This past Valentine’s Day, instead of hanging out with my invisible boyfriend, I had to “Break Free” and attend an amazing Ariana Grande concert. She was on tour for her “Dangerous Woman” album that came out in 2016 and one of the cities she stopped at was nearby Nashville.

I have always loved her music and her voice is spectacular, so when I heard she was coming to Nashville I begged my parents to let me go. On my birthday, I was surprised with two tickets to her concert on February 14 for a friend and me to go. Of course, I had to bring along my BFF Avery Witcher, who has been to every concert I’ve ever been to with me. It was our fourth concert and I would say the best I have ever seen.

The concert started at 7:30 so we left B.G. at 4:30 and ate at Rafferty’s before heading to Bridgestone Arena. We got there at around 7 and sat at our seats on the second level. The concert started with a girl named Victoria Monet who seemed like the opening for the opening. She sang a lot of her songs that no one really seemed to know the lyrics to and did more dancing to her songs than singing. She was a good singer, but I felt like the most exciting part of her performance was her dancing. I looked over to Avery during one of her songs and said, “I think she should skip the singing and start the dancing career.”

After Victoria finally finished her set of songs, we had a short break then Little Mix came on the stage. They began with a very powerful entrance with their song “Salute” and danced a while before they began to sing. I knew a lot of the songs they sang including “Wings,” “Hair,” and “Black Magic.” They were really good at singing live and it was funny to hear them talk because I would forget they had Australian and Irish accents.

In between songs, they did this really cool trick where they asked the audience to turn on their flashlights. They would say “Up” and everyone would put the lights up and then they would say “Down” and everyone would put their flashlights down. It was so cool to look around the stadium and see lights all around going up and down to create light then darkness. They ended their opening for Ariana with my favorite song by them “Shoutout to My Ex.” Overall I was happy with the entire opening before the main concert.

It was already almost 9:00 before they started the 10-minute countdown to Ariana entering the stage. At this point, Avery and I were sure it was going to be a long night but it was totally worth it to see her live. The crowd was screaming by the time it got to just a few seconds left. The timer got to zero and lights were going crazy around the arena. The beginning of her song started to play as you saw a figure walk onto the stage and once she hit that first note, everyone had lost their minds with excitement.

She began with one of her many amazing songs off of her new album and it was called “Be Alright”. I had learned all of the songs she was going to sing so I would be able to sing along to every word. Avery, on the other hand, didn’t know as many songs as I did but still tried her best to sing along. “Even though I didn’t know all the songs, it was still a very cool experience to hear her live.”

Not only was her singing amazing, the special effects she had for her show were top notch. The lighting was very well thought out for every song she sang. If it was a soft song, the lighting was more calm but if it was more of an upbeat song the lighting had bright colors that went every direction. The props she used on stage were simple enough but in a way that made it so cool. One of the props were moving podiums that went up and down while the dancers and sometimes Ariana were standing on them.

After singing almost all of the songs off her album, a lot of her main popular songs, and many costume changes, she ended the concert with her #1 hit song “Dangerous Woman.” She entered the stage in her iconic black leather outfit that she wears in the music video, and fire was bursting from the stage. Avery and I listened to about half the song but made the quick decision to leave before the mass amount of people exited the arena.  

My favorite part of the concert was probably when she would hit those really high notes in her songs and it would sound so flawless. The way she sang tells that she has an authentic good voice and not one that is needing desperate autotune. If you ever have the chance to see her in concert, I would highly recommend it and I promise you’ll enjoy every second of it.