Taylor Swift’s Philadelphia Homecoming Brought All Her Eras at Night 1
The Era’s Tour hit’s Philadelphia
Philadelphia Swifites, REJOICE!!! Taylor is back in the city of brotherly love and we’re Ready For It! Swift who is back on tour for the first time since 2018’s Reputation stadium tour is back with a new album titled Midnights and of course the reason you’re reading this, The Eras Tour which single handedly broke Ticketing giant Ticketmaster due to the tours demand.
Well on Friday May 12th, Taylor Swift kicked off night 1 of 3 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field for what are her homecoming stops on the tour! Fans were so excited they began lining up and some even camped out the night before on Thursday to get their hands on the exclusive tour merch available in each city.
As I arrived at Lincoln Financial the parking lots were filled quite early, the energy was off the charts, everywhere you looked there were Swifties with signs, face paint and even their own DIY outfits commemorating different Eras of Swift’s career both musically and visually.
Very few times have I been in awe before the show even started but the creativeness and passion her fanbase has along with their ability to bond with one another over the artist they love is inspiring to say the least.
Fans came equipped with handmade bracelets, signs and other memorabilia that they would trade and bond over and even if you’re not up on the current social media trends no matter who you were, what you looked like, what you were wearing, the community made you feel like family.
The environment was welcoming, filled with love, happiness and just overall great vibes.
That excitement from the parking lot was even more powerful inside the stadium; the energy was in full force long before Swift took to the stage beginning with the openers Gayle and Phoebe Bridgers.
Kicking off the night was Gayle, the 18 year old singer/songwriter whose track “abcdefu” became a smash hit going viral after its release in 2021.
The track reached number 1 in the UK, Ireland as well as the Billboard Global 200. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of The Year.
It was clear the young artist captured the audience as Gayle performed a 7 song set that had the crowd moving and singing along to the singers other songs “Don’t Call Me Pretty”, “Everybody Hates Me” and an awesome cover of Elton John’s “Bennie and The Jets” which was a pleasant suprise.
The other show opener, the incredible Phoebe Bridgers took to the stage all smiles as she looked out across a quickly filling up stadium. Bridgers delivered a different kind of opening performance with her unique and captivating brand of alternative/indie rock.
Her performance was raw and emotional. Tracks like “Motion Sickness” and “Garden Song” echoed through the stadium. We even saw a surprise guest appearance by the 1975’s Matt Healy on guitar during the set.
The fans were enjoying the sonic differences they were experiencing between both opening acts which made Gayle and Phoebe the perfect prelude to the incredible night of music that was ahead.
It was now time for undoubtedly the biggest female musician on the planet, maybe the biggest artist living period to take the stage. The large clock appeared on the screens of the massive stage and began its countdown, the anticipation in the crowd reached an almost palpable level of excitement. The open air felt like static electricity throughout with fans eagerly awaiting Taylor Swift to take the stage.
As time ran out the sold out Philly crowd erupted with screams, you haven’t heard screams until you’ve been to a Taylor Swift concert, I guarantee that! As Taylor’s dancers hit the stage, holding massive colorful fabric pieces that floated through the air. The lyrics to “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” “It’s been a long time coming ” blared through the stadium causing the screams to hit a new level of loud.
The dancers came together in the center of the diamond like shape portion of the catwalk, which is incredibly huge by the way taking up a large part of the stadium floor. The dancers now hold their airy fabric pieces in a shield-like shell shape enclosure.
The music continued with an intro, a career spanning montage of the singer’s catalog pieced carefully together that had the crowd standing out of their seats. Suddenly Taylor Swift herself was finally revealed, appearing stunning, wearing a sparkly leotard with boots to match, and the Swifties can be heard with a deafening eruption of cheers.
The opening of the show is absolutely stunning. However it was just a small moment in a very big show. Swift stunned the capacity crowd with a career spanning and hit filled setlist that consisted of 45 incredible songs. Nearly 3 and a half hours of pure emotion, fun and unprecedented production, Swift delivers knockout performances one after another songs from albums ranging from Lover to Evermore, Reputation to Fearless and Red. Taylor manages to piece together an incredible amount of her hits and have them seamlessly fit into one big story of her life, all while utilizing multiple outfit changes to coincide with each era. Her stamina and ability to perform with such a high level of grace and showmanship was damn impressive doing what so many artists fail to pull off with half the show she puts on.
Taylor doesn’t stop there, if the spectacle wasn’t enough she loves to throw in some surprises for her fans to make the show even more unpredictable. Swift brings out the show’s opener Phoebe Bridgers for their song “Nothing New”, they played the song for the first time in Nashville a few nights ago and the Philadelphia crowd was lucky to get to experience it as well.
Swift then prepares for the anticipated acoustic portion of the night by explaining the tradition of her playing two different songs each night, these songs are never repeated on any other date of the tour so the songs are special for the individual shows, it’s also become a fun game for fans to speculate what tracks are going to be performed.
Just days ago she used this portion of the show to announce the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) which will be released July 7th.For the philadelphia shows, the Pennsylvania crowd was treated to “Gold Rush”, which she played on guitar before hopping over to the piano for “Come Back…Be Here”.
On the final stretch of the show, Taylor Swift dives head first literally into the stage which then becomes a video screen, it’s a very cool moment in the show and when she appears again she dives right into the Midnights Era with stadium shaking performances of some of the album’s biggest hits. The high energy ending to the show features fan favorites like “Lavender Haze”, “Anti-Hero”, “Bejeweled”, and “Vigilante Shit”. The crowd sang, danced, screamed, and cried. The energy we felt in the beginning both from Swift and her fans carried completely through uninterrupted even after 210 minutes of musical magic all the way up to the final notes of “Karma”, the atmosphere was pure electric. Every beat, chorus and harmony was important and memorable the whole way through.
Taylor ends the show taking one final strut down the long catwalk, as Lincoln Financial field lit up with a fourth of July worthy display of pyrotechnics and fireworks, the bright flashes illuminating the faces of the fans who were smiling ear to ear with joy. Whether Taylor is bringing you into her cabin inspired Folklore or she’s taking you back to 1989 there isn’t a disappointing moment of the show. It was an experience I’m incredibly grateful to have witnessed, captured and written about, an experience I will not soon forget! Thank you to Taylor and her team for an unforgettable night filled with music, love and family!
See full gallery of the night here!
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