Unless housed under a rock, you noticed that Philadelphia was in the deep throes of Taylor Swift and her swooning army of “Swifties” for a weekend of three, three-hour-plus sold-out concerts in, and around, Lincoln Financial Field for The Eras Tour.
That meant an adoring and unending array of predominantly teenage fans (and their equally devoted parents) wearing pink cowboy hats, rhinestone-and-spangled tops and gold dresses in high tribute to the many moods, musical styles – and eras – of Swift parsed among ten albums since 2006.
“If you were 16 when her first album came out, you’re in your 30s now, and still loving her as I do,” offered one parent, nearby in floor seating on Saturday. “If you were in your 20s when Taylor’s first album came out and have children, they are Taylor-loving teens now.”
And though Swift has sold-out stadium-after-stadium since the start of 2023’s “The Eras Tour” – her first large-scale, live outing since 2018 and the pandemic – it is no secret that playing the city of Philadelphia meant something more to the singer-songwriter and this area’s rabid fan base, as Swift was born in West Reading, PA, was raised in Wyomissing, and performed as early as age nine on the stages of the Berks Youth Theatre Academy.
Swift may have made her start in Nashville, but her roots are in Philadelphia, and apparently, her heart.
“Whether you are aware of it or not, you have walked into my hometown show,” said Swift early on in her set. Later, while seated at the piano, before playing ‘champagne problems,’ Swift spoke about her formative years in the Philly area, before stating that “All of my memoires of my grandmother took place very close to here.” After playing that plaintive version on ‘champagne problems,’ the crowd’s thunderous applause was so great, Swift took her monitoring ear-piece out just to witness the full-flower of her audience’s volume.
This weekend’s run of The Eras Tour was as important to Swift as it was to her fans, all 215,688 of them across three nights. Long shows too, as Swift, on Saturday alone hit the three hour-and-twenty-minute mark.
From the anthemic one-two-three-four punch of ‘Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,’ ‘Cruel Summer,’ ‘The Man’ and ‘You Need to Calm Down,’ to the literal fireworks finale of ‘Karma,’ Swift made grand, sparkly theater out of even her most intimate and interpersonal moments.
Along with adding never-before-performed Eras Tour cuts such as ‘Gold Rush’ and ‘Come Back…Be Here’ (on Friday) and ‘Forever & Always’ and ‘This Love’ (on Saturday), Swift ran through the entirety of her recorded catalog – songs written from a deeply personal, and aching perspective such as the rousing ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,’ and those penned from a more fictitious POV such as ‘betty’ – all with appropriate costume changes and stunning set reconfigurations.
Swift and her large team of singers and dancers utilized mega-scaffolding and rhinestone-encrusted business attire during ‘The Man,’ wielded glowing golf clubs in which to smash up an expensive car during ‘Blank Space,’ whipped out the country-ish fringe for ‘You Belong With Me,’ and donned one-shoulder-revealing snake gear for the seductive synth-soul of ‘…Ready For It?’
While ‘Anti-Hero’ toyed with the real-time Taylor next to a screen image of a 500-foot Swift, tearing apart a metropolis like an angry King Kong, the gentler, pandemic-penned tracks of ‘folklore’ was given something more somnolent and homespun: a large cabin, complete with a smoking chimney. This wooded intimate stage house was an appropriate setting for the character-driven likes of ‘the last great american dynasty,’ ‘my tears ricochet,’ and, most especially, ‘cardigan.’
Make no mistake, however: from the deep bass-driven pulses of ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Lavender Haze’ to the grandeur of songs staged with neon bicycle riders and towering lights, to even the simplest old school theatrical devices, Taylor Swift’s old and new songs of awakening, breaking up and dreaming came to life, beautifully, like never before.
