Ariana Grande opens her first tour since 2019 as fans face a bittersweet comeback
Ariana Grande returned to the stage on Saturday night with the opening show of her Eternal Sunshine tour in Oakland, California, marking her first tour in seven years.
The Grammy-winning singer had not toured since December 2019, when she closed the run supporting her Sweetener and Thank U, Next albums. This time, she stepped back into the spotlight with music from her 2024 seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, while also bringing older fan favourites into the show.
For fans, the night carried more weight than a standard tour launch. Grande has spent recent years shifting much of her attention towards acting, and her return to live performance arrived after a long pause that made the Oakland opening feel like a major moment in her career.
On Sunday morning, Grande shared a heartfelt message with fans on social media after the first show. She thanked the Oakland crowd and admitted that she found it difficult to put the moment into words. She told fans she loved them more than words could say and said she had missed them.
The message gave the tour launch an emotional edge. Grande did not simply announce a comeback; she acknowledged the distance between herself and the stage and the fans who had waited through it.
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The Eternal Sunshine tour is set to continue across several major locations. The remaining stops include Los Angeles, Austin, Brooklyn, Chicago, Boston, Montreal and Sunrise, Florida. Grande is also scheduled to perform a five-night run in London.
Her return to touring comes during a period of major career expansion outside music. Grande starred in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked in 2024, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She also appeared in the follow-up, Wicked: For Good.
Her upcoming projects continue that acting focus. Grande is attached to Focker In-Law, opposite Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. She is also involved in the animated feature adaptation of Oh, the Places You’ll Go! with Josh Gad, as well as season 13 of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story.
Even with that growing screen career, Grande has not stepped away from music completely. The singer is set to release her eighth studio album, Petal, on July 31.
Still, she has already warned fans that the Eternal Sunshine tour may be a rare live chapter rather than the start of a full return to constant touring. In November, during a conversation with Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast, Grande said she expected the next stage of her life to look very different from the last 10 to 15 years.
She avoided making a firm final statement, but she made clear that she did not expect to tour again for a very long time after this run. Grande described the tour as a small one and suggested it felt like one last hurrah, at least for now.
That comment now hangs over every date on the Eternal Sunshine tour. The Oakland opener was not only a celebration of new music and old hits, but it also carried the possibility of goodbye.
For fans who filled the room, the show marked a long-awaited reunion. For Grande, it appeared to be something more personal, a return filled with gratitude, pressure and emotion after years away from touring.
The Eternal Sunshine tour now moves forward with that tension built into it. Grande is back, but she has already made clear that this chapter may not stay open for long.