Sabrina Carpenter live in London: A short n’ sweet treat to 65,000 fans
A cameo from Duran Duran! A pop show for the ages! Sabrina Carpenter's second BST show was unstoppable.
By Richard Burn
It speaks volumes of Sabrina Carpenter‘s rise to superstardom that two nights in Hyde Park – playing to 65,000 fans on each occasion – is now considered the norm for the US star. But this second night at BST Hyde Park was anything but boring. The show was layered with copious amounts of wit, parody and sincerity.
Pre-order issue 023 of Rolling Stone UK with Sabrina Carpenter on the cover here
Set up for success with an all-women BST Hyde Park line-up with the likes of Olivia Dean, Clairo and Rolling Stone UK Future of Music cover star Chloe Qisha, we are in for a Short n’ Sweet treat.
The show opens with the star performing ‘Busy Woman’ and what a busy woman she has been. Jumping straight into new album era (aptly titled Mans Best Friend) Carpenter is keeping her foot on the gas.
Carpenter jokes that the sold out 65,000 strong crowd was a ‘rough turnout’. This humour can be felt across the whole 1 hour and 30-minute set. That’s not to say there were no moments of sincerity or genuine thanks to the many fans that stuck around during the rain downpours from earlier in the day.
There was a sense of cathartic release throughout the whole army of fans when ‘because i liked a boy’ gets performed. The lyric “’I’m a homewrecker, I’m a slut’” hits different live.
It wouldn’t be a BST Hyde Park show without some special guests. 1980s heart throbs Duran Duran were brought out to perform an energetic performance of ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’. The parents of the kids in the crowd were very happy about this.
Every show Carpenter chooses someone in the crowd to be the ‘Juno’ arrest. This night we see none other than The Bear star Ayo Edebiri and Clairo. They parody the ‘Apple’ girl dance seen during the Charli xcx’s brat tour, which is almost felt like a moment of inception.
A personal highlight from the show was during ‘Coincidence’ as Carpenter held onto a tambourine for dear life but didn’t play it once. Props to her for holding onto it for so long, though.
The night ends with Carpenter closing out the show with ‘Espresso’ and we all fully let go and enjoy the 2024 song of the summer (it may as well be 2025s, as well). Carpenter is setting herself up to be a live performer heavy hitter and with her pulling in 65,000 people for two nights, stadiums will be in the very near future.