SYDNEY, Australia — “A lot going on at the moment” would be the theme Taylor Swift’s first Sydney concert: a postponed show and canceled opening act, a “Tortured Poets” announcement and appearances from Travis Kelce and Katy Perry.
Rain and lightning interrupted the start of the Eras Tour, canceling Sabrina Carpenter’s opening act and delaying Taylor Swift‘s start by twenty minutes.
But as soon as the weather cleared the open-roofed stadium, the electricity among the 81,000 fans in the stands ignited. The backsplash animation of the Eras Tour transitioned to show a red digital countdown clock. The song “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore played with the first time shown as 2:23. Check it once, check it twice, it’s a date that will be remembered.
“We have a little bit of a weather situation,” Swift said, “a little bit of rain, but I have never known an Aussie crowd that let anything get in the way.”
Hours before the concert and rain, temperatures swelled to over 100 degrees, prompting many fans to wait for doors to open in the shade. Moms applied sunscreen outside of the stadium. Those in line for merchandise used their VIP passes to brush wind across their faces or fans charged by a USB port. On the floor of the stadium, an area with free drinking water allowed fans to fill up.
Travis Kelce attended the show with his friend and a fellow NFL tight end, Ross Travis. The two walked into the stadium about five minutes before showtime, and the crowd went wild. Singers Katy Perry and Rita Ora, and Ora’s husband, director Taika Waititi, also attended.
Perry posted photos of the night on Instagram the next morning, including a clip of “Bad Blood,” a song reportedly written about her before she and Swift made amends.
A more common outfit to the Eras Tour since Swift began dating Kelce has been Kansas City jerseys. The big question on everyone’s mind in Sydney was would Swift end the show with “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.”
She did.
Swift only changed the “Karma” lyrics once before with Kelce watching from the VIP tent in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the 1989 World Tour movie, the location of the performance was Sydney. During that tour, Swift grabbed an iron golf club for the bridge of “Blank Space” and hit a metal pole sticking out of the stage: boom, boom. She paused and did it again: boom, boom. But this time sang “Syd-ney.” The eight-count sound effect looped as she started, “Boys only want love if it’s torture.” The sound has been turned into a TikTok trend with fans recreating it all week at the Sydney Opera House.
Swift made reference to it during her secret song surprise set.
“By the way, do you know how cool it was when I was singing ‘Blank Space,'” she said. “can we do it again?” The crowd yelled “Syd-ney” after she said, “Boys only want love if it’s torture.”
Similar to what Swift did on her first night in Melbourne, she introduced a brand-new track and vinyl version of her 11th album. Instead of “The Bolter,” she showed a third album artwork with the title “The Albatross.” “The Tortured Poets Department” will be out on April 19.
In the acoustic set, after playing “How You Get the Girl” from “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on guitar, Swift invited Sabrina Carpenter to the stage.
“She willingly sacrificed her show,” said Swift in reference to her canceled set due to the rain, “which I think is a crime to Sydney.”
She invited Carpenter to join her at the piano to sing a mashup of “White Horse” from “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Coney Island” from “Evermore.”
Swift has three more nights in Sydney and then she has five days until she will perform at the National Stadium in Singapore for six shows.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
