“I think my piano overheated – we’re just gonna restart,” said Swift, as the instrument let her down during Getaway Car
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Given its length and scale, it should come as no surprise that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has suffered the odd technical hitch. It’s still slightly remarkable, though, that so many of the (champagne) problems have hit one instrument in particular.
Step forward Swift’s flower-encrusted piano, which she uses to play her ‘surprise songs’ during the acoustic section of the show.
Its history of problems began when, in Massachusetts, rain damage from the previous night caused the instrument to start playing notes by itself. And then there was the time (in Lyon, France) when it wouldn’t play at all.
And guess what? It’s happened again. During the second of her two shows in Milan over the weekend, the piano let Swift down almost as soon as she started playing Getaway Car, from 2017’s Reputation album.
“This is a horrible, horrible prank,” TikTok footage shows Swift telling the crowd as she realised what had happened. “I think my piano overheated – we’re just gonna restart.”
As when previous problems have occurred, a technician quickly bounded on stage to try and kickstart the piano into life. As he got on with his business, Swift turned to him and joked, “You know what – we finally broke it. We have finally broken this thing.”
Not quite true, it turns out, as the piano was fixed and – after a brief struggle with the lid – Swift was able to continue.
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Whether the famous but temperamental instrument will make it to the end of the Eras Tour remains to be seen. Although she’s getting towards the end of it, at the time of writing Swift still has 27 shows left to play, so there’s plenty of time for something else to go wrong between now and the final date on 8 December in Vancouver.
Whatever happens, we’d say that the piano has been the breakout star of the Eras Tour and, assuming it does go the distance, deserves a happy and restful retirement.
I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.
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