The Eternal Sunshine Tour, Defined by Its Setlist and Finale at the O2
Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour is a 26‑song, high‑concept live show built around a core setlist, rotating surprise songs, and a central live looping performance, culminating in a final residency at London’s O2 arena before she steps back from public life. That framework matters, because it tells fans this era is carefully scripted yet intentionally open‑ended: classic hits anchor the night, while a cappella sections and Petal‑era deep cuts keep every show slightly unpredictable. As she heads into the last dates, all of them at the O2, the Eternal Sunshine Tour feels less like a standard pop run and more like a closing chapter she’s writing in real time, inviting the audience into the process rather than just replaying a greatest‑hits reel.
Based on her latest Eternal Sunshine Tour show in London, Ariana performs a total of 26 songs including two surprise songs, weaving together positions and eternal sunshine material with older hits and collaborations. That number is not arbitrary; it reflects a deliberate pacing that lets her move from the sleek defiance of 'yes, and?' to the emotional weight of 'we can’t be friends (wait for your love)' without ever feeling rushed. The O2 residency performances sit at the end of this design, turning the final run of shows into a kind of living archive: the same spine of Eternal Sunshine Tour songs, but slightly different emotional shading and vocal choices every night, as if she is gradually signing off on an entire phase of her career rather than a single tour date.
The Fixed Ariana Grande Setlist: Core Eternal Sunshine Tour Songs
If you strip away the surprises, the Eternal Sunshine Tour is built on a clear, almost cinematic Ariana Grande setlist that charts her evolution from Dangerous Woman‑era confidence to Eternal Sunshine‑era introspection. The London show’s backbone starts with 'yes, and?' and 'positions', then threads new album cuts like 'dandelion', 'the boy is mine' and the title track 'eternal sunshine' through fan‑defining moments such as 'thank u, next' and '7 rings'. This sequencing matters: she isn’t just stacking hits, she’s drawing a line between past resilience and present vulnerability, insisting that the Eternal Sunshine Tour songs deserve equal weight alongside the singles that made her a global headliner.
Mid‑show, the setlist leans into collaborations and deep cuts, with 'safety net', 'One Last Time', 'Rain On Me', and 'Break Free' reminding everyone that her catalogue is broader than TikTok edits and vocal runs. Later, 'twilight zone', 'past life', 'Dangerous Woman', 'Honeymoon Avenue', 'Hampstead', 'Into You' and 'hate that I made you love me' form a late‑set arc that feels like a confession disguised as a pop medley. That she keeps Sweetener heavyweights like 'no tears left to cry', 'God is a woman' and 'breathin'' out of the main set is a pointed choice: this era is about closing an emotional loop, not ticking off every chart hit.
| Segment | Songs | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Opening run | yes, and?; positions; dandelion; the boy is mine; eternal sunshine | Establish current era tone and narrative |
| Hit core | just like magic; thank u, next; 7 rings | Reconnect with mainstream audience expectations |
| Middle stretch | imperfect for you; warm; safety net; One Last Time; Rain On Me; Break Free | Blend new material with legacy collaborations |
| Late arc | twilight zone; past life; Dangerous Woman; Honeymoon Avenue; Hampstead; Into You; hate that I made you love me | Deep cuts and emotional climax |
| Finale block | Surprise Petal Song x2; petal; we can’t be friends (wait for your love); supernatural | Center Petal era and tour farewell |
Surprise Songs and A Cappella Moments: Why Every Night Feels Different
The surprise songs have turned the Eternal Sunshine Tour into a nightly experiment, and that’s not an accident; Ariana is using them to blur the line between rehearsed spectacle and spontaneous connection. After her performance in Brooklyn on July 19, she began adding an a cappella surprise song, initially dropping 'Be Alright' between 'past life' and 'Dangerous Woman' before shifting the slot between 'Honeymoon Avenue' and 'Hampstead' and asking the crowd what they wanted to hear. That call‑and‑response isn’t fan service, it’s a power move: she proves she can re‑enter any era of her discography raw, without production, and still own a massive arena.
Following the release of Petal, she doubles down, opting for two surprise Petal songs ahead of the title track 'petal' in her most recent London shows. The rotating list is already dense: 'sweetener', '34+35', 'worst behaviour', 'Sometimes', 'like i do', 'stay', 'oh well', 'big feelings', 'never get over me', 'kiss me', 'bad thing (bunny hop)', and, in one O2 highlight, 'For Good' and 'Get Happy' / 'Happy Days Are Here Again' with Cynthia Erivo. When she uses the encore space to revisit Wicked material in that one‑off duet, she makes the quiet point that the Eternal Sunshine era is not isolated; it sits alongside her work in the Wicked movies and her upcoming Petal album, all of it part of the same living story.
- Brooklyn, Jul 19 – 'Be Alright'
- Boston, Jul 25 – 'sweetener'
- Boston, Jul 26 – '34+35'
- Montreal, Jul 28 – 'worst behaviour' and 'petal'
- Montreal, Jul 30 – 'Sometimes' and 'like i do'
- Montreal, Jul 31 – 'stay' and 'oh well'
- Chicago, Aug 3 – 'big feelings' and 'never get over me'
- Chicago, Aug 5 – 'like i do' and 'stay'
- Chicago, Aug 6 – 'oh well' and 'like i do'
- London, Aug 15 – 'kiss me' and 'bad thing (bunny hop)'
- London, Aug 16 – 'For Good' and 'Get Happy' / 'Happy Days Are Here Again' with Cynthia Erivo
Live Looping With Boss RC Stations: The 20‑Year Skill at the Heart of Eternal Sunshine
The most audacious moment of the show isn’t a key change or a dance break; it’s Ariana Grande standing alone on her B‑stage, asking thousands of people for quiet as she begins 'eternal sunshine' by live looping her vocals. In an arena context, this is a gamble: she chooses vulnerability over bombast, trusting that fans will hold the silence while she builds harmonies and rhythmic layers in real time using what appears to be a Boss RC‑505. That confidence has roots. A clip from 2007 shows a 14‑year‑old Grande using a Boss RC device to construct a live cover of India Arie’s 'There’s Hope'; another performance from 2013 captures her looping Imogen Heap’s 'Just For Now' with an RC‑50, joking that she knows she’s not supposed to press the foot pedals with her hands but doing it anyway because it works.
By the time she used the RC‑505 MkII for the intro of a live version of 'Positions' in a 2021 session, the looper had clearly become more than a gadget; it was a way to reconnect with the intimacy of her bedroom experiments even at superstar scale. According to Vevo’s Ed Walker, she “got one in the studio and she just used it and then she was like, ‘Right, we're starting the song with this,’” because it took her back to those early days. On the Eternal Sunshine Tour, that history becomes visible: the live looping segment is not a novelty, it’s the spine of the show’s thesis. She has been honing this skill for nearly 20 years, and now she places it at the exact emotional center of the tour, turning what could have been a slick pop production into a demonstration of technique, risk, and trust.
The O2 Residency as a Farewell: Closing the Eternal Sunshine Era
What gives the Eternal Sunshine Tour its weight isn’t only the Ariana Grande setlist or the surprise songs; it’s the knowledge that the O2 residency is a planned ending. At the time of writing, only seven performances remain, all at London’s O2, after which we may not see her on stage again for quite some time. That fact changes the emotional temperature of every loop, every a cappella ad‑lib, every Petal deep cut. The credits roll to 'ordinary things' as a dedication to her late Nonna after she leaves the stage, underscoring that this run is as much about personal closure as it is about spectacle.
In that sense, the Eternal Sunshine Tour songs have become an archive of an era she is consciously closing: positions‑era confidence, Eternal Sunshine introspection, Petal previews, Wicked nods, all gathered under one roof and then deliberately put away. Ending with an O2 residency performances cluster rather than a scattered set of dates is a statement; she is compressing the narrative into one city, one venue, seven final chances to watch her build and rebuild that looping stack by hand. When the lights go up and the last credits roll, it will feel less like a tour finishing and more like a chapter ending on her own terms—structured, risky, and unmistakably hers.
