Ariana Grande Kicks Off Eternal Sunshine Tour: 5 Best Moments

The entire show, which is directed by Grande and her longtime collaborator Christian Breslauer, is a testament to containing multitudes. The tour opens on screen, with a beautifully filmed scene in which Grande is brushing her teeth, a seemingly mundane moment, when her home begins to flood. The water forces her out, and leads her to a nearly-lobotomized former version of herself, circa Eternal Sunshine.

Later on, Grande finds herself knocked out in a field of flowers before being woken by a little girl, who looks an awful lot like a young Grande. Together, they sit on a swing set and the young girl asks Ari if she comes around here often. “No, actually,” Ariana replies, with a touch of remorse — perhaps a nod to, at some point, losing touch with her younger self.

Only now, she’s keeping her close. In another clip, Grande and the young girl are watching The Wizard Of Oz together in what appears to be a break room, before they tread the flooded hallways of the Brighter Days Clinic. Along the way, they peer into various procedure rooms in which Ariana’s past personas are hooked up to memory wipe machines: in room one, we see Ari’s flowing auburn tresses, reminiscent of her Yours Truly era; in the second room, her baggy sweatshirt and high pony are present; and in a third room sits her bleached blonde Sweetener self. And then, there’s an empty fourth room, in which the young girl enters but closes the door.

For those wondering what it means, the next scene offers some perspective. In it, Ari rushes back to her Eternal Sunshine body, desperately attempting to stop the “deletion process,” which over the course of the show has reached its fifth and final step. She’s met with repeated “access denied” pop ups, prompting her to do the only thing left: smash the machine.

A final scene shows present-day Ari taking a seat between the young girl — her younger self, no doubt — and the older self she portrays in her Brighter Days Ahead short film. As she settles in, they each rest their head on Ariana’s shoulders in a tender moment that proves while you can’t always erase or rewrite the past, you can reclaim it.

The show was divided into five sections, marked mostly by a mix of set changes and new ‘fits. For a setlist that leaned heavily on her newer material — spanning Positions and Eternal Sunshine — Grande tucked two Thank U, Next hits in early. Both that album’s title track and “7 Rings” appeared in the show’s second section, and despite being fan favorites and Hot 100 No. 1s, it made sense to knock them out sooner than later. In the context of the Eternal Sunshine sphere, they felt a touch out of place — which Grande acknowledged as she quietly giggled her way through “Thank U, Next.” And whether intentional or muffled by laughter, she barely got out this line about marriage: “Only wanna do it once, real bad/ Gon’ make that s–t last.”

Yet, there was one lyric that snapped everything back into focus. When she sang, “I know they say I move on too fast/ But this one gon’ last/ ‘Cause her name is Ari/ And I’m so good with that,” Grande instinctively struck a pose as a knowing smile crept across her face. It was a fleeting but potent moment of self acceptance, underlying the show’s theme that no matter how many versions of Ari exist — whether crafted by herself or the public — they are all still worthy of love, because they all got her here.

Ariana opened the show with the sassy house-pop track, “Yes, And?” complete with the ponytail she wears in its music video — and immediately proving that pop star Ari is back. But by the show’s second section, she’s switched her look from black to baby pink, and the pony has been swept into a tight ballet bun. While she keeps it sleek for “Thank U, Next,” she doesn’t play when it comes to “7 Rings.” As the iconic opening instrumental plays, Ari’s dancers help her let the bun down, combing it back into a ponytail as she touches up her lip gloss.

This pony-bun bit continues throughout the show, becoming a marker of sorts for how easily Ariana can oscillate between perceived versions of herself while playing into the idea that a hairstyle can mean everything, or nothing at all.

And while the hairstyles mostly matched up with the musical era Ari was delivering, there were some outliers. Namely, rocking a bun for “Dangerous Woman” — that likely wasn’t on any bingo cards. After performing the hit, Grande spotted some of that album’s signature bunny ears in the crowd and made a makeshift pair with her hands. And within seconds, the motion triggered a different memory, as Grande quickly dropped one hand and centered the other at her forehead while wiggling her fingers in an ode to Glinda.

Even when it’s not built into the show, she can’t help but hopscotch across the various characters she’s embodied over the years — and thankfully, the memory of each is still intact.

Halfway through the show’s fourth section, Grande takes a seat atop a stool placed on her B-stage, which is situated deeper into the crowd. She’s immediately met with a lengthy and boisterous standing ovation. “Thank you so much, I love you guys so much — and I missed you,” says Grande, visibly shaken by the reception.

“This is very overwhelming, and I just have to thank you so much for being here,” she continues, wiping at tears with her satin gloved hand. She goes on to thank her entire team while collecting herself — much of which can’t even be heard over the applause and cheers — before introducing an early and lasting fan favorite, “Honeymoon Avenue.”

And whether it was a tight runtime or opening night nerves — or both, or neither — it was the most Ari spoke to the crowd all night, making her brief expression of gratitude hit even harder.

As the show hit its 90-minute mark, there was a series of finale fake outs. First, there was the behind-the-scenes (possibly in real time, but more likely pre-taped) filming of her final look, complete with glam touch ups, a ponytail comb-out and a final wardrobe approval from stylist Law Roach himself. Grande then emerges for a smokey and soaring “Into You” that sure felt like a set closer — especially considering her dancers joined hands with her in the middle to take a bow.

As it turns out, it was their last song — but not hers. She then takes center stage for the live debut of “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” which sends the crowd into a voracious “Ari!” chant as she exits the stage. The crowd’s devotion is soon rewarded, though, as she quickly reappears in one last outfit change. She sings “We Can’t Be Friends” from the main stage — an uptempo enough track where it could be the closer, and for a moment, it feels like it might be.

Until, a spotlight drenches the B-stage and Ari can’t help but saunter over, taking carefully calculated steps while singing Eternal Sunshine‘s “Supernatural.” And even though they had already bid farewell, her dancers return in flowy white clothing for their star’s final send off (and to provide a subtle assist). As they retreat once more — this time for good — it’s clear Ari has been clipped into an invisible harness that slowly lifts here off the ground, perfectly recreating her Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead cover art.

It not only brought the visual and her vision to life, but provided a truly super ending for a true superstar — one for whom not even the sky, or an arena ceiling, is the limit.