Ready to tour again, Ariana Grande plays Edmonton
Sometimes it takes a while for the biggest music stars to come to town – and when they do, they start at the top.
Ariana Grande is making her first appearance in Edmonton next spring, playing Rogers Place on Thursday, April 25. It’s just one date on her “Sweetener World Tour” behind her new album of the same name. (Update: Oct. 29): Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, Nov. 5. There are also pre-sales available.
Following a struggle with anxiety, Grande recently tweeted that she was finally “ready” to go on tour again. Considering what happened, it’s amazing she’s even touring at all: Her show in Manchester, England in May of 2017 was the target of a suicide bomber; 22 fans were killed and hundreds more were injured. The rest of the dates were postponed, and after a charity show that raised millions of dollars for the bombing victims, the tour resumed that summer.
It’s been an eventful career for the 25-year-old star. From an unassuming and innocent public introduction as the ditzy sidekick character on the Nickelodeon shows Victorious and iCarly, fans soon found out she has an amazing singing voice, often compared to Mariah Carey, with tone, pitch and timbre that drew comments about her “baby voice.” None of Grande’s fans seemed to mind, and she even joked about it herself.
Turns out she has a musical theatre background, too, sang on Broadway, and by the age of 14 had a pretty clear idea what she wanted to do. From acting, her musical career really took off with the release of her second studio album My Everything and the hits therein, including Problem (with Iggy Izalea) – a break-up anthem that echoed across the continent in 2014: “I got one less problem without ya.”
World chart domination followed with 2016’s Dangerous Woman – which showed she’s more than a teen-pop star – and with the latest, Sweetener, which after delays that included a thwarted stint with producer Pharrell Williams, debuted at No. 1, on the power of its revealing first single No Tears Left to Cry.
