Late Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 17,000 people were cheering at the Short n’ Sweet Tour starring Sabrina Carpenter. I was one of those fans attending that tour and it was incredible. Carpenter had an amazing setlist, extraordinary choreography, beautifully designed sets, stunning outfits, and wonderful surprises throughout the night. Sabrina said herself that Seattle sold out the Climate Pledge Arena!

Carpenter’s set has a mix of ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s themes with a rather retro feel. Her set is designed to look like a 2-story house with a mix of mid-century elements. Sabrina’s full set list consists of 20 songs plus a surprise song that is decided later in the night.

To start off her show, Sabrina plays an introduction video that ends with her in a bathtub realizing that she has a show to perform. Carpenter enters the stage wrapped in a towel hiding her outfit underneath and runs from the bathroom to the main living area. After the microphone “malfunctions”, she grabs it and reveals a unique outfit underneath by opening her towel. Seattle got a stunning, yellow, strapless, corset bodysuit. The shimmering bodysuit has a baby doll shaped cover added to it, while she sings her first track of the Short n’ Sweet album, “Taste”.

Carpenter uses her sets to the fullest as she moves from room to room depending on the song. During “Slim Pickins,” Carpenter moves to the fireplace and welcomes everyone to her tour while thanking her opener, Declan McKenna. Lastly, she finishes off her first act with an enthralling performance of her song, “Bed Chem” in the bedroom portion of her set.

After a brief intermission, Sabrina moves to her second act, which she calls, “Sabrina After Dark.” During this act, she reappears in a lacy black bodysuit with red feathering around the shoulders. Carpenter removes the red feathering during her single on the emails i can’t send fwd album, “Feather”. 

Later into her act, she moves to the bathroom to perform “Sharpest Tool” from her latest album and “opposite” from her previous album – ‘Short n Sweet’ and ‘emails i can’t send fwd’, respectively. Carpenter is projected onto the big screens through a glowing heart shaped mirror that she looks into. The screen illuminates her face and creates an other worldly background with a mix of purple colors.

Next, Sabrina moves to the upper balcony of her set where she performs a heartfelt rendition of “because i liked a boy” with a moonlit cityscape background. I have to say, this song was one of my favorite performances as it was the loudest I heard the audience all night. Hearing so many people shout the lyrics to the same song felt inspiring, and I hope it made a lot of people feel less alone.

After that breathtaking performance, Carpenter made a speech to her audience. This show was different from others as it took place a day after the election. In light of the recent news, Carpenter courageously spoke to her fans on the matter, saying, “This in particular, this night, I just wanna say this…life is so unfortunately crazy right now and so for everybody in here to come here to escape I hope you can be at a moment of peace for you and a moment of safety. I’m sorry about our country and to the women in here I love you so, so, so, so, so much.” Carpenter’s bravery in speaking about the 2024 election, I am positive, touched her audience and truly spoke to her loving character.

Following that speech, Carpenter took a brief break to talk with her fans and to accept a few gifts. Her fans offered her their hats: a white one with the Space Needle and a fuzzy blue rim, a black one with a face on it, and another white one with (of course) Sabrina’s name in red. The lovely Carpenter accepted all of them and said, “you guys, you make me the prettiest damn hats I ever seen and you make me choose.” Jokingly, Carpenter stacked all the hats onto her head and determined that it looked terrible so she instead invited her dancers to join. She shared her hats with her dancers and performed her catchy hit “Coincidence.” This goofy moment of Carpenter stacking all of the hats is a real showcase to her bubbly, fun personality. 

Carpenter then moves on to a fun game of spin the bottle that she plays with her fans. After taking a swig of the water, Sabrina spins the bottle on the heart shaped platform she rests on. There are numbers 1-4, and the number it lands on determines the surprise song for the night. Seattle got the lucky number one where she performed an entertaining version of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia.”

Next up, Carpenter plays her famous single, “Nonsense”, from  emails i can’t send fwd. In the past, Carpenter was known for her exhilarating outros that were personalized to each city she toured. But understandably, she got sick of making new outros for each show. Instead, Carpenter leaves her song early and a technical difficulties sign appears where she pretends her microphone cuts out. Although there are no outros, Carpenter couldn’t let down her eager fans, so she came up with nonsense intros. During Seattle’s intro, Carpenter made a goofy pun that made the audience erupt with laughter. She said, “there are so many things I could say to you Seattle…but should we talk about how when I close my eyes I can’t see-at-all.”

To start off her third act, Sabrina dims the lights and blasts a starry night onto the stage. The twinkling lights sparkle as a giant beam of light shoots straight into the middle of the crowd. I have to say from the perspective of someone directly in front of the stage the light was quite blinding, and not as enjoyable as I am sure the view from the side was. But, it was all worth it after seeing Carpenter in her next stunning outfit and playing my personal favorite song from the Short n’ Sweet album, “Dumb & Poetic.” The lyrics are extremely well written and Carpenter does it justice with the setting she creates in the arena. She performs in a shimmery, blue-gray two piece with a diamond shaped top and long skirt.

After the song, Carpenter has a brief chat with her fans complimenting their outfits and thanking them for the lengths they took to get there. Sabrina then finds someone in the audience as she’s previously done in her shows before “Juno” to pretend to be arrested. Blue and red lights go off as Carpenter finds Seattle’s lucky fan, Zach, to receive the pink handcuffs from her. She jokes that her clothes are falling off for him at which point her long skirt magically disappears and leaves a shorter version in place. Afterwards, the stage lights up into a burst of rainbow colors and Carpenter begins her song “Juno.” The song is upbeat and lively, making the audience feel the playful energy it radiates. On the Short n’ Sweet tour, Carpenter also comes up with a new pose she does after certain lyrics in her song to keep her beloved fans engaged and excited. In addition, towards the end of the song the heart shaped platform at the end of Carpenter’s stage is raised and Sabrina tells everybody to get down as low to the ground as possible. She does this to create an interactiveness and dramatize the difference in the height with her on a raised platform and her fans on the ground.

Carpenter’s riveting performance of “Juno” leaves her fans full of energy, which she continues with her hit single “Please Please Please”. This song had beautiful visuals of Sabrina herself and two of her other dancer’s silhouettes projected on the stage.

Finally, Carpenter plays “Don’t Smile”, a new song from her latest album and plays credits to her concerts just like you would see in a movie theater. She briefly projects her fans onto the screen, showcasing the enjoyment  we all had. My section briefly went on the screen and I have to say that was one of the highlights of my night. The arena is so big and seeing yourself on the screen is a spectacular feeling that makes  your fans feel special.

Sabrina’s last song of the night was “Don’t Smile”…or so we thought. Carpenter ended up coming out again to  play one final song! The TV began to play the news where it announced Carpenter coming out to play, “Espresso.” Sarbina revealed herself with a steaming cup in her hand and pretended to wake up all her dancers saying, “I thought it was sleepless in Seattle,” referencing the American romantic comedy filmed in 1993. Carpenter also said, “Guys, you have to get up. Seattle must have a drink. They must have a drink. They are so famous for it.” The title of her song is “Espresso”, so Carpenter is humorously joking at the multinational chain Starbucks, which was famously founded in Seattle.

Once the last lyrics are sung by Sarbina, confetti breaks out, giving the night just the ending it deserved. After watching the show, you can truly see the dedication that Carpenter and her team put into the tour- from the choreography to the sets and the outfits. She truly is one of the most talented artists out there with her ability to coordinate dancing and singing without missing a beat. I am forever grateful for Sabrina Carpenter for gifting us with this outstanding tour and I am tremendously thankful for her gifting me one of the best nights of my life.

Here’s a look at the official setlist from Spotify:

• Taste

• Good Graces

• Slim Pickins

• Tornado Warnings

• Lie To Girls

• decode

• Bed Chem

• Feather

• Fast Times

• Read your Mind

• Sharpest Tool

• opposite

• because i liked a boy

• Coincidence

• Cover of “Mama Mia” by ABBA

• Nonsense

• Dumb & Poetic

• Juno

• Please Please Please

• Don’t Smile

• Espresso

Works Cited

1] Luschei, Abby. “Review: Sabrina Carpenter Serves Seattle a Sweet Night of Music.” Seattle Refined, 7 Nov. 2024, seattlerefined.com/lifestyle/review-sabrina-carpenter-seattle-short-n-sweet-tour-climate-pledge-arena-live-music-concert-espresso-please-please-please-pnw. 

2] McGregor, Kate. “Of Course Sabrina Carpenter Has a Heart-Shaped Toilet in Her Tour Set.” House Beautiful, 25 Sept. 2024, www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/entertainment/a62371837/sabrina-carpenter-short-n-sweet-tour-set/. 

3] Rietmulder, Michael. “Sabrina Carpenter in Seattle: ‘I’m Sorry about Our Country’ | The Seattle Times.” The Seattle Times, 7 Nov. 2024, www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/sabrina-carpenter-in-seattle-im-sorry-about-our-country/. 

4] “Sabrina’s Short n’ Sweet Setlist.” Spotify, 24 Sept. 2024, open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXchqrcYVfAQC.