By Zelenny Lozano / Pink B
Summer is in full swing in Austin and young pop fans in pastel blues and angel wings descended upon the Moody Center for the Locket Tour– Madison Beer’s first North American stop. The Gen Z popstar kept audiences dazzled all night between dark but upbeat pop numbers and heartbreak ballads.
Madison Beer is touring in support of her third studio album, locket, and began with a European leg in May. Locket is full of sentimental ballads and the energetic, hypnotic pop tracks that first made me a fan. The tour’s closing track “make you mine” received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording in 2025. It has an equally fantastic Jennifer’s Body-inspired music video, and is a particular standout on the album.
Most popstar arena tours feature just one opening act, but Beer featured two opening pop artists. The first was Lulu Simon in a pair of platform white boots and accompanied by a guitarist. Technical difficulties cut Simon’s cover of One Direction’s “Night Changes” short, but she never skipped a beat in demonstrating her vocal talent.
The second act was the Vietnamese American pop artist from Los Angeles named Thủy (pronounced “tʰwi”), accompanied by two dancers and a ballet barre. Her high-energy choreography, charisma, and humor got the audience going. She talked about new motherhood and revealed that the song “universe” was originally written for her dog but is now dedicated to her son. Her magnetic stage presence and skill as a performer have major popstar potential.
The locket tour unfolded in three acts with a live band and dancers. Beer kicked it off with the 2025 single “yes baby”. In the second act, she slowed the pace down with several ballads, including “Reckless,” “locket theme,” and “Selfish.” She then revealed a large locket with two surprise song options within it–a fan got to choose “Good in Goodbye,” which was met with resounding applause.
The third and final act of the show was a mix of ballads and some of her top uptempo hits. My favorite performances of the night were “complexity” and “make you mine.” The encore performance was “bittersweet”–the pop song that put her on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Beer addressed the audience throughout the night, even giving special thanks to those who attended her last Austin show at Stubb’s BBQ in 2024. As we left the arena, the center screen showed Beer in an old-fashioned nightgown, holding a candle and wishing us goodnight and safe travels.
The performance took place on a multilevel set complete with a spiral staircase, heart-shaped curtain, balcony, and a runway that drew comparisons to Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n Sweet tour online.
One key difference was that Beer had a large central screen behind the set in addition to the typical arena side screens, making the live performance more accessible. The central screen also featured certain lyrics for emphasis and I was surprised at how much I appreciated this unexpected touch.
The loyalty of Madison Beer’s fans is unquestionable. They dressed according to the album’s color scheme, sang along to every song, cheered at the first note of their favorite tracks, and even those with arena seats stayed on their feet. Beer reciprocated their love with a thorough barricade walk during “lovergirl” and posed for selfies, signed merchandise, shared the mic and even held hands with some fans, connecting with as many people as possible.
While the show was a bit ballad-heavy for a Monday night, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour production and Beer’s more uptempo tracks. The New York Times places Beer in the “middle class of pop” with her online fan base and not entirely mainstream existence. Wherever she lands on the continuum, it is clear that Madison Beer’s loyal fanbase shows up and supports her–and had the time of their lives in the process.