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Ariana Grande Opens Eternal Sunshine Tour in Oakland After Seven Years

The opening night show drew nearly 20,000 fans and featured live debuts from Grande's upcoming album Petal.

Ansichtkaart voor de Nederlandse #SheSaid drive, met een citaat van Ariana Grande
Ansichtkaart voor de Nederlandse #SheSaid drive, …      Ariana Grande    Ciell / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
By Free News Press Editorial Team
Published June 7, 2026 at 1:17 PM PDT

Nearly 20,000 fans packed a venue in Oakland, California on Saturday night, June 6, to watch Ariana Grande open her Eternal Sunshine Tour, her first run of shows since 2019.

According to Billboard, Grande's previous outing, the Sweetener World Tour, spanned 100 shows, grossed $146 million, and sold 1.3 million tickets. The Eternal Sunshine Tour is significantly smaller by comparison, covering just 41 dates across a limited number of cities.

The seven-year gap between tours was filled with considerable activity. Grande released Positions in 2020 and Eternal Sunshine in 2024, both of which received Grammy nominations for best pop vocal album. She also starred as Glinda in Wicked and Wicked: For Good, earning an Oscar nomination for the role. A third album, Petal, arrives July 31 while the tour is still running. She is also set to appear in the forthcoming film Focker-In-Law and a West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George.

Grande herself has suggested this tour may not come around again for a long time. In November, she told Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast, "I don't want to say anything definitive. I do know that I'm very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long, long time. I'm going to give it my all and it's going to be beautiful. I think that's why I'm doing it because I'm like, 'One last hurrah!'"

The opening night setlist was divided into five sections and drew from across Grande's catalog. Every album except Sweetener was represented. Section three featured back-to-back-to-back performances of "One Last Time," "Rain On Me," and "Break Free." Section four followed "Dangerous Woman" with early fan favorite "Honeymoon Avenue." The show closed with a fake-out finale of "Into You" before Grande performed the live debut of Petal's lead single, "Hate That I Made You Love Me," the only preview of the new album on night one.

The full show is directed by Grande alongside her longtime collaborator Christian Breslauer. Billboard described the production as built around psychological storytelling and the theme of containing multitudes, with the performance moving through past, present, and future versions of Grande as an artist.

Songs from the Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead project, released in 2025, also made the cut. "Dandelion," "Warm," and additional tracks from that project appeared throughout the night. The setlist opened with "Yes, And?," the dance-pop lead single from Eternal Sunshine, and included Hot 100 number ones "Thank U, Next" and "7 Rings" from the Thank U, Next era, as well as "Rain On Me," her chart-topping collaboration with Lady Gaga.

The tour continues across its 41 scheduled dates, with Petal due to drop on July 31 midway through the run.

Ariana Grande during an interview to promote Wicked (2024)
Ariana Grande during an interview to promote Wick…      Ariana Grande    Barbie Simons / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)