The fog rolled in on a stage. Spider webs and spooky props covered the set as bloody handprints decorated the walls. Equal parts pop princess spectacle and haunted house, Sabrina Carpenter’s tour got a little creepier and a lot funnier.
Celebrating this tour’s second Halloween in NYC, Carpenter opened the night like any other. She ran down the stage to do her cheeky bath towel reveal, except this time instead of revealing her standard body suit she revealed a 70’s inspired Wonder Woman costume.
Carpenter, however, remained adorned with her standard amount of sparkles and classic go-go boots.
In place of her opening, a typical bit of struggling to reach the microphone, Carpenter acted spooked as a sheet ghost covered her mic. She then pretended to try and grab the device while remaining out of harm’s way from the ghoul.
Once she had safely retrieved the mic, she performed the first act which opened with “Taste,” and ended with “Bedchem,” supported by her backup dancers in their own costumes.
The song “Feather,” began act 2, for which Carpenter sported the pink western costume that Margot Robbie wore in the Barbie movie.
She made reference to the movie when during the bridge of “Manchild,” Carpenter said to the audience, “Hi Ken.” She then paid further homage during her spin the bottle song as she sang “Barbie Girl,” the 90’s hit by Aqua.
Carpenter stepped out for the final act in a Fred Flintstone costume but still kept the two-piece aspect of her typical attire.
Each night of the tour, Carpenter has carried out a comedic bit of staging an arrest of an audience member for being so hot they make her skirt fall off.
Most notably in the past, the arrested have included Anne Hathaway and Marcelllo Hernandez under his SNL character name Domingo. The arrestee of this night’s show lifted a ghost face mask and revealed themselves as Drew Barrymore.
Furthermore, Carpenter is notorious for creating viral moments. Her last tour for the album, “Emails I Can’t Send,” she created buzz through her catchy personalized outros for her song, “Nonsense.”
For the Short and Sweet tour, Carpenter crafted online virality through her bit that has been coined by fans as the “Juno position”. A segment of the show in which during the bridge of the song “Juno,” she sings, “Have you ever tried this one?” and then imitates an intimate position. For Halloween night Carpenter’s position was tossing a Flintstone bone into the crowd.
After finishing the final act, she returned to the stage to perform “Espresso” as the encore song.
Seductive and self-aware, Carpenter is no stranger to theatrics and never takes herself too seriously. Few pop stars understand the art of the wink like Carpenter.
Held at the venue of the Madison Square Garden in New York, the Short n’ Spooky special for her Short n’ Sweet Tour isn’t just Halloween fun, it’s a tongue-in-cheek extension of the persona she’s been perfecting.