Sabrina Carpenter BST Hyde Park review: ‘Stadium shows on the horizon’
As the sense of anticipation intensified around Hyde Park ahead of the arrival of Sabrina Carpenter, a visual of the singer urging the crowd to “stick around for a great evening of television” played out on the big screens on the Great Oak Stage, setting the stage for a performance that blended exquisite choreography with humour, a sprinkling of 1950s-esque commercials and pure pop perfection.
Emerging onto the stage whilst donning a white one-piece suit, Carpenter launched into a stirring rendition of ‘Busy Woman’ complete with elaborate choreography – a fitting opener considering the singer’s schedule over the last 12 months or so – before upping the ante further with an early performance of ‘Taste’ that saw the 65,000 in attendance belt the hit back to the singer in full voice.
The hits kept coming as a satirical advert promoting ‘Manchild spray’, which depicted boys who refused to grow up being disposed of with spray, aired on the big screen, adding a touch of humour before Carpenter performed the recently released track, which sparked one of the biggest singalongs of the evening.
As Carpenter paused to bask in the applause of the 65,000 in attendance, beaming as she expressed her delight at selling out BST back-to-back on her biggest headlining shows in the UK to date, it’s a testament to how far the singer has come in a short space of time.
It was only two years ago that the singer made her Hyde Park debut, opening for K-Pop group Blackpink, and in the same year, the singer performed a headline set at the Hammersmith Apollo in front of around 5,000 people on the Emails I Can't Send Tour. It was the release of ‘Espresso’ in 2024 that catapulted Carpenter into superstardom, and the success of her sixth studio album, ‘Short N’ Sweet’, further cemented her status as one of the biggest stars in pop. From the resulting album, the singer graduated to arena headlining status last year before 2025 saw the 26-year-old become a festival headliner, and it’s clear that stadium shows are on the horizon in the not-too-distant future.
Greeted by the deafening screams of 65,000 and serenaded by repeated chants of ‘Sabrina, Sabrina, Sabrina’, the singer asked the crowd to “howl for me”. Initially a perplexing request, but the logic behind it became quickly apparent as the singer welcomed Simon Le Bon and John Taylor from Duran Duran for an unexpected but flawless performance of ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’,
While dedicating most of her set to material from her ‘Short N’ Sweet’ record, some of Carpenter’s early hits made an appearance on the setlist. ‘Nonsense’ was a perfect follow-up to the aforementioned ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ and followed an interlude that consisted of a friendly dance competition between the 26-year-old’s dancers.
A performance of ‘Because I Liked A Boy’ was utterly spine-tingling as the crowd belted the lyrics back to the singer in full voice in cathartic fashion. ‘Couldn’t Make It Any Harder’ is delivered with grace, with Sabrina’s silky voice complemented by a beautiful dance sequence from two of her dancers. While ‘Feather’ is another highlight from Sabrina’s early material and sets the stage wonderfully for an explosive finale.
A parody of a mattress commercial followed before a “parental discretion is advised” warning appeared on screen to a thunderous ovation, leading into a rendition of ‘Bed Chem’, which sees Carpenter perform the hit whilst lying on a bed before she’s joined by two male dancers who eventually kiss.
Throughout the ‘Short N’ Sweet’ tour, Carpenter has ‘arrested’ the likes of Millie Bobby Brown, Jack Antonoff and Salma Hayek in the lead-up to ‘Juno’, and on night two at Hyde Park, it was the turn of ‘The Bear’ star Ayo Edebiri and Clairo, who both performed Charli XCX’s ‘Apple dance’, to be ‘arrested’.
However, Carpenter opted against selecting a fresh sex position to act out as part of the aforementioned ‘Juno’; instead, she fired two t-shirts into the crowd with cannons. Following a euphoric performance of ‘Please Please Please’, the 26-year-old made her way through to the crowd to climb into a crane to sing ‘Don’t Smile’ whilst airborne in one of the more unique renditions I’ve ever seen.
Returning to the main stage, Sabrina declared, “I know you like tea, but maybe we could try espresso,” before a performance of the hit track, ending the night on a high. As the fireworks filled the sky and the final notes rang out, it was clear to see that Carpenter has honed her on-stage personality to perfection and her live performances are utterly sublime.