenching to see the One Love Manchester version of herself sat in a clinical chair being erased. With the clear bag rule in place at the O2, the events of May 22, 2017, felt incredibly close to home.

In these snippets, Ariana’s state of mind is on full display, possibly more than she ever intended it to be.

Most casual fans are probably not thinking twice about the narrative arc and just waiting for her next chart topper to come on. She, of course, obliges but after her announcement that she’s stepping back following her final London date, it’s hard not to think about the mental health elephant in the room.

Despite the shattered mirrors and flood imagery, the songs themselves never get too melancholy. The setlist weaves through slow moments and fan favourites without missing a beat.

I knew her voice would never be in question but some of the notes she hit left me picking my jaw up from the floor.

For London’s first show, she pulled out all the stops and gave us the famed Break Free opt up, where she sings in a higher note. I had full-body chills.

In Dangerous Woman, she was playing with her vocals, giving us some of the absolute belters she’s become so known for. Glinda’s impact clearly hasn’t gone completely.

Thank U Next got one of the biggest cheers of the evening as Ariana sang ‘Wrote some songs about Ricky, we always found our way back’.

It’s her first show since going Instagram official with ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez and she couldn’t help but laugh at the changed lyric and fans’ obvious enthusiasm for the romance.

Moments like this are what make Ariana so endearing; whether she’s giggling with her dancers or blowing kisses to the crowd, it all feels deeply authentic.

Sometimes gigs at that level of production can feel cold, as if the star is going through the motions and just performing the routines without any emotion behind it.

There’s a warmth that exudes from Ariana, especially as she sat down at the end of her catwalk to introduce Hampstead – a favourite for London fans.

She explained how there’s a pub in Hampstead that she loves to visit, unfortunately, the rumoured venue doesn’t seem to have got the memo and has apparently shut for renovations for the whole time she’s here.

Maybe that’s why her rendition of the track felt so emotional, with Ariana appearing to tear up at one point, telling fans ‘you’re going to make me cry’.

It’s no surprise Viagogo reported that the search for tickets was enough to fill the O2 Arena 50 times over. This was one tour fans were determined not to miss, even travelling from as far as New Zealand.

Never one to stay down for too long, she quickly brought the mood back up with Into You – an all timer from her discography.

Here, in the final act, she brought in some of her new music and it’s the perfect way to end the show.

After two hours of her showing off her vocal acrobatics, Petal is a much more restrained album, possibly in an attempt to distance herself from the bubble-wielding witch she’s just played.

If I were being greedy, I would say she should play more than four songs from the record, which I personally think is one of the most interesting in her discography.

However, judging by online discourse, I may be alone in that. Frankly, I would listen to Ariana sing the dictionary.

Her choices of Hate That I Made You Love Me, Bunny Hop, Kiss Me and Petal made complete sense for wrapping up the show on a high.

By the end, I was sad to see her leave the stage, which she did by floating upwards into the ceiling, imitating her Eternal Sunshine deluxe album cover.

The last of the great belters, Ariana is an undeniable powerhouse and utterly at home on stage, even if the roar of public opinion off-stage has become ear-splitting.