Will Olivia Rodrigo Screw Your HSC?

Some Sydney-based Olivia Rodrigo fans are upset as her GUTS shows at Qudos Bank Arena clash with the week HSC written exams begin.

In case you missed it: Olivia Rodrigo recently announced her first-ever Australian tour dates for Wednesday, 9 October, at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, with a second night scheduled for Thursday, 10 October. The vampire singer then heads to Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena for two nights: Thursday, 17 October, and Friday, 18 October. Special guest BENEE will open the shows.

Meanwhile, for Melbourne fans, term four for VCE students starts on the week Olivia Rodrigo comes to town, while some early exams—including performance and language and extended investigation oral exams—also begin.

As The Music’s Stephen Green noted, the tour dates have plenty of space between them – room for extra shows after Ticketek will likely be met with high demand.

A search for “Olivia Rodrigo HSC” on X (formerly known as Twitter) returns results from people upset that the tour is taking place during the HSC exams in New South Wales.

Before the tour dates were even announced (5 May), one person wrote, “Olivia Rodrigo the wait is getting old we already know ur coming to Australia plz just announce the dates. Every night I stress it’s going to be on the day of one of my hsc exams PLEASE IM LOSING HAIR OVER THESE”.

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Another person addressed the rumoured dates last month, writing, “@oliviarodrigo @OliviaRodrigoHQ hey liv with the rumours of australia tour dates being around oct-dec i’d like to inform you that year 12 students are sitting their final exams up until november 8th PLEASE I NEED TO GO YOU CANT TOUR DURING MY HSC PLEASEEEE”.

However, when the GUTS tour was officially announced on Thursday (9 May), that’s when numerous people commented on the tour dates clashing with HSC exams.

One user wrote, “THIS IS NOT A DRILL OLIVIA RODRIGO JUST RELEASED AUSTRALIA DATES AND WHY IS IT DURING THE HSC….”, followed by “olivia rodrigo concert dates 2 days after hsc exams start around the whole of sydney yep she hates us”.

Another added, “me when people in syd r saying theyre happy the olivia dates r on the hsc and that ‘theres going to be more tickets’ knowing damn well everyone including me is still going and everyone else has no sympathy anyways OLIVIA RODRIGO PLS RESCHEDULE IF U CAN BUT I AM GOING ANYWAYS”.

Some people also expressed sadness, writing, “someone tell olivia rodrigo that the HSC is on when she’s planning to come to Australia!!!!!! so a bunch of people can’t gooooo!!! :(((“.

To find out how you can purchase tickets to Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming Australian tour, head here for the details.

Olivia Rodrigo is touring in support of her lauded second album, GUTS.

In a press release, Rodrigo stated: “For me, this album is about growing pains and trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life.

“I feel like I grew ten years between the ages of 18 and 20—it was such an intense period of awkwardness and change. I think that’s all just a natural part of growth, and hopefully, the album reflects that.”