Gracie Abrams, Ashe @ Entertainment Centre, Adelaide 13/5/2025
One thing we do know for sure is that Gracie Abrams is a bonafide international pop star whose career trajectory is still hurtling well in to the stratosphere. It was Adelaide’s turn to enjoy the magic of Gracie Abrams bringing “The Secret of Us Tour” to the Entertainment Centre. The vibe was next level and why wouldn’t it be having been sold out since it literally went on sale some eight months ago. This was the hottest ticket in town and if you got one you were doing extremely well. Hats off to the die hard fans who camped out since Sunday to get the best spot possible and those committed to the “secret society” wearing white bows as a tribute to her signature style keeping this tribute and adulation going.
Ashlyn Rae Willson, better known by the mononym Ashe, opened proceedings to plenty of applause and fanfare fitting the bill perfectly. Forty five minutes of pop perfection ensued rising to fame with 2019 single Moral of the Story, which was featured in the Netflix film To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. The crowd was already up and about as she took to the stage after ABBA’s Dancing Queen. If you didn’t know anything about Ashe prior to now you would be full bottle by the end of her performance. Pretty safe to say she has a massive future ahead and will now doubt be a massive pop star in time.
Running Out Of Time, Another Man’s Jeans and Angry Woman made for wondrous start with Ashe saying “oh my gosh, you are bringing the energy”. Adding to that she indicated she had two jobs “to get you alll toasty for Gracie and get you all to fall in love with me”. Successful on both counts and even those “dragged along wondering who is this chick?” would have been won over and “impressed”. Sometimes the crowd makes the show what it is and that could be said for Adelaide with the energy and passionate singing by the fans which was obvious on Cherry Trees with Ashe saying “you are the loveliest people”. Ashe was free spirited and it seemed as if the music controlled her body as she danced at will covering all corners of the stage.
Pull The Plug and Save Myself followed, then a quick story about a wardrobe malfunction two minutes before going on stage with the strap of her dress held up with plenty of “boob tape”. On Taylor, Ashe sat on the edge of the stage with Emma who played acoustic guitar and then going with the piano led Till Forever Falls Apart. Wonderful! Ashe admitted to feeling low on energy and speaking with the band she hoped that changed on stage to which she said “totally did” finishing on Moral Of The Story.
Just as entertaining was the music in the break with the vibe starting to peak at all time high as the crowd were nothing short of excitable. When Gracie Abrams took the stage the crowd went absolutely wild.
They screamed, they screamed some more, then screamed again and some!
This was fever pitch excitement on a whole other level and this level of fandom I have not seen before. Right from Felt Good About You it was like twelve thousand voices singing in unison. Quite the sight and this continued on Risk, Blowing Smoke and 21. Her fans literally hung off every word talking about her first time in Adelaide and showing immense gratitude describing it as the “ultimate privilege” with fans caring enough to adopt this album in to their lives being very lucky to tour this around the world. Also asking the crowd to “feel the songs to the fullest extent” describing the fans as an “extended friend group”.
I Love You, I’m Sorry was incredible as was Where Do We Go Now? The emotive piano ballad Gave You I Gave You I was powerful. The fans sung and they sung and at any chance they had their phones out capturing these live keepsakes for prosperity. There was one lucky fan that had Gracie film a bit of Mess It Up on their phone being at the right place and right time. Fans passed up all sorts of gifts on stage to Gracie and almost appeared overwhelmed by the generosity of her fans. Camden wasn’t originally on the set list but put back in to add to the experience. The rest of the set powered effortlessly through Normal Thing, I Told You Things, Let It Happen and Tough Love, which saw Gracie leave the stage and walked down the middle to the B-Stage which was set up as a “replica” of her bedroom where she wrote all hers songs and played her first shows during COVID which seems an eternity ago.
This was a special part of the performance allowing fans to get right up close and have a moment with their hero. Even Gracie said that she wanted to take some photos “to remember you all forever”. Playing Block Me Out/ 405/ Will You Cry which was kind of a mash up was followed by Cool described as a “gift of light given things are grim” and I Miss You, I’m Sorry. Back on the main stage there were a couple of big moments in us. and Free Now. Fans chanted “Gracie, Gracie, Gracie!” returning with two of her biggest hits That’s So True and Close To You which saw the entire floor dancing. Incredible show and no doubt we’ll be seeing her at Adelaide Oval next time.
Live Review By Rob Lyon
Photo Credit Abby Waisler