What It Takes to Headline A World Tour: Behind-the-Scenes Look At “Short n’ Sweet Tour”

What does it take to headline a world tour such as Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet Tour?” The 25-year-old singer and songwriter began the European leg of her fifth career tour on March 3rd, and it has been a wonderful ride since then.

Sabrina didn’t just see herself in this spot. She began making some waves in the music industry in 2015, after releasing “Eyes Wide Open,” which appeared to be the tip of the iceberg per her career stats. Sabrina then showed her fans that she had more tricks up her sleeves when she headlined her debut career tour, the “Evolution Tour,” which spanned from 2016 to 17, in of her second career album, “Evolution.”

Fast forward to 2025, and Sabrina Carpenter is currently in Europe, having held her first show on the continent on the 3rd of March, in Dublin’s 3Arena, Ireland. The tour promises to be entertaining because Sabrina has been on and off live stages for some years now. This means that she has gathered some level of experience to serve not just the regular to her fans, but more than that.

Sabrina Carpenter will be in Europe until July of this year, where she’ll host the last gig of her European schedule in Hyde Park, London, England. For those looking to meet the R&B singer, you can do so either in Denmark, Sweden, or England. The most important thing is to ensure you secure tickets on time to be able to catch any of her shows.

Speaking of which, you might find it a bit difficult getting tickets now that it’s only a couple of months left until these shows. Some Sabrina Carpenter fans have booked tickets since last year, making it a bit competitive for those who are trying to do so now.

However, you might be able to beat the traffic if you explored secondary ticket marketplaces such as Seatsnet for Sabrina Carpenter tickets. While this too might be a bit competitive, you stand a high chance compared to waiting on conventional sites. With that out of the way, let’s look into what it took Sabrina Carpenter to plan her fifth career tour.

Behind-the-Scenes Look At Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet Tour”

This behind-the-scenes is probably going to blow your mind or not. One thing we’re sure of is the fact that it’ll change the kind of feeling you get at any of Sabrina’s concerts because soon you’ll know the effort that’s put into making each gig a reality and memorable.

Planning the Tour: From Venues to Logistics

One of the things that has remained evident with Sabrina Carpenter’s career journey is the fact that she never remains the same each year. We’ve watched her move from entertaining a few people to hosting stadium shows, which are signs of impressive growth.

While her method of entertainment and the number of people she usually entertains continuously change, one thing we’re sure remains constant is planning for every tour she has held in the past couple of years since she became active in the music industry, including her current tour, the “Short n’ Sweet Tour.”

Looking at the “Short n’ Sweet Tour” and its preferred venues, you’ll see that Sabrina took her fan base into consideration before selecting each venue on the schedule. A lil bit of example is hosting her Stockholm gigs in the Avicii Arena, which has a concert capacity of 16k people, and in fact, the “Short n’ Sweet” album peaked at No.2 on the Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) when it was released.

The ideology when planning a tour, from venues to logistics, is that you fix more gigs and go to a bigger venue in places where you have more fans. Just like every businessperson would likely send their products to where there’s demand.

Now, how do you know where you have more fans? Well, those places where your albums perform better are pure indications that you’re loved more there, and your fans’ manpower is great there as well. In essence, Sabrina Carpenter’s planning of the “Short n’ Sweet Tour” can be said to have revolved around such factors.

The Crew That Travels the World: Who Does What?

So now, it’s clear that you have more fans in Stockholm than in other parts of Europe (just for example). The question then becomes, How do we get over there and give our best performance? This is where you’ll need to that an artist is only as good as his or her touring team.

Gone are those days when an artist travels alone through different parts of the world, entertaining different people on the road. This time around, your capability is to an extent dependent on the manpower you have.

In the case of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet Tour,” who does what are:

  • Tour Manager
  • Sound Team
  • Lighting & Visuals Team
  • Wardrobe and Styling Team
  • Security Team, etc.

The teams listed above have self-explanatory names, which makes this section a bit easier. Every team knows what they need to make Sabrina Carpenter’s dreams come true, so she’s left a bit unbothered about them and focuses on preparing for the tour on her end.

How Setlists Evolve Night After Night

Arguably, we’re all filled with the idea that tour setlists are planned sequences of songs that probably remain the same throughout a tour. While there might be some truth to this, it doesn’t always remain the same for everyone or every concert.

We’ve come across artists who’ve changed their setlist countless times while headlining a single tour, and bands like Coldplay, who’ve released a new album, and substituted a large chunk of their setlist with songs from their new record.

Generally, the essence of a setlist is to tell a story, but the story would be useless if you’re not carrying your audience along. So, while some opening songs and some closing songs might remain constant, some songs in the setlist might be performed only based on the audience’s morale.

For instance, Sabrina might want to start with a slowed version of a song, depending on the atmosphere in Unity Arena, Norway, but decide to begin with a fast version of the same song in the Royal Arena, Denmark. It all depends on the atmosphere.

Encores might be performed by Sabrina Carpenter if the audience deserves one. How do you know if your audience deserves one? In most cases, the audience requests or demands one. If that’s settled, the question of which is then tabled. But that too can be defined by the audience if they like. Surprise songs, on the other hand, are completely based on fan trends.

Transporting a Concert: Moving a Show Across Countries

We don’t know if you’ve thought about this before, but transporting a concert can be expensive. This explains why sometimes we pay more than what’s expected for tickets, but all is well since Sabrina is on the fair side.

There’s a law we would love to use here, and that is “The quality of the show is completely dependent on the cost of the tickets.” In essence, when artists end up pricing tickets on the costly side, in most cases, it’s because of transporting the concert to your location—but again, all is well since Sabrina Carpenter tickets are priced on the fair side.

Transporting a concert across countries sounds bloody expensive, to state the least. But it’s probably not what you’re thinking now. In a real sense, most of the items and equipment used in concerts as big as Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet Tour” are rented on the ground, leaving only items that cannot be rented to be transported to and from the concert venues.

This initiative saves a lot of money for both Sabrina Carpenter and her fans in the sense that transporting everything that’ll be needed for each concert through all countries where these concerts will be held would cost way more than it is supposed to.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline s
View all comments