Taylor Swift: A Once in a Lifetime Artist
The Eras Tour at the Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA on 06/17/2023
Taylor Swift is a name everyone in the world will recognize. I have grown up listening to Taylor Swift ever since Our Song was playing on country radio. Now, almost 17 years since her debut album’s release, Taylor Swift embarked on the 2023 North American Eras Tour with the South American leg of the tour later this year. A tour representing every single one of her studio albums (eras) since she started her musical journey to become one of the most bestselling and listened to artists in the world. So much so, Ticketmaster had technical difficulties leading to a public outrage from everyone who tried to buy tickets which has led to an investigation into Ticketmaster by the Department of Justice. However, through all the problems and issues fans had, all the stadiums sold out within hours of the Eras Tour going on sale including the Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It is finally Pittsburgh’s turn for their run of Era’s Tour shows. The mayor renamed the city to “Swiftsburgh'' for TaylorSwift’s two-night stay. This was the first time a tour played the Acrisure stadium twice. Like every other city on the tour, there were people everywhere. This is probably the most packed I’ve seen the North Shore with outdoor merch lines lasting for over two hours and lines to enter the stadium that started early in the morning. Everyone is dressed with something related to a Taylor Swift Era. Some of the homemade costumes look exactly like a costume Swift wore later in the night. Others were the significant other’s of Swifties wearing shirts such as “Swiftie in Progress” or “It’s me. Hi, I’m the husband. It’s me.” One thing I have never seen before at a show is how people were just outside of the stadium singing in large groups along to Swift’s hits. It is truly a testament to the type of artist that Swift is to have fans not even attend her shows, but still wait outside the venue to just sing along with her. When inside the stadium, the audience found out this show broke the attendance record of any event in Pittsburgh history with 73,117 people in attendance for that night alone. Another testament to Swift and her Swifties.
Entering into the stadium, you immediately see the insane set design that looks like it took the entire week before to build. Owenn and Girl in Red opened up the show in high energy fashion getting the crowd ready for Taylor Swift’s unforgettable performance. A countdown clock starts about two and a half minutes before Taylor Swift will take the stage. Tension rises. The crowd starts cheering at the minute mark and counting down at ten seconds. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince starts playing as the Lover era begins the show. The crowd screams so loud at some points you are unable to hear the music. In my years of attending shows, I have never heard a crowd completely drown out the artist for entire songs just screaming along to the lyrics. Taylor Swift even acknowledges this by stating the crowd’s performance could be given a Tony award. Swift thrives with the energy given by the audience and engages them with a sense of intimacy and compassion that makes it feel like she may be speaking directly to you at points. The confidence and crowd engagement is something I never thought I would see at a stadium show, but that is Taylor Swift. Someone who makes something that seems impossible, possible.
During the night, Taylor Swift spoke about the honor of being able to play in her home state of Pennsylvania as well as how crazy it is that her song Cruel Summer is now going to be a single because of how much it has been streamed this year alone. Cruel Summer was released on Lover in 2019 and was getting ready to be a single from the album when the global pandemic hit. Swift stated her favorite song on the album was Cruel Summer and it brought her immense joy that it was becoming a single four years and three albums later. Later, Taylor Swift is in her Folklore era when she talks about how she writes music. She states writing songs is her coping mechanism for dealing with her feelings and if she feels a certain way for even seven seconds, she’d want to write a song about those seven seconds. Many people would probably say they would listen to Taylor Swift to cope with how they are feeling so to hear an artist say that her songs come from real places gives that much more value to the listeners experience with her music.
Possibly the most anticipated part of the night was when Swift brought a piano up to the forefront of the stage along with her “soulmate collaborator” Aaron Dessner. Dessner produced the entirety of the Folklore and Evermore albums along with a few songs from the 3am edition of Swift’s latest album, Midnights. The two performed Folklore’s song Seven as the first surprise song of the night. After the song, Dessner exited the stage and Taylor explains how the surprise stripped down set was about being able to perform songs she wouldn’t normally play live. She then starts talking about how she’s been re-recording her first six records so she would be able to properly own them. Speak Now is the latest album to get the re-recorded treatment and will be released on July 9th. To promote the release, Swift performs The Story of Us. After the intimate stripped down set, Swift performs a shocking transition diving into the stage as a video plays of her swimming across the stadium back to the main area of the stage transitioning to the final era of the night, Midnights. Swift gives her latest album much attention as there are multiple costume changes and sets alternating throughout the era. Swift ends with the latest single from the album, Karma. As the show was ending, Taylor Swift thanked the fans and the band as she ends with a glorious display of lights and fireworks.
After two shows both consisting of 44 songs and nearly three and a half hours of performances by Taylor Swift, her Pittsburgh stay is now over. Taylor Swift went through and touched almost every single one of her albums, with the exception of her self-titled album, in a spectacular celebration of her career as quite possibly the greatest artist of the twenty first century. Each album had their own stage design, costumes, and vibe yet the different sets of albums blended perfectly together with interludes between the albums to give fans and Taylor a breather before the next set. The all encompassing show included everything from smoke stacks, pyrotechnics, confetti showers, fireworks, choreography, crowd-engaging wristbands, to impeccable sounds and lighting effects. Starting with Lover, ending with her latest record-breaking album release, Midnights, and a surprise stripped down set closer to the end, Taylor Swift gives you a show where you are left satisfied and wanting more at the same time. I don’t think I have ever seen an artist perform for that long and give everything they have to every single song. Taylor Swift is truly a once in a generation artist who deserves everything she has earned through her career. I would say this is not a tour to be missed, but everyone already knows that.
Review originally for Lovebomb Magazine.
Photos curtesy of TAS Rights Management
