Festival Review: Olivia Rodrigo At British Summer Time

Friday night saw American pop-sensation Olivia Rodrigo make her debut at American Express presents BST Hyde Park 2025, with a special feature from Ed Sheeran.

Day one of BST Hyde Park kicked off in a very hot London on Friday. The day was filled with performances from a range of artists including The Last Dinner Party, Girl in Red, Flowerovlove, Between Friends, Caity Baser, Katie Gregson-MacLeod, Ruti, Florence Road, Aziya, and Déyyess, before headliner Olivia Rodrigo came on to an excitable crowd of 65,000 people.  Amongst the crowd was fellow-headliner Sabrina Carpenter, boyfriend Louis Patridge, Bridgerton actor Luke Newton, actor and presenter James Cordon, and thousands of teenage girls ready to scream along to Rodrigo's angsty and terribly catchy set-list.

Bad Idea Right? was the first hit to be performed and definitely got the crowd going - Rodrigo performed with unmatched energy and set the tone for the night, shouting towards the crowd: 'You guys, I have a really special feeling about tonight. Are we ready to have a good fucking time?' 

Hits from both SOUR and GUTS came one after another: Traitor, Vampire, Drivers License and Happier, Jealousy, Jealousy, favourite Crime and So American - the latter being performed after Rodrigo gave her British boyfriend Louis Partridge a shout out,  saying 'I love English music, and um, as luck would have it, I really love English boys…'. She also paid homage to the city's capital, which only got the crowd going even more, shouting 'London, did you know you guys are my favourite city?'

Halfway through the set Rodrigo brought out Ed Sheeran - much to the crowd's delight. 'I want to introduce one of my favourite Brits and one of the best songwriters of all time', Rodrigo announced as Sheeran walked onto stage. The duo performed A-Team, one of Sheeran's biggest hits, with just two guitars and the pair harmonising.

After a quick outfit change, Rodrigo's set came to a close with some of the best sing-along hits she has: Brutal, All American Bitch, Good 4 U, and Get Him Back.  You definitely can't critique Rodrigo's energy - she is a born performer and brought impeccable vibes to Hyde Park.