Swiftmania has officially landed in London, as Taylor Swift prepares to perform the first of eight sold-out shows at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium.
The pop titan will bring her record-breaking Eras Tour to the capital tonight (Friday 21 June) before performing a further two shows on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 June.
She will later return in August for another five performances at Wembley, then head over to Canada for shows in Toronto and Vancouver.
Swifties will be poised to find out whether the American singer will perform any of her London-inspired hits.
One, “London Boy”, from her 2019 album Lover, is widely believed to have been inspired by her then-boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn, with whom she split after six years together in 2023.
The song features cameos from actors Idris Elba and James Corden, before Swift sings about how her partner introduced her to her favourite spots around the city, from Camden Mark to the West End, Brixton and Shoreditch.
Fans might not be getting their hopes up, though, given the song’s subject matter.
More likely could be “The Black Dog” or “So Long, London”, both of which feature on Swift’s most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Swift has been including a few songs from the record, which is still riding high in both the UK and US charts, during her set after its release in April this year.
“The Black Dog” is widely rumoured to be about her brief dalliance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, whom she dated for around two weeks (or a “Fortnight”) after her split with Alwyn.
The song appears to reference a pub in Vauxhall, south London, as well as pop-punk band The Starting Line, whose music has been covered during live shows by The 1975.
Meanwhile, “So Long, London” is a forlorn farewell to one of Swift’s favourite cities, apparently written in the wake of her breakup with Alwyn.
Lyrics include the lines: “I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath/ I stopped CPR, after all it's no use/ The spirit was gone, we would never come to/ And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.”
Fans began lining up outside Wembley Stadium on Thursday in the hope of securing a prime spot in the standing sections close to the stage.
Around London, guides are offering walking, bus and taxi tours that retrace her footsteps, including a kebab shop whose owner claims his establishment is supplying sandwiches for the singer and her crew on Friday.
Before the end of August, Swifties can partake in a full diet of Swift-themed brunches and dance parties, or ride the London Eye Ferris wheel accompanied by a string quarter playing her music.
Souvenir stalls in Camden Market, one of the places mentioned in “London Boy,” stocked up on Swift-specific caps, T-shirts, bags and stickers in preparation.
Sadiq Khan, who declared himself a “proud Swiftie” in a recent interview with The Independent,also shared a “Taylor’s Version” of the London Tube map with stops renamed after many of her biggest hits.
“As a proud Swiftie, I’m very excited that the phenomenal Taylor Swift is coming to London next month and her amazing fanbase here in the capital and beyond will give her a big London welcome,” he said last month.
“Taylor’s decision to perform more nights of her record-breaking Eras tour in our capital than anywhere else is further proof that London’s music scene never goes out of style,” he added, referring to the lyrics of the pop singer’s hit 2014 single “Style”.
Swift is believed to be taking to the stage at around 7pm. Her show lasts around an average of three hours and 15 minutes.
You can read The Independent’s five-star review of Swift’s first UK performance here.
