Concert Reviews
The “I Hate Boston” pop singer returned to the city she used to despise for her “BITE ME” tour.
Reneé Rapp, with Syd, Thursday, Oct. 2, at TD Garden, Boston.
“Welcome to T*tty Garden!” Renee Rapp said, laughing at a fan’s sign in the pit bearing the phrase.
The “I Hate Boston” pop singer returned to the city she used to despise, performing at TD Garden for the first time for her “BITE ME” tour on Thursday night, bringing her sexy, unfiltered, brutally honest self with her.
“I love your spunk. I love your creativity. Never stop.” Rapp said to the Boston crowd. “Y’all are f*cking crazy, and lord do I love you.”
Rapp started the night off with chaos and noise, with a video of a heated argument among four versions of herself talking over each other. Ultimately, one of them shouts, “Shut the f*ck up!” before her real self appears on an elevated platform, ready to sing “Everything to Everyone” and “Leave Me Alone.”
At only 25 years old, Rapp has already been a main character favorite as Leighton Murray on HBO Max’s “Sex Lives of College Girls” and as Regina George both in “Mean Girls” on Broadway and in the 2024 box office hit “Mean Girls: The Musical.” Not to mention, she’s had two hit albums, with her most recent release, “BITE ME,” hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart.
But as her projects pulled her in different directions throughout her career, she’s made it very clear that she does not want to be bothered anymore. While her “BITE ME” album is still a continuation of her growth and healing from her previous relationships and friendships, it also served as a declaration that she is now choosing music full time.
As she laughed, blew kisses into the crowd, and jumped around the stage, her performance at TD Garden felt like a victory lap, celebrating her freedom to pursue what she truly wants to do.
That being said, the production felt like a harmonious collision of her theatre beginnings and her newfound stardom. The set was flanked by velvet red curtains, opening and closing between major acts, while the stage itself was a checkerboard star with pink-tiered steps and a hanging chandelier in the center.
But in the age of pop stars’ large productions, typically featuring frequent costume changes and mega backup dance troupes, Rapp scaled back heavily on the glitz and glam, opting for spotlights, a couple big fans to blow her hair back, a mic stand, and just her band.
Midway through the show, Rapp tried using a handheld live camera, as she sang “Swim” and immersed herself in the crowd, making a lap around the pit. But unfortunately, it lagged heavily, capturing only pieces of the action, much like a frozen Zoom meeting.
Perhaps that was the technical difficulty that Rapp’s team faced prior to the show, causing delays. (If it was, it certainly wasn’t fixed. Maybe keeping the production simple was for the better.)
At least her opener Syd, formerly from band The Internet, properly energized the crowd with a mix of old and new hits, including a song she just released last week called “GMFU.”
At one point when the curtains were drawn, Rapp belted a few of her hits whilst laying on top of a piano. One of them was “I Hate Boston,” which the crowd anxiously anticipated since it wasn’t part of the regular setlist.
“We can’t come here and not play that. It would be f*cked up,” Rapp said. “And I’m not trying to do anything f*cked up okay? Not right now.”
Later, she’s sitting on the edge of the star, feet dangling, serenading her fans. Or on the pink stairs with her band, singing an acoustic version of the viral “I Think I Like You Better When You’re Gone.”
Rapp also stuck with one outfit the entire show: a blue tee with a sparkly dangling sash draped over cheeky black shorts, tall boots, and ripped tights.
Instead, she let her vocal prowess speak for itself, as she effortlessly hit every high note with ease and power.
The pace of the concert was overwhelmingly impressive, with many songs in her setlist flowing immediately, and seamlessly, after one another, sometimes without a beat in between.
The balance of it all allowed her to achieve both a sense of intimacy and electrifying pop energy. It brought her closer to her fans, while loudly empowering them to be the strongest versions of themselves.
And the audience embraced it. They danced on their feet and sang the entire night, screaming the lyrics along with Rapp. Calling herself an “attention wh*re,” Rapp knew she had every one in the room in awe of her.
As much as she loved the focus on herself, she also used that spotlight to reflect on causes bigger than her. At the beginning of the show, when Rapp appeared on screen, she called attention to children around the world facing humanitarian crises, and her fans were screaming in support of her outspoken activism. She mentioned millions of children suffering from genocide, poverty, and hunger around the world, including in Gaza, as she encouraged her fans to donate to Save the Children, both directly and through her merchandise proceeds.
The audience was mostly a sea of young women, wearing lots of pink and red, corset tops, and lip-shaped rhinestone stickers. Some even cut out holes in their tank tops, an homage to her role as Regina George in “Mean Girls.”
But more importantly, her fans were just as emotional as Rapp herself. They deeply resonated with her, yelling affirmations as she would talk about the relationships and pain behind her songs. You could tell the audience felt it personally, understanding that pain to their core, especially with her staple hits like “In The Kitchen” and “Snow Angel.”
Rapp flipped her album’s namesake phrase on its rear end. “BITE ME” is more than about being pissed off. As she ended the night with “At Least I’m Hot” — a perfect final message for her emboldened fans — you realize that her performance was a tough love reminder to channel all your anger and rise above it all.
Setlist for Reneé Rapp at TD Garden, Oct. 2, 2025
- Everything to Everyone (intro)
- Leave Me Alone
- Kiss It Kiss It
- Talk Too Much
- Poison Poison
- Shy
- Mad
- Why Is She Still Here?
- That’s So Funny
- I Hate Boston
- Sometimes
- Swim
- I Think I Like You Better When You’re Gone
- I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore
- Tummy Hurts
- You’d Like That Wouldn’t You
- Pretty Girls
- In the Kitchen
- Snow Angel
- Not My Fault (Shortened)
- At Least I’m Hot
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