ninety-seven shows across two albums and one year, played by somebody who was, by her own account, not well.
the short answer
the sweetener world tour ran from march to december 2019 across north america and europe, drawing on both sweetener and thank u, next. it was her last tour before the eternal sunshine tour in 2026 — a gap of six and a half years. the netflix concert film excuse me, i love you was filmed on the london dates.
the shape of it
a two-album tour, which is an unusual problem to have. the two records had come out six months apart and both were enormous, so the set had to carry sweetener's stranger material and thank u, next's hits without becoming three hours long. what she built is the closest thing to a greatest-hits show she had done to that point.
it also had to follow the dangerous woman tour, which is to say it had to follow manchester. the production, the security arrangements and the way the audience was addressed were all different afterwards, permanently.
the illnesses
she postponed two florida dates in may after an allergic reaction, and in november cancelled a lexington show having posted that she had been unwell for weeks, that her throat and head were in significant pain and that she was struggling to breathe on stage. the health page has what is actually on the record.
excuse me, i love you
the netflix concert film, released in december 2020, built from the london shows at the o2. it is the only full-length document of the tour and one of very few of any of her tours — the archive has the runs, but the footage is thin for most of them.
it is also worth watching for a specific reason: it came out during a year with no live music at all, and it is the last footage of her performing before a six-and-a-half-year gap. the person on that stage and the person on the 2026 tour stage are recognisably doing different jobs.
and then nothing for six years
it closed in december 2019. the next tour opened in june 2026. in between: a pandemic, two albums, a marriage and a divorce, two films of a two-part musical, and a change of management. the piece on whether she will tour again treats that gap as the most useful precedent available.
questions people ask
when was the sweetener world tour?
march to december 2019, across north america and europe.
what did she play on the sweetener tour?
material from both sweetener and thank u, next, which had been released six months apart — effectively a greatest-hits set.
did ariana grande cancel shows on the sweetener tour?
yes. two florida dates were postponed in may after an allergic reaction and a lexington date was cancelled in november during a respiratory illness.
is there a film of the sweetener tour?
yes — excuse me, i love you, on netflix, filmed at the london o2 dates and released in december 2020.
was it her last tour before 2026?
yes. it closed in december 2019 and the eternal sunshine tour did not open until june 2026, a gap of six and a half years.