Tate McRae ‘Miss Possessive’ Tour in New York: Review & Best Moments

During the penultimate act of the show, Tate and her dancers marched off stage and into the crowd to execute simple hand choreography — and take a massive group selfie — with legions of adoring fans. Nearly every fan in the arena came dressed in one of three Tate-approved fashion aesthetics (leopard print booty shorts, purple lace bras and hockey jerseys), which made the selfie moment a real-time documentation of Tate’s impact on Top 40’s newest and youngest listeners.

For VIP soundcheck, Tate normally peforms one song for a few lucky fans before a Q&A session. For the first Madison Square Garden show of the Miss Possessive Tour, she treated those fans to a somber cover of Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season.” What’s more? For some MSG-exclusive merch, Tate opted for a hockey jersey (MSG is the home of the Rangers, after all!) that read, “We could go again like two, three, four times,” a “Sports Car” nod that also doubled as an easter egg. By the end of the Miss Possessive Tour, Tate will have headlined MSG four times across her career so far.

With hits like “Symphony,” “Lush Life,” “Ain’t My Fault” and “Never Forget You,” Zara Larsson has been a fixture in global pop music for years. After her opening set on the Miss Possessive Tour, the Swedish pop princess’ Stateside domination seems all but certain. A charismatic performer who studied intensely at the University of Beyoncé — every high-octane dance break was punctuated by a show-stopping belt or riff — Larsson tore through her half-hour set, which included a cover of Britney Spears’ timeless “Gimme More.”

The main moment, however, was her now-viral rendition of “Midnight Sun,” the title track from her forthcoming fifth studio album, which is due Sept. 26 via Epic Records and Sommer House. The dance-pop banger is addictive on its own, but with Zara’s stunning live vocals and inventive staging (check out her nailing the song’s first chorus while being hoisted in the air by her dancers), “Midnight Sun” morphed into an all-out end-of-summer anthem.

Of course, Tate McRae can work virtually any stage, but the Miss Possessive Tour stage gave her ample room to maximize her visual storytelling throughout the night. She danced atop an elevated platform to kick off the show, before taking the stairs down to the main stage, which featured a slightly downhill ramp that gave way to a runway that hosted several sultry catwalks from both Tate herself and her impressive backup dancers. At the end of the runway was yet another platform, which eventually split into five sections that each elevated to a pyramid position, adding more height dimension to the overall presentation.

Though the stage décor was sparse, Tate made up for that with how she maneuvered and utilized the scaffolding of the different platforms. Several on-stage cameramen followed her around with handhelds, ensuring music video-esque visuals for the larger arena whenever the stage structures blocked her from view. Finally, the smaller B-stage on the opposite end of the arena granted the crowd a small pocket of intimacy during a night that packed on the bombast.

Under the ambitious eye of Sean Bankhead, one of contemporary music’s most sought-after choreographers, Tate and her dancers absolutely shut down the stage at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. With choreography that featured pirouettes (a not-so-subtle nod to Tate’s professional dance background), a “Revolving Door”-soundtracked catwalk moment that recalled Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour ball section, Y2K hip-hop moves, ample hairography and a pole dancing routine, Tate effortlessly shifted through several styles of dance, never losing momentum or energy. Just as impressively, her dancers seamlessly transitioned between masculine and feminine approaches to the choreography, reminding the arena that pop stardom is truly a state of mind.