The pop sensation's heartache princess had her stage debut in Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium, where she was carried into the stadium disguised as a janitor's cart just before her first of 17 British performances. It was only fitting that she destroyed her rivals, putting on a painstakingly timed and endlessly fascinating display that thrilled spectators who had traveled from as far away as Australia, Japan, and America.
The star, via anthems like 22, Shake It Off, Bad Blood, Karma, and Anti-Hero, traced her experiences through pop and country, love and sorrow, fame and celebrity, for three and a half hours.
Furthermore, she made it her goal to give Scotland a unique sense. She began her only second-ever performance in Scotland by saying, "My one regret is that I really should have come to play in Scotland more." You've been so kind to us. The intensity of the dancing and singing... You're doing this at such a high caliber.I can't take my eyes off the throng. I'm captivated.
Swift's greatest strength is her ability to sell the impression that she is just like the rest of us and is just in awe of the spectacle around her. Her first words upon entering the stage are, "Oh, hi!" as if we had just run into her at the top of Arthur's Seat.
Her trademark expression is an incredulous "who, me?" as if her $2 billion global tour is some kind of fortunate coincidence. Her apparent genuine happiness is very charming. Naturally, however, this tour is a well-oiled machine, complete with vibrant set pieces, flawless choreography, and breathtaking visuals.
Just after 7:15 p.m., Swift appears on stage in a cloud of white smoke, spinning around in the first of her sixteen different costumes as she enters the stage to the synth-pop hits of Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince. Ten of her eleven albums, each representing a distinct “era” in her development from country ingénue to pop superstar to lockdown folk singer, are included in the set list.
With a gleeful abandon, she zigzags across the chronology, starting with the blatant romanticism of 2019's Lover and going back to her career for her pop makeover on Red and the country classics of Fearless. Every instant has a unique appearance. A sophisticated setup of office cubicles and typewriters hosts the performance of the song "The Man," which addresses constrictive gender stereotypes. Dancers are imprisoned in glass enclosures in the spiky and caustic Look What You Made Me Do, where they each recreate a distinct appearance from Swift's 19-year career. And with neon bicycles surrounding the stage, Blank Space is similar to a live-action Tron movie.
However, for her masterwork All Too Well, Swift spends ten minutes by herself on an elevated stage, equipped only with her guitar and an ombre red-black cloak. The song, which is a 10-minute indictment of an ex-boyfriend (said to be actor Jake Gyllenhaal), is taken from 2012's Red Album and has some of her most caustic and depressing lyrics.
The audience responds sympathetically to the song's crucial lyric, "You call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest," as she sings it with fading wrath and bittersweet compassion.
She has won over many admirers, especially women, with her song, which is an emotional high point that is both individual and universal at the same time. This is only one of several songs in Edinburgh that make people cry. But just one inspires a suggestion.
Swift notices something going on to the left of the stage while she performs Cardigan.
She exclaims with joy, "I think I just saw someone get engaged."
"Congratulations! It's not dark [on stage] like it usually is, so I never get to see that."
"Wow, that's incredible. I appreciate you doing that for my concert. It's a significant occasion.
Unexpected melodies Small moments such as this are sprinkled throughout the program. Swift selects a little fan in the crowd during 22 and gives her the hat she had been wearing. She gives the mike to a supporting dancer on We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, who emphasizes her response with a cheeky Scottish "nae chance."
Swift also states that the Scottish highlands served the inspiration for her lockdown companion albums, Folklore and Evermore, during the song's introduction, Betty.
"I was covered in cat hair, there was so much TV, and so much white wine," she said. That's what I really experienced. I decided to make up a fictional universe and travel there as an escape. I now realize that this gorgeous, mossy, forested environment is probably only based on internet footage of Scotland. Undoubtedly, this receives one of the loudest applauses of the evening. and Scotland's major newspapers immediately report on her remarks.
Swift excels in this. As her massive tour nears its 100th concert, she continues to create fresh moments to keep the discussion going. Because the singer is often changing up her wardrobe and set list, even those who watch livestreams of her concerts have something new to talk about.
The highly anticipated acoustic performance, which takes place at the conclusion of each event and includes two or more "exclusive" tunes, is crucial to this. Swift squeezed in four songs for Scotland: a mashup of "Tis the Damn Season" and "Daylight," and a mash-up of "Would've, Could've, Should've" and "I Know Places." "My hand is a claw." But there are two interruptions to the set. Swift initially stops to let a fan to get medical help. Then, she seems to need a physician herself halfway through I Know Places.
"Oh my God! Hand ache!" she groans. "This has never occurred before... It's very awkward. My hand feels like a thorn. But, happily, she is able to continue after giving her hand some time to massage. Although it's a little misstep, it draws the attention of the audience, which fluctuates throughout the performance.
The mood is more attentive than ecstatic throughout the Folklore / Evermore period, and there's a noticeable pause during the melancholy new song from The Tortured Poets Department.
However, the performance is set up such that you're never far from a good sing-along (favorite part: Everyone frantically attempting to hit the high notes in "I Knew You Were Trouble"), and the premise of Eras gives fans who joined at various points in Swift's career a chance to sing along together. Swift is making a broad message about early adulthood by showcasing 20 years' worth of diary-derived singles, even if the disorganized chronology avoids anything as straightforward as a narrative arc.
Growing pains, political awakenings, strained friendships, shattered loves, self-realization, self-reliance, re-invention, and, finally, survival are all included in her songs.
Karma, the strange and humorous last item in her catalog, is how she closes. It's a tribute to past foes, whose demise she observes with a purring cat on her lap, like to a pop star villain from James Bond movies. However, the song also has a fitting performance finale with its valedictory air. Swift sings that her success is just the fruit of her tenacity and willpower, regardless of the challenges she has in life. "Inquire of me what I have gained from all the tears I have shed throughout the years.
"Ask me why so many fade, but I remain / I remain, I remain here." So, the issue is, where will she go from here? Taylor Swift is a performer who is at the height of her dominance. Few things can surpass a global tour that breaks box office records and gains cultural renown. While there are hints in the lyrics of her most recent album that she's ready for a new challenge, she can still make the whole stage sparkle for the time being.
The playlist
Act I: Passionate
Cruel Summer: Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince: The Man Who Needs to Stop Being Angry
Act II: Unafraid
Fearless Love Story: You Belong With Me
Third Act: Red
22 There will never be a reunion between us.
I knew all too well that you were trouble (ten-minute version)
Act IV: Let's Talk Now
Captured
Act V: Standing
Are You Set for It?
Don't blame me, be delicate.
Take A Look at What You Got Me To Do.
Act VI: Evermore / Folklore
Cardigan
Issues with Betty Champagne's August Illicit Affairs
My Tears Spill Over
Marjorie Willow
Act VII of 1989
Design Vacant Space
Shake It Off: Bad Blood, Wildest Dreams
Act VIII: Department of Tortured Poets
But I Love My Dad / So High School, Who's Fearful of Old Me?
The Tiniest Man Who Ever Lived: Down Bad Fortnight I Can Do It Despite a Broken Heart
Act IX: Acoustic Performance
Daylight / I Know Places / 'Tis The Damn Season / Would've, Could've, Should've
Act X: The Midnights
Lavender Haze, Midnight Rain, Anti-Hero, Vigilante S**t, Mastermind Karma
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