Ariana Grande brings Hong Kong fans to their feet and tears to their eyes in emotional final show in Dangerous Woman World Tour

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Ariana Grande more than delivered on the last show of her Dangerous Woman world tour.

American pop star Ariana Grande wrapped up her 2017 Dangerous Woman Tour last night at AsiaWorld-Expo, performing in Hong Kong for the very first time. Special security measures were taken in light of the tragic terror attack on the 24-year-old’s concert in Manchester, UK on May 22, which killed 23 people.

No backpacks or bags of ANY size were allowed into the arena - only small transparent plastic bags - and those with bags had to leave them in a locker or with organisers for a fee of $30. Around 9,000 concertgoers were then searched by police and were required to go through metal detectors before entering the hall.

Ten minutes before the show started, Arianators were teased with a countdown timer and video montage of the singer projected onto a big screen. In the final minute, the montage ended with Grande blowing a kiss and cupping her ear to encourage more screaming (we screamed) and finally! She emerged onstage in a black dress and high boots.

It was a little hard to see the five-foot tall singer over a sea of black laced bunny ears but the visuals on the screens and crazy laser lights were enough to keep us entertained.

What stood out was her voice. With her four-octave range, and often compared to Mariah Carey, the pop princess showed off her singing chops effortlessly, hitting notes higher than her signature ponytail. Except for a minor glitch with her mic at one point, she managed to sustain power in her voice throughout the 90-minute show.

 

The set list consisted mainly of songs from her two latest albums My Everything and Dangerous Woman. Her big hits One Last Time, Side to Side, Break Free, and fan favourites like Problem and Bang Bang kept the crowd dancing with abandon.

Not just a simple pop concert, Grande used one of her costume changes to send an empowering message to girls. Another video montage of her posing seductively in a provocative outfit played on the screen, through it the video cut to words such as “wild”, “free”, “playful”, “gentle”, “ferocious”, “sensual”, “soft”, “strong”, and “not asking for it”, and the video ended with “FEMALE”.

After a stream of rainbow coloured lights filled the arena, Grande sang an emotional rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz - which she also performed at the One Love Manchester benefit concert - and had to stop in parts of the song to hold back her tears and compose herself. This song was added to her tour's set list after the Manchester Arena bombing. Grande also released her cover of the movie musical classic as a charity single to raise money for the bombing victims and their affected families. 

Grande didn’t speak much during show. “I can’t talk too much because if I do, I’m going to start bawling my eyes out,” she explained. “So, I just wanted to say I love you and I’m so grateful to you for coming.” But all over her socials, it's clear the artist finds the end of her tour to be bittersweet.

The arena was flooded with red light after two minutes of darkness and silence, and Grande closed the show with – surprise, surprise – the album’s title track Dangerous Woman in a black latex dress with pyrotechnics on the stage. An explosive ending to a show that was powerful in more ways than one.

Edited by Heidi Yeung

 

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