two slots a night, no repeats worth speaking of, and the only part of a modern arena show that cannot be rehearsed into safety.
the short answer
the eternal sunshine tour keeps two slots a night for songs outside the fixed set. they have included deep cuts, petal material played before the album existed, and duets with guests — cynthia erivo at the o2 in london on 16 august, and ty dolla $ign in new york in july. the title track of petal was debuted in one of these slots in montreal on 28 july 2026.
how the slots work
two spots in the running order, in roughly the same place each night, which the band can drop material into without restaging anything. the rest of the set is fixed, because forty-one nights of production cues are, and these two are the part that is not.
the practical constraint is that a surprise song has to be playable with the arrangement on stage rather than the one on the record, which is why the ones that turn up tend to be either very simple or very old.
the nights worth knowing about
- montreal, 28 july. the title track of petal played for the first time anywhere, three days before the album came out.
- new york, 16 july. ty dolla $ign joined her for safety net, from positions.
- london, 15 august. kiss me and bad thing (bunny hop), both from petal, in the same night.
- london, 16 august. cynthia erivo for two songs — for good, from wicked, and a get happy medley. the only night on the run with two guest duets in it.
why the o2 run got the best of them
ten consecutive nights in one building, at the end of a tour, with the band as tight as it will ever be. that is the ideal condition for this: nothing has to be moved, everybody knows the room, and there are ten chances rather than one. the london residency is the closing stretch of the run, and it has produced more of these than the whole north american leg.
what the surprise slot is for
commercially, it sells the second ticket — a fixed set gives nobody a reason to go twice. artistically it does something more interesting: it is the only point in a show of this size where the audience is watching something that has not been optimised. the production is enormous, the cues are locked, and then for eight minutes it is a person and a band deciding what to play.
given that this is the last scheduled run before a stated break from public work, those eight minutes a night are also the least mediated version of her that currently exists anywhere.
questions people ask
how many surprise songs does ariana grande play?
two slots a night on the eternal sunshine tour, in roughly the same place in the running order each show.
has cynthia erivo appeared on the tour?
yes — at the o2 arena in london on 16 august 2026, for for good and a get happy medley.
when did she first play a song from petal live?
the title track, in montreal on 28 july 2026, three days before the album was released.
where can i find tonight's setlist?
fan-maintained setlist databases update within hours of each show. this page records the nights reported by named outlets rather than predicting anything.