"Front of the Line” is a recurring series where GBH News' Haley Lerner explores fan culture and talks to the people who show up first in line to see their favorite musicians.
Sabrina Carpenter made a stop at Boston’s Roadrunner for her “Emails I Can’t Send Tour” Tuesday night.
The pop star, who started out as a child actress on Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World,” has since released five albums, the latest being the namesake of the tour. Her discography is filled with catchy dance pop, with lyrics baring the details of her romantic life and personal struggles.
For many fans — coming early to line up for the general admission show was a chance to meet new friends and spend time with people that loved their favorite artist just as much as they did.
Riley Greenstein, Olivia Burke, Thea Koss and Stacy Alavardo bonded after spending time camped out on the pavement outside Roadrunner. Greenstein and Burke had met at a previous concert — and now opted to go to this concert together.
“I like to get to concerts early because I get to sit in line and meet new people,” Koss said. “When you want to go to a concert by yourself, it's nice to have people that you can talk to so that when you get into the venue, you're not totally alone.”
Burke lined up early not only to meet fellow fans but to get a better view for filming TikTok videos of the show, which she posts on her account where she gives concert tips (such as what kind of chargers to bring) and discusses pop culture. This time around, she’s most excited to not be alone when singing along to her favorite Sabrina Carpenter songs.
“When I listen to her song ‘Feather’ in the shower, I think my roommate's probably like, ‘Why does this girl keep listening to this?’ I’m excited to scream it with other people who also love the song.”
Alvarado went to great lengths — literally — to see Carpenter.
“I've been a fan of Sabrina since she was on ‘Girl Meets World’ so I decided to fly in from Peru to finally see her because she has never been to Latin America.”
Sisters, Mary and Emily Walsh from Connecticut, said they grew up watching and listening to Carpenter — but the main reason the two showed up early on line? To get quality time with each other.
“Quite honestly, I love Sabrina. I'm a really big fan, but I really like spending time with my sister,” Mary said. “So we can spend all day sitting in line watching Netflix, I’m fine with it.”
“It’s exciting, to get that close and be right there right with her,” Emily said. “And we don’t mind hanging out together here.”
Carpenter’s personal life came under scrutiny in 2021 when singer and fellow Disney actress, Olivia Rodrigo, released her hit single “Driver’s License.” The breakup ballad had Rodrigo fans speculating that her split from Joshua Bassett, who then went on to date Carpenter, was the inspiration for the song. Carpenter, who became the target of online criticism and vitriol, responded to the outrage with her song “because i liked a boy.”
“I'm a homewrecker, I'm a slut, I got death threats filling up semi trucks, Tell me who I am, guess I don't have a choice, All because I liked a boy.”
Carpenter’s honesty and composure in the face of internet hate is one of the reasons Koss is such a fan of the singer.
“She never said anything bad about anyone, which was important to me,” she said. “When someone gets into drama they could easily start bashing people, but she never did that and I think that shows a lot of character, she's a really good person.”
Greenstein and Burke agreed that they liked Carpenter’s honesty and humor surrounding the situation.
“I think a lot of female artists have realized people are going to find reasons to hate them, so she’s like I might as well do me regardless,” Burke said.
“She’s always a little playful with it,” Greenstein said. “She’s someone you want to root for.”
That playfulness is something Carpenter is known for. At each concert, she picks a person in the crowd who said they’ve been heartbroken and asks them to tell their story. Then, she selects a song to cover and dedicate to that fan. This time around, after a fan in the audience told the crowd how his boyfriend broke up with him because he was transferring to a different college, Carpenter sang “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from “Grease.”
Another one of her trademarks is a customized outro to her hit song “Nonsense.” For the Boston show, it went as follows: “You say I’m a slut, well if the shoe fits, I don’t have this number baby who this, I only park my car in Massachusetts.”
It was a moment that was not lost on Greenstein.
”It feels like we're getting in on the ground floor,” Greenstein said. “I think she's going to be huge. To be able to say, 'we saw her at Roadrunner at the 3,500 capacity venue.' I'm sure she'll be playing arenas soon.”
