The crowd was buzzing with excitement as people waited in line for the concert. Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s “Sweat” tour made its way to Phoenix’s Footprint Center a few weeks ago. Due to a surge of social media posts, tickets sold out by the day of the concert.
Christina Wise, a 21-year old student at Arizona, said she was among the many who knew many details of the concert even before going.
“I almost knew virtually the entire show going into the concert,” she said. “It was one of the first concerts that I had almost anticipated, if not all, almost all of the entire show of what it would be.”
Olivia Snyder, 21, also saw videos circulating from earlier cities, mainly on TikTok. After seeing the excitement these videos brought, she said she was influenced to buy the tickets for the tour.
“Seeing videos once the concert actually started, then we bought our tickets and we were all really excited to see the ‘brat’ curtain drop,” she said.
Charli XCX singing at the “Sweat” tour in Phoenix, Ariz. on Oct.13, 2024. She is one of the performers for the concert alongside Troye Sivan.
Even with so much prior knowledge of the set list, performers, and other concert details, people like 21-year-old Ainsley Stratton said the concert ended up being even better than she anticipated.
“I think it exceeded my expectations,” she said. “Because you can’t really quite capture the energy through a video.”
She and others said the overall vibe of the crowd was an aspect that could not be felt through a screen. Snyder said her concert experience was also influenced by the people around her more than she thought.
“I think it really was more of a community,” she said. “It felt like everybody was there for the purpose of having a party together so that was really interesting.”
Stratton also added that Charli XCX and Troye Sivan took time to hype up and connect with the crowd.
“I think I was expecting more of a rave but in the rave of, they’re just kind of behind the DJ set,” she said. “But they were fully performing and they definitely kind of involved the crowd a little bit more.”
The crowd in general admission at the “Sweat” tour in Phoenix, Ariz. on Oct. 13, 2024. Fans were asked to turn on their phone flashlights during one of Troye Sivan’s songs.
Despite the profuse social media coverage of the show, attendees like Wise still had an unforgettable experience at the “Sweat” tour.
“So even if it, you know, was the exact of what I had seen on social media, I loved it– it was one of the best concerts I’ve been to,” she said.
Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
