Taylor Swift pictured in the Aviva stadium at the beginning of the Irish leg of her Eras Tour. Picture: Chani Anderson
Taylor loves being in Ireland
Shortly before her first show, Taylor Swift shared a picture of some flowers sent to her by U2 and gushed about “already feeling that Irish hospitality”. If you thought that was merely a throwaway comment, she spoke at length during Friday night’s show about her love of Ireland and her Irish fans.
“I haven’t played a show in Dublin in over five years,” she said.
“And I know you know this, but nobody does it like you. We’re a couple of songs into this very long show, and I’m already seeing people in the audience who should be getting awards for their performance. Not only do you know the words, you’re screaming them!”
We got plenty of Irish nods
There were plenty of Irish references through the first night, first with the cúpla focal during ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ when “póg mo thoin” was inserted into the lyrics by dancer Kameron Saunders, who has been tweaking it with a phrase native to each city they are in.
We were also treated to a nice ‘haon, dó, trí, ceathair’ countdown in ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ and later Swift changed into a green and orange sequin ensemble for her era, offering a particular nod to Ireland with this look.
Paramore too got in on the grá, with singer Hayley Williams sporting a Cranberries tee on stage.
Offically the home of Folklore
While in her era on Friday, Swift again started praising Ireland (she really, really likes us), this time paying tribute to our rich history of storytelling.
“Irish people are such great storytellers. The folklore from Ireland is unmatched,” she said.
“I think it might be 50/50. 50% they’re great storytellers and 50% they just have the best accents.
“My Irish friends, they just start talking and they could just be telling the most boring story”, she went on, ” but I am just like..”
The volume of fans
Almost every Eras Tour survival guide says it is the loudest show you will ever go to, and that’s probably not an exaggeration. One moment in particular on Friday night stood out for the rising noise levels when the crowd reached deafening levels.
‘Champagne Problems’ from her album is a beloved track for fans and upon reaching the end of the song, the applause went on to give the singer a two-minute-long applause that became ear-splitting. Chants of ‘Taylor, Taylor’ and ‘Olé, Olé, Olé’ were added and as Swift because to look astonished by the reaction the noise levels somehow went up a scale — there will likely be lots of fans left without a voice this morning.
You didn’t need to be an expert lip-reader either to know Taylor, who removed her earpiece to fully embrace the moment, turned to her band and asked them: “Are you guys hearing this too? Wow!” All that to say, if your ears are sensitive to noise, it might be worth popping some earplugs into your bag to filter the cacophony of cheers.
No Reputation (Taylor’s version) announced — so far
Fans were in a frenzy as rumours grew that we could expect an album re-record announcement during Swift’s Irish tour dates. As she makes her way through her back catalogue, many are interpreting what they believe are clues from the singer, who famously leaves cryptic clues about upcoming projects littered throughout her performances, social media, and pretty much anything else she touches.
Every gesture on the tour has been pored over and fans are convinced will be revealed this weekend. The most likely day is Sunday — on June 30, 2019, Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records, effectively becoming the owner of all of Swift’s music, prompting her to undertake the re-recording of all her music. Announcing another release on that date would just be good ‘Karma’.
Here are the surprise songs Taylor Swift played
A big talking point of the tour too is the surprise song selection, anywhere from between two to four songs mid-show that Swift mixes up for each night, rarely playing the same songs twice since the Eras Tour began. In Dublin, she delighted fans with the acoustic set with music from four songs.
She played ‘State of Grace’ on the guitar on Friday night, the opening track from and mashed it up with ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’, the song with the iconic lyric “so make the friendship bracelets”.
Next, we were back to the piano for ‘Sweet Nothing’, a song with a direct reference to her time in Ireland: “Does it ever miss Wicklow sometimes?” She blended the track with ‘Hoax’ from , making it the first time she played that track live.
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