{"id":147790,"date":"2026-07-29T07:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T07:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/147790\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T07:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T07:05:08","slug":"ariana-grande-fans-brave-the-rain-as-eternal-sunshine-tour-hits-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/147790\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariana Grande fans brave the rain as Eternal Sunshine tour hits Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pouring rain was not enough to deter the legions of Ariana Grande fans who flocked to the Bell Centre Tuesday evening and stood patiently in line to see the pop superstar play the first of three Montreal shows this week. She is back in our city after a seven-year absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited,\u201d said Miana Macchavecchio, 16, who came in from Laval with her sister Kiara, 18. It was the first time seeing the singer for the siblings, dressed in matching black and white outfits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea what to expect,\u201d Kiara said. \u201cI didn\u2019t do any research (about the show); I wanted to be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two are drawn to Grande for \u201cher songs, her vibe,\u201d Miana explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer style,\u201d Kiara added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer hair, her outfits,\u201d Miana continued. \u201cThere\u2019s not much else that sounds like her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AJJ Williamson, 24, has been a fan of Ariana Grande since the age of 11. \u201cShe basically grew up with me.\u201d Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

JJ Williamson flew in from Manchester, England, for the occasion after scoring a floor ticket last year for Thursday\u2019s show. He doubled down Tuesday morning, picking up a last-minute ticket for that night\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking for the price to drop down a bit. Things are going for about \u00a386 ($161) at the moment,\u201d said Williamson, decked out in an array of bracelets, face decals and a jersey with the word \u201cPetal\u201d on the back in reference to Grande\u2019s eighth album, out Friday.<\/p>\n

\"AJJ Williamson flew in from Manchester, England, for Ariana Grande\u2019s Bell Centre shows. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old has been a fan of the artist since the age of 11, explaining: \u201cShe basically grew up with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have her tattooed all over my body \u2014 here, here, here,\u201d he said, showing off multiple Grande portraits up and down his arms.<\/p>\n

He was touched by the singer\u2019s response to the terrorist bombing that occurred at her concert in Manchester in May 2017, killing 22 people as well as the bomber and injuring hundreds more.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really uplifted us and healed with us. It was beautiful,\u201d he said. \u201cShe will always be my No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williamson had seen Grande perform a half-dozen times and was ecstatic to be adding a couple more dates to the tally.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer voice is insane, it\u2019s out of this world. Especially hearing it live, it\u2019s so crazy. She\u2019s very raw, and not afraid to tell a story with her songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThreeJana Alfadhli, Judy Malak and Nora Alfadhli came from Gatineau to see Ariana Grande at the Bell Centre. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

Sisters Jana and Nora Alfadhli, age 16 and 24, came in from Gatineau with their cousin Judy Malak, 19, and were seeing Grande for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a fan since before her Nickelodeon days,\u201d Nora said. \u201cI used to watch her YouTube videos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jana loves Grande for \u201cher vibe, her voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s much better than Mariah Carey,\u201d Malak opined.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s such an inspiration,\u201d Nora added.<\/p>\n

Grande is a great role model, said Jana: \u201cI want to be like her when I grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malak finds her \u201cso relatable. She makes music for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they neared the front of the line, Nora mused that she might faint during the performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely going to be crying,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"AJosh Martin of Brantford, Ont., took the title of Ariana Grande\u2019s new album Petal to heart. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

In tribute to the Petal theme, Josh Martin wore a sheer blouse adorned with flowers and had more flowers lining his forehead, as well as aqua blue and pink makeup to match.<\/p>\n

Martin, 25, had come in from Brantford, Ont., for the occasion with Cameron Pearce, 29, who was not attending the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love her makeup brand and the way she cares for her fans,\u201d Martin said. \u201cShe\u2019s very relatable, and every song she releases is good. She doesn\u2019t have a bad song. She\u2019s very talented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoJosh Martin, left, waits outside the Bell Centre on Tuesday with Cameron Pearce. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

The 17,000 fans who attended Tuesday\u2019s show would surely agree. They screamed their hearts out as the singer powered through a generous and entertaining two-hour set filled with hits from throughout her career.<\/p>\n

Backed by an airtight four-piece band and flanked by 12 dynamic dancers, Grande delivered an earnest, energetic concert made all the more special by the fact that Montreal is the only Canadian stop on her Eternal Sunshine tour.<\/p>\n

\"TwoAleeya and Areej Syed wait outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

Parading up and down a catwalk to a satellite stage at the centre of the crowd, she and her dancers brought the party to the people with a number of upbeat anthems, from the Madonna-esque opener Yes, and? to the emancipation romp Break Free, early-career hit One Last Time and late-set offering We Can\u2019t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).<\/p>\n

And she brought it home with a mix of mid-tempo R&B tracks and ballads including Positions, Eternal Sunshine (for which she politely asked the crowd to pipe down) and Dangerous Woman, each of which garnered massive singalongs.<\/p>\n

The theatrical staging was disarmingly simple, leaving Grande ample room to own the arena on her own merits. And that\u2019s just what this good witch and her four-octave range did, sprinkling pixie dust every step of the way.<\/p>\n

Ariana Grande performs again at the Bell Centre on Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

tdunlevy@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TwoChantelle Dass and Maya Eibensteiner from Vancouver wait outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\"AAlexei Abecassis waits outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\"TwoHanna Kimball and Macie Maybury wait outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. The pair travelled from New York state to enjoy the show. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\"ThreeKaitlin and Gaby Hurst and Lola Anastasia from Lancaster, Pa., shelter from the rain as they wait outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\"TwoChantel Ritchie and Jesseca Trwong from Ottawa wait outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\"AAnushree Jaiswal from Toronto waits outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\"AAlexei Abecassis waits outside the Bell Centre for the first of three Ariana Grande concerts in Montreal, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pouring rain was not enough to deter the legions of Ariana Grande fans who flocked to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[564,50],"class_list":["post-147790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-bell-centre","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}