Heartwarming sight at Gracie Abrams' Melbourne concert
A sea of girls wearing bows in their hair, with tears of joy and screams so loud their voices crack.
It is a clear sign Gracie Abrams has arrived in Melbourne.
The American singer-songwriter is halfway through her sellout The Secret of Us Tour in Australia, performing her first of three shows at Rod Laver Arena on Friday night.
A look around the venue dishes up a heartwarming sight.
No matter if you're young or old, the unofficial uniform for fans attending an Abrams concert is a bow. And these fans — many of whom would have exchanged friendship bracelets at Taylor Swift's concerts last year — know how to rally behind a theme.
Abrams herself may have been one of the only people in the arena of more than 12,000 people not wearing a bow.
While the star now rocks a signature bob, the tradition is a nod to the days when she used to wear a bow in her long hair while performing.
Abrams, the daughter of famous American filmmaker JJ Abrams, released her second studio album The Secret of Us in June last year.
It includes the song us with Swift, which the friends wrote during The Eras Tour in 2023.
Abrams opened for Swift's North American shows in 2023 and 2024. The year earlier, Abrams had opened for Olivia Rodrigo's Sour Tour.
Adding to her high-profile collaborations, Abrams is on celeb couple Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco's new song Call Me When You Breakup, which was released in February this year.
It is no wonder Abrams has such a dedicated fanbase.
Among her incredible live vocals, she takes fans' phones and cameras to snap selfies with them from the stage, she accepts and shows off handmade gifts, and mouths 'I love you' and 'thank you' between lines.
One of two surprise songs — Right Now from her 2023 album Good Riddance — on Friday was dedicated to a father-daughter duo in the crowd. Abrams explained the teen, Scarlett, had written her a heartfelt letter and passed it on to her drummer, Gabe Smith, outside the venue, along with a rose gold guitar pick made by Scarlett's dad.
While Abrams appears to have taken the intimate surprise song portion of the night from the Swift playbook, unlike the highest-grossing touring artist, Abrams has no backup dancers, costume changes or fireworks. She performs song after song with no break and moves her body to the feel of the music.
Abrams finished off a stellar performance with her hits That's So True (which topped Australian charts) and Close to You.
Abrams wasn't the only one with surprises on Friday. Her opener, American singer-songwriter Ashe, gave Melbourne a preview of a never-before-heard song. The song is a collaboration and she teased the other artist may perform his parts of the unreleased track somewhere else in the world.
It was hinted that that unnamed person is Noah Kahan, as Ashe briefly sang some of his hit Stick Season. The 32-year-old is not new to big collabs. She released Till Forever Falls Apart with FINNEAS in 2021 and Moral of the Story with Niall Horan in 2020.
Abrams has soared in popularity over the last couple years, but this is not her first time touring Australia.
The 25-year-old toured her debut studio album Good Riddance to sellout crowds at Melbourne's Forum, Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, and Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall in January last year.
This time around, she has doubled the number of shows and is taking on arenas across the country — selling more than 150,000 tickets.
Abrams has already performed six shows in Auckland (with her actor boyfriend, Normal People and Gladiator II star Paul Mescal in attendance), Sydney and Brisbane.
Her third and final Melbourne show will be on Sunday, before heading to Adelaide and Perth to finish the 12-show Australian and New Zealand leg of the The Secret of Us Tour.
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