Tour blimey! Taylor Swift got back on the road this week with a three-hour show featuring 44 songs and 11 costume changes.
The singer’s first tour show in five years was a true spectacular littered with jaw-dropping special effects.
There was an intriguing commentary too as she referenced men and the row over her back catalogue.
But glitz and glamour dominated proceedings. At one point, Taylor dived into the stage and vanished – as if plunging into a pool.
That came after she whipped up 70,000 fans at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, with a two-minute countdown.
Swifties roared their approval for a full minute as the singer emerged from clouds of chiffon in a Versace bodysuit and Christian Louboutin boots.
Taylor, 33, said: “I don’t know how to process this... how I feel about how much I missed you, how happy I am to see you. You don’t know what it means to me to be able to say to you, ‘Welcome to The Eras Tour’.”
Costumes changes came thick and fast – tailor Swift, you could say.
There was a gold-fringed Roberto Cavalli dress for Fearless, a Cavalli catsuit with a snake for Reputation and a purple crystal T-shirt and faux fur Oscar de la Renta coat for Midnights.
Taylor, who has yet to announce UK tour dates, said her albums were “excruciatingly autobiographical”, joking: “It can feel like livestreaming a public autopsy.”
She said a “running theme” in her music “is that I love to explain to men how to apologise”.
The star, who has been dating Brit actor Joe Alwyn for six years, said: “I love to tell them step by step, ‘This is how simple it is to fix things. Just follow these easy steps I’m laying out for you in a three-minute song’… I just love the idea of men apologising.”
She also spoke about “taking back” her music – and re-recording six albums after a record mogul bought the rights to her back catalogue.
She said: “The Red album is so precious to me. You embraced it in 2012... I never could have imagined what you did a decade later, when I wanted to claim that album as my own.
“You just don’t know how much that means to me.”
Model Cara Delevingne and actress Emma Stone were in the crowd. But the real VIP was on stage. Welcome back, Taylor.
