Olivia Rodrigo fans travel hundreds of miles and wait hours for Kansas City concert

Paige DeWeerdt, Samantha Fitch, Harper Heston and Lauren Tetzlaff woke up at 2 a.m. Friday for one purpose — to be front row at Olivia Rodrigo’s sold-out show at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City .

After traveling three hours from Des Moines, Iowa, the group didn’t know how many people would camp in the general admission line ahead of time.

They just knew they needed to be close to first in line. So they woke up before dawn at a nearby hotel they booked and planned to wait outside the venue, hoping to be first.

They hadn’t been so lucky when they saw Rodrigo in Chicago during her 2022 tour, so they were ready to do whatever it took to secure spot No. 1 spot the Oak Street entrance.

For DeWeerdt, Fitch and Heston, this is their first girls’ trip as adults, months after they graduated from high school. Fitch and Heston will join Tetzlaff at the University of Iowa this fall, while DeWeerdt heads to Iowa State University.

Armed with bags full of snacks, energy drinks and makeup to complete their outfits, the group risked receiving trespassing tickets from T-Mobile Center security to be first, but they got the job done.

“We did not expect to be first in line,” DeWeerdt said. “We were like, let’s just get there early because we want a good spot.”

The story is similar for thousands of Rodrigo fans who are in Kansas City for the Guts World Tour . Fans traveled from all over North America to see the pop superstar perform.

Gates to enter the arena didn’t open until 5 p.m. for VIP guests, including the Des Moines group, but that didn’t stop fans from lining up to visit the bus experience or the merchandise line on Grand Boulevard all day Friday.

Fans reported getting in line at 10 a.m. to get on Rodrigo’s bus, which is decked out for photo opportunities with themed items for her two albums, “Sour” and “Guts.”

Long travels

Claudia Ramos drove 17 hours from Kansas City to visit family in Chihuahua, Mexico, and drove back with very excited nephews.

She doesn’t know much about Rodrigo, but she’s ready to see the excitement on her nephew’s faces. They’ve been planning for the trip for the last six months and were trading friendship bracelets with other fans in line Friday afternoon.

Ramos isn’t the only adult excited to see their younger family members experience a concert. Many parents, like Chris May, a broadcaster out of Little Rock, Arkansas , remembered how excited he was as a child to go to rock band Grateful Dead concerts with his parents. Now, he feels he’s passing on the torch to his daughter, 15-year-old Mary Evelyn May.

“I feel like I’ve passed that gene along to my daughter, and now she’s gotten to be friends with people who are into the same thing,” he said. “They love live music, they love the experience and don’t mind waiting in line to be close to experience it.”

May drove six hours with his daughter and her friend, 15-year-old Emma Duncan, for the show. Kansas City was the closest destination to their hometown.

They saw Taylor Swift in Nashville last year for her birthday, and he said it’s great for his daughter and many other young women waiting early in line and who will be in the crowd to have female artists like Rodrigo to look up to.

Family traditions

The concert could mark the end of summer plans for many of the kids in the building. School returns in August, and they’ll have an experience to share with their friends and classmates the next time they see them.

Before her kids go back to school every summer, Jondelyn Catlette of Oxford, Mississippi, takes her daughter, 12-year-old Iris, to a concert.

They saw Lizzo in 2022, Taylor Swift in 2023 and now it’s Rodrigo closing out the summer for the family. It’s a family tradition between mother and daughter, as Catlette has two other children at home.

The eight-hour drive was close enough for Catlette to make with Iris and one of her friends, 12-year-old Clark Brimm. The friends spent hours making friendship bracelets with song titles to some of Rodrigo’s biggest hits, like “deja vu” and “bad idea, right?”

Iris wants to hear “Can’t Catch Me Now,” the song Rodrigo made for the movie adaption of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes.”

The practice of trading friendship bracelets continued throughout the line. Jennifer Hendricks’ daughter, 14-year-old Parsons Hendricks from Lee’s Summit, made friends with 15-year-old Anna Schuler from St. Louis while waiting for the bus photo opportunities.

Families and friends withstood the high temperatures to create tons of memories before the show begins.

Some formed groups with people they’d never met before. While some people headed to restaurants in the Power & Light District, others in the group held their spot in line.