Ariana Grande Brings Back a Decade-Old Song After Technical Issue in NYC

Ariana Grande showed that she can handle unexpected problems during her Eternal Sunshine Tour, surprising fans by performing a decade old favorite without music while waiting for a technical issue to be resolved at her concert in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sunday, July 19.

During Grande’s fifth and last Barclays Center concert on the current tour, the production suddenly stopped around the middle of the show, shortly after she performed the Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead songs “Twilight Zone” and “Past Life.” After telling the audience that her team needed a moment to fix a mechanical problem, the Grammy winner asked, “Should we sing a song that’s not in the show together?”

Grande invited the crowd to choose what she should sing and appeared to notice a fan requesting “Be Alright” from her 2016 album Dangerous Woman. “Ooh! OK,” she responded enthusiastically before beginning the song’s first lines.

When the chorus arrived, Grande let the audience take over. “Yay! That was fun,” she said after ending the performance a few lines later. “See? I love things like this, because it means we get to spend more time together. But they’ve fixed it now, so now we’ll go back to the show. Love you.”

In a fitting coincidence, the next scheduled number was the title song from Dangerous Woman. Grande continued the remainder of the concert without any further interruptions and completed her run at the New York City venue.

“new york, you have my heart always … brooklyn, i am emotional !” she later wrote on Instagram beside a collection of concert photos. “thank you for five beautiful shows. i love you, i love new york, i love this show, i love our eternal sunshine tour family, and again, you, you, you… with all my heart always.”

This was not the only technical problem Grande encountered during her Barclays Center residency. On the opening night, July 13, sound from her loop machine unexpectedly disappeared while she performed “Eternal Sunshine,” prompting the audience to sing loudly alongside her. At Sunday’s concert, the lighting and screens on the right side of the stage also briefly flickered several times.

The surprise performance of “Be Alright” became a welcome addition to a concert filled with Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers. These included “Thank U, Next,” where Grande changed a lyric in what appeared to be confirmation of her reunion with former boyfriend Ricky Alvarez, as well as “7 Rings,” “Positions” and “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love).” Later in the show, she sang another No. 1 hit, “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” which serves as the first single from her forthcoming album Petal, arriving July 31.

The Wicked star has now completed half of the Eternal Sunshine Tour, which began in Oakland, Calif., on June 6. Her upcoming schedule includes several concerts in Boston, Montreal and Chicago, followed by a final stretch of 10 performances at London’s O2 Arena.

Watch Grande sing “Be Alright” below.