Owen Sweeney / Invision / AP file (2017)
Sabrina Carpenter brought her “Emails I Can’t Send” tour to the Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on Saturday, April 22, 2023.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 | 2 a.m.
It was a moment of honesty for singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter just before she launched into her final song of her jam-packed concert Saturday night at the Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Sabrina Carpenter setlist
“Emails I Can’t Send”
“Read your Mind”
“Feather”
“Vicious”
“Already Over”
“Bad for Business”
“Skinny Dipping”
“Things I Wish You Said”
“Tornado Warnings”
“Opposite”
“Bet U Wanna”
“You’re So Vain” (Carly Simon cover)
“How Many Things”
“Fast Times”
“Paris”
“Honeymoon Fades”
“Sue Me”
“Decode”
Encore:
“Nonsense”
“Because I Liked A Boy
That song, “Because I Liked A Boy,” tells a story about all of the vitriol a girl faces because she is in a relationship with a boy on the rebound. The song, Carpenter told Rolling Stone magazine, is autobiographical. And there’s much speculation online about the other parties involved that we won’t get into here.
Released in 2022 as the fifth single off of Carpenter’s latest album, “Emails I Can’t Send,” it includes the lyrics, “Fell so deeply into it / It was all so innocent / Now I’m a homewrecker, I’m a slut / I got death threats filling up semi trucks.”
The song struck a chord with Carpenter’s fans, some of whom no doubt predate her time on the Disney Channel show “Boy Meets Girl.” So much so, that much of the merchandise for sale outside the venue Saturday included the phase, “I’m a slut.”
But back to Carpenter’s moment of honesty.
In every stop on her tour backing her new album, she told the crowd, she wonders if the audience in the current city “is OK with me screaming ‘I’m a slut.’ Vegas made it on the ‘yes’ list.”
The admission brought a huge ovation from the appreciative crowd, who then proceeded to join her in singing the near anthem-like piece.
The hit brought an end to an 80-minute set that was part therapy session, part confessional, part storytelling and much song and dance from the woman who reportedly started her singing career at the age of 9 by posting covers on YouTube.
As expected, Carpenter was a dynamo on stage. Wearing a bluejean blue dress with an accent chain and knee-length black boots, she strutted, danced and swayed about on the Theater’s stage.
Her songs included what she called the “country section” of the show, “Bad for Business” and “Skinny Dipping” among them. Her rendition of “Tornado Warning — “It’s one of my favorites,” she said — was on point.
The only cover of this night was Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” which Carpenter sang with flair in honor of an audience member whose story about being two-timed was related to the entire crowd in a one-on-one question-and-answer session led by the singer.
In addition to the aforementioned “Because I Liked a Boy,” a personal highlight was “Honeymoon Fades,” a soulful cut that demonstrated her vocal range.
A note about Blu DeTiger, the 25-year-old rocker who opened Saturday night’s show: The bassist, backed only by a drummer and guitarist, sang just eight songs in her 30-minute warmup set but won the crowd over with her stage presence and music. Songs such as “Hot Crush Lover,” “Lipstick Stain” and her TikTok hit “Figure It Out” gave glimpses of a bright future for this New Yorker.
