Taylor Swift Eras Tour, Murrayfield Stadium Edinburgh
Verdict: A spectacle with substance
Welcomed by a multi-coloured sea of sequins, stetsons, glittery face-paint and cowgirl boots, Taylor Swift brought her record-breaking Eras tour to Britain in spectacular fashion on Friday.
Playing the first of 15 UK shows that will stretch out across the summer, the American megastar wowed the 72,990 Swifties, most of them female, who had gathered in a windy but sunny Edinburgh.
‘You’ve got me feeling so powerful,’ she told fans, shortly after emerging from below the stage, dressed in a spangly leotard.
The career-spanning, three-hours-plus epic that followed was divided into ten acts, or ‘eras’, with each act devoted to one of the Pennsylvania-born singer’s studio LPs.
I saw Taylor, 34, on 2014’s Red tour, the following year’s 1989 show, and 2018’s Reputation trek. This was bigger, better and bolder. Performed with a six-piece band, four backing singers, 16 dancers, three stages and an array of digital effects, it felt like a cross between a futuristic rock concert and a Broadway blockbuster. With bells on.
But Swift’s great trick is her knack of combining theatrical spectacle with substance. Her schooling in country music’s story-telling tradition has given her the skill to convey her emotions in vivid, relatable songs that connect with her fans.
She sang 47 of them here, and most were accompanied by word-perfect singalongs. Even a lyrical, ten-minute version of the ballad All Too Well, from a re-recording of 2012’s Red, got the singalong treatment.
The show opened under bright blue skies with 2019’s Lover album – its early slot a nod, perhaps, to the Lover Fest tour she had to cancel during the pandemic. The album’s waltz-time title track, strummed on a sky-blue guitar, was an early highlight.
We then zipped back to the country-pop of 2008’s Fearless (the eras weren’t showcased chronologically) before the decibel level went up a notch with the brash Red and its whip-smart pop hits. I Knew You Were Trouble would have raised the roof if Murrayfield had one.
The mood shifted with each act. For Reputation, one of Swift’s weaker albums, it was dark and peevish. Her two pandemic releases, Folklore and Evermore, were bundled together, as dusk fell, in a single ‘Folk-more’ act with a pastoral feel and, in Cardigan and Betty, two of her most finely-crafted character sketches. Champagne Problems, sung singer-songwriter style at the piano, was prefaced with lengthy lockdown reminiscences. ‘We never knew whether we’d ever get to do this concert thing again,’ she said.
By the time we reached the 1989 era, with its fun, feel-good hits Style, Blank Space and Shake It Off, the singalongs had become gleeful shout-alongs.
Swift’s two most recent LPs, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department, featured late on, but even a setlist as tightly-planned as this one allowed some room for spontaneity, and an ‘unplugged’ section towards the end of the show saw Taylor solo on guitar and then piano sing spur of the moment songs, including ‘Tis The Damn Season and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.
It’s easy to get lost in the Swiftiverse: the speculation surrounding the lyrics about her exes; the different colour codes for each album; the £1.5 billion this tour is expected to generate. But all the background noise fades the minute this brilliant performer hits the stage.
With two more Edinburgh gigs tonight and tomorrow, and further concerts in Liverpool, Cardiff and London, those lucky enough to have tickets will see a show both Era-spanning and era-defining. With Taylor at the peak of her powers, it’s the music event of the year.
