And really, any expectations of a focused fireside chat fell away at the beginning of the set, when the onstage clock struck midnight (though really it was only 8 p.m.). But she instead decided to segment the night by album, leaving the big lessons of her trajectory to emerge from the juxtapositions already present in it. Maybe she would swirl her albums together into a sleek playlist, reframing a now-sprawling catalog around some thematic through line. Going into the night, fans speculated about how Swift would bring her perfectionism to bear on the tricky question of which songs to perform. “So, uh, is it just me or do we have a lot of things to catch up on?” Swift asked early on, sitting behind a piano whose mossy encrusting gave it the look of long-submerged treasure and helped underscore her point. Swift created the vibe of an ecstatic cram session, like an epic outing with a far-flung bestie visiting for one night only. The structure was unwieldy yet urgent: 44 (yes, 44) songs over more than three hours. The emotional brew was excess and gratitude, cut with nostalgia for time lost, and made chaotic by physical circumstances. Somehow, seeing her up close made her seem more superhuman.Įvery aspect of the night felt shaped by the Ticketmaster-breaking reality that she has not shared air with masses of mortals since touring in 2018, and that she released six albums in the interim (four original, two rerecorded). After years of having their inner lives shaped by Swift’s highly mediated virtual output, more than 70,000 individuals can now attest to the vibrancy of Taylor Swift the person. All concerts are conjurings, turning the audience’s idea of a performer into a real thing, but last night’s kickoff of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in Glendale, Arizona, heightened the amazement with Houdini-escapes-handcuffs physicality. GLENDALE, Ariz.-Breaking: Taylor Swift is not simply a voice in our ears or an abstract concept to argue over at parties, but a flesh-and-blood being with a taste for sparkling pajamas and the stamina of a ram.

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