The Ariana Grande concert in Fortnite opened with Come & Go – a strange choice considering that’s a song by the late Juice WRLD, not Grande herself. This was followed by Audio, a collaboration between Sia, Diplo, Labrinth, and LSD. When Wolfmother’s Victorious came on next, I was worried I’d wandered into the wrong virtual concert. Thankfully, once I’d killed the weird Doom demon from my biplane, Raindrops (An Angel Cried) started soon afterwards. The Rift Tour was visually spectacular, but it also feels like a missed opportunity.
The name – The Rift Tour – had always confused me. I initially imagined there would be several smaller concerts in the week leading up to Ariana’s headline performance, like a mini Lollapalooza but without the Delta variant. The branding led with Grande, plastering her on the posters, using her official social media platforms, and giving her two skins in the game – but there were also hints that other artists would present.
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The execution, rattling through three very different songs before Grande herself appeared, left a little to be desired. This trio of tunes weren’t cohesive enough to constitute an opening act, nor were they related enough to Grande to ramp up to her headline performance. Wolfmother would never open for Grande in real life.
Of course, Grande herself was still the main event. I have written before about my strange relationship with Fortnite, about how I find it to be easily the most fascinating game around today, yet have no desire to actually play it. That’s why events like this matter so much – they make Fortnite more than just Fortnite. As an Ariantor myself, that went double here. I still believe Fortnite is the future of virtual performance, but the format is clearly still in its infancy.
Grande did not fumble – instead she provided a new peak for the battle royale’s crossover events. But I had speculated that success would make Fortnite’s concerts the Super Bowl half-time show of the digital age. This, however, was no Prince in Miami.
The best thing about her performance was that it was pure Ariana. The set list was strange, from a commercial point of view at least. A track from Yours Truly, but nothing from her breakout album My Everything? No God is a Woman, despite her being a giantess? There was also no Save Your Tears, no POV, and no 35+34; her three most recent singles. Early hits Break Free, Problem, One Last Time, and Bang Bang (all from My Everything) were absent, as were Into You, No Tears Left To Cry, Break Up With Your Girlfriend, and Thank U, Next, despite being some of her most recognisable anthems.
These were not absent because of an oversight, but because Grande had clearly chosen her six songs very deliberately. The truncated set list is a symptom of Fortnite’s short shows, and Grande has been a hit machine for close to a decade – even in a two hour headline spot, she’d have to skip some bangers.
A song from the first album, Yours Truly, making the cut seems odd – until you realise it was a Mac Miller duet while Grande metaphorically ascended to Heaven. Two songs from Sweetener (her second least popular album after Yours Truly by sales) is also strange, until you consider her last world tour was Sweetener, and much like her Fortnite show, it opened with Raindrops. Meanwhile, I can’t argue against her playing R.E.M, a little known and vastly underrated album track. As for the other less typical picks, Be Alright isn’t my favourite Dangerous Woman track, but Grande has played it in all four headline slots in her career – all five, if you count the Rift Tour. The transition between Raindrops and 7 Rings even included the barking of Grande’s ten rescue dogs. It was Ariana’s show, and her creative decisions were clearly hers.
Grande put on a phenomenal show in her eight minutes, but why are you booking Ariana Grande for just eight minutes? She made this show her own, but imagine what she might have done with half an hour? Imagine a world like that… Break Free and God is a Woman feel particularly conspicuous by their absence, while album tracks from Thank U, Next and Positions could have gotten an airing in the absence of a world tour – playing NASA in a concert ostensibly set in space feels like an open goal.
It also didn’t really take advantage of Grande as a singer. By raw vocal talent, Grande is up there with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey – she’s the only current day pop star of note who is able to consistently hit whistle tone. Her only major rival vocally amongst A-list pop stars is Demi Lovato – whom Grande recently collaborated with on Lovato's Met Him Last Night – and their discography and sales (24 million to Grande’s 85 million) pale by comparison. Yet none of the tracks included live vocals, instead showing her avatar performing to album recordings.
The short setlist feels like a focus grouped, ‘Fortnite players only have limited attention spans’ kind of decision. Plainly, it was the wrong choice. As for live vocals – or at least live recorded – there may be some technical difficulties there. Moving forward though, Fortnite needs to continue to grow the idea of a live concert. As it stands, Grande might have given the game its best event ever – but it also feels like a missed opportunity that came too soon. It’s difficult to think of anyone better placed to take advantage of the format once all of the kinks have been worked out. I still have the ‘Here4Ariana’ username for when she steals the show a second time.
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