Bay Area kickoff for a global pop return
Two nights. One arena. After several years off the road, Ariana Grande is bringing her first full-scale tour since 2019 back to a live stage—and she’s starting in the Bay Area. The Eternal Sunshine Tour will open with back-to-back shows at Oakland Arena on Saturday, June 6, 2026, and Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Both nights are slated for 7:30 p.m. starts, with doors at 6:30 p.m.
The launch is a statement choice. Oakland Arena, which can hold close to 20,000 for concerts, keeps the opening nights inside an arena where sightlines and sound sit closer to the action than a stadium. It also puts the Bay Area—long a reliable stop for top-tier pop tours—at the center of one of 2026’s most sought-after tickets.
The itinerary stretches across North America and the United Kingdom. After Oakland, Los Angeles follows on June 13 and 14 at Crypto.com Arena. The tour is scheduled to close on August 23, 2026, at The O2 in London, one of Europe’s busiest live-music venues. Promoters have not released the full city list yet, but the run is expected to touch most major markets before crossing the Atlantic.
Grande revealed the news on Instagram with a simple, sentimental caption—“see you next year ♡ 🧸”—and it landed like a flare. Within minutes, fan accounts began trading seating maps, travel plans, and early theories about the setlist and staging.
The name of the tour points to her most recent album, a project that marked a sharp, self-assured pivot in her sound. Eternal Sunshine debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, led by singles that leaned into hushed vocals, diaristic lyrics, and crisp, electronic production textures. Live, those songs figure to sit alongside her arena anthems, offering a mix of intimacy and scale.
Tickets, venues, and what to expect on stage
Tickets will roll out in stages, with a presale designed to prioritize registered fans before opening to everyone else. Here’s the timeline:
- Registration for North American presale: open through September 7, 2025, on Ticketmaster.
- North American presale (including Oakland): September 9, 2025.
- North American general on-sale: September 10, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. local time.
- UK presale (including London): September 16, 2025.
- UK general on-sale: September 18, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. local time.
Oakland Arena has flagged a key entry rule: screenshots or photos of tickets will not be accepted. Fans should plan to present a valid mobile ticket in their ticketing app or a physical, printed ticket. Expect standard arena security checks and allow extra time for digital ticket retrieval at the gates.
If demand mirrors her last tour, seats will go quickly. Grande’s 2019 Sweetener World Tour sold out arenas across the U.S. and Europe and grossed well over $140 million, according to industry trackers—an indicator of how fast inventory can disappear once queues open. Pricing for 2026 wasn’t announced at press time, and promoters have not detailed VIP or premium options yet.
The timing lines up with a busy creative stretch. Grande’s turn as Glinda in the two-part Wicked film has kept her in the public eye, with the first installment arriving in theaters in late 2024 and the second slated for 2025. The tour lands right after that movie cycle, making these shows her first chance to present the Eternal Sunshine era in full, with a band, choreography, and the kind of lighting and video design you only get on a headline run.
Expect a setlist that balances the new with the untouchables. Eternal Sunshine tracks should anchor the show, while staples like “thank u, next,” “no tears left to cry,” and “Into You” are all but guaranteed. The quieter album cuts could get reworked for the arena—string arrangements, a stripped-down interlude, or a piano-led section that lets the vocals breathe between high-production numbers.
Production-wise, Grande’s shows tend to favor clean lines and vocal-first mixes, even when the screens and stage pieces go big. Look for layered LED panels, sculptural lighting rigs, and precision choreography. The opening nights often set the tone for the entire run, so the Oakland shows will be watched closely by fans and industry alike to see how the visual narrative locks in.
For Bay Area concertgoers, the usual arena rhythms apply. Traffic around the Coliseum complex can stack up early, especially on weeknights. Rideshares and public transit typically add capacity when there’s a major show on the calendar, but expect longer waits after the encore. Inside, food and beverage lines spike in the half hour before showtime; arriving at doors usually buys you a quieter window to move around.
Accessibility and entry notes worth keeping in mind:
- Mobile tickets: use the official ticketing app; don’t rely on screenshots.
- Physical tickets: bring them if your order allows it; keep them dry and unfolded for scanning.
- Transfers and resale: check the event’s transfer rules in your account before buying or selling.
- Bag policy: many arenas limit bag size; verify before you head out to avoid delays at security.
- Timing: doors at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m.—give yourself a buffer if you’re picking up tickets at will call.
Beyond the logistics, the bigger story is the comeback of a pop performer who hasn’t toured a full cycle in years. Grande’s last arena run ended just before the world changed. Since then, she’s recalibrated her sound, walked into a huge film role, and returned to the top of the charts. The Oakland opener is more than a starting gun; it’s a new chapter, written on stage.
Los Angeles gets the next look, with a two-night stand at Crypto.com Arena on June 13–14. From there, the tour works through a summer slate that culminates at London’s O2 on August 23, a venue known for marathon residencies and high-end production. The August finale suggests Europe will get a concentrated swing late in the run, with London as the exclamation point.
If you’re tracking the calendar from afar, the registration deadline is the immovable first hurdle. Miss it, and you’re banking on the general on-sale, which can be a sprint. If you make the cut, you’ll get a presale time and, in many cases, a code delivered ahead of your window. It doesn’t guarantee a seat, but it usually improves the odds.
As for the music, the Eternal Sunshine material feels designed for rooms like these. The production on the record—sleek, patient, and built around close-mic vocals—leaves lots of space for live dynamics. A song that whispers on the album can swell in an arena when the band pushes and the lighting blooms. That contrast, between private and panoramic, is the promise of this tour.
Mark the dates if you’re Bay Area-based: Saturday, June 6, and Tuesday, June 9, both at 7:30 p.m., doors at 6:30 p.m. Bring a charged phone, a real ticket, and some patience for the lines. Grande is opening the door to a new era onstage, and Oakland gets to walk in first.
