Herald entertainment reporter Lillie Rohan speaks to Swifties queueing up to get merch ahead of tonight's Eras Tour concert at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Video / Megan Watts
Taylor Swift performed to the biggest crowd of her career on Friday night. NZ Herald entertainment writer Lillie Rohan was one of the 96,000 Swifties in the Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd. She reviews the pop star’s three-and-a-half-hour concert, revealing whether it really is worth the hype.
REVIEW
On Friday night at the MCG about 7.30, a digital timer on the enormous stage screens hit 0. There was a flutter of pink, a dance of purple and a crowd so loud it felt almost like there was no sound at all, then Taylor Swift appeared.
Opening the Eras Tour with her hit songs Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince, Cruel Summer and The Man, the 34-year-old star paused mid-Loverera, mic in hand, announcing, “Oh Melbourne, just look at you,” she sighed. “I’m just taking a mental picture for myself just for any time that I’m sad, I’m just gonna remember all of this.”
The view of a nearly full MCG was enough to stop any regular person in their tracks, the fact it stopped Swift as well meant the night was about to become very special — but her fans already knew that.
Swift’s Eras Tour is her first in five years, and it is on track to becoming the highest-grossing tour of all time. Recent predictions published by the Washington Post anticipate the shows will make US$4.1 billion ($6.7b) overall, with Time magazine reporting the tour grossed US$2.2b from its North American leg alone.
So what is it that makes the production so special? Simply put, it’s her 44-song-strong setlist that takes fans on a journey of Swift’s “eras”, from her first album to her last, including Lover, folklore, evermore and Midnights — an album she has never performed live before.
Taylor Swift performs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday night to the biggest crowd of her career. Photo / Getty Images
But sometimes, like on Friday night, the show can take a completely unexpected and vulnerable turn.
Despite seemingly being a perfect person for the world of fame, from her theatrical and well-practised mannerisms to her award-winning smile, even Swift couldn’t help but break her composure on the first night of her Australian tour. Letting a few stray smiles slowly crawl across her perfectly red-painted lips, there was a moment when a solo tear ran down her cheek.
“I have to be honest with you about something,” she said, running her fingers through her hair. “If I seem a little bit like I’m losing my mind over the fact that there are 96,000 people here tonight, it’s because it’s true.”
The star had just confirmed to the crowd they were not only the Eras Tour’s biggest audience, but also the biggest she has yet played to.
Despite seeing huge crowds in the US last year — with her largest being 73,117 Swifties in Pittsburgh — the pop star’s three shows at the MCG have gained, and will probably hold, the title of the biggest of her career, with an estimated 90,000-plus Swifties attending each night.
The only set of shows that may eclipse her own record is when she tours Europe this year. Set to play at Wembley Stadium, The Guardian reports the official capacity of the venue is 90,000 seated and 25,000 standing, with crowd numbers varying according to stage size.
Taylor Swift's outfit for her Speak Now era. Photo / Getty Images
However, much like her shows at the MCG, the sheer scale of the Eras Tour production — which includes an almost-90 m stage — means some stands will probably remain empty and unable to be used due to the positioning of the stage.
Not that you would be able to tell. Continuing into the era of her ninth studio album, evermore, Swift played a touching rendition of Marjorie,often catching glimpses of the crowd and mouthing “Oh my God”, earning plenty of screams and cheers in return.
But what really made the crowd go wild was when she announced, “my new album, The Tortured Poets Department, is coming out on April 19”, smirking as she teased, “Maybe we’ll talk a bit more about that later.”
It was pure chaos in the crowd, the only thing distracting fans from the cheeky confession was when Swift’s upbeat energy took a turn. While performing Champagne Problems, many may have missed the exact moment Swift teared up, but they certainly saw when the pop star wiped a single tear from her cheek.
Resting her head on her hand, Swift looked around the crowd completely and utterly overwhelmed, causing the audience to do the only obvious thing — cheer louder.
Closing her eyes and soaking up the energy, she mouthed, “I love you — like what?” before composing herself.
“You realise how loud you’ve been singing all night too? Like that’s on a whole other planet,” she chuckled. “I’m having such a crazy moment in my brain tonight. This entire trip I’m just like ‘What? I get to be here with these people’?”
Taylor Swift gifted her hat to one very lucky Swiftie. Photo / Getty Images
Alas, as much as every fan wanted to hear how much Swift loved them, the show must go on.
Playing hits from her eras including 1989, Speak Now and folklore, it was when she gifted a fan her hat from the Red era that earned the most applause.
Then, as promised, the star circled back to her earlier tease about her upcoming album and as thanks to her 95,999 other fans, Swift gifted them with a song title.
But not just any song title, a never-before-heard one. “I wanted to show you this in Melbourne because you’re just the best thing you could possibly be,” she said.
Unveiling the title track to be The Bolter, the star levelled with her fans, admitting her new album is a personal one.
“Tortured Poets is an album that I think more than any of my albums that I’ve ever made, I needed to make it,” she continued. “It was really a lifeline for me, just the things I was going through, the things I was writing about, it was like, it kind of reminded me why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life.”
Taylor Swift has six more shows in Australia. Photo / Getty Images
The star vulnerably confessed, “I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”
It was that exact moment when it clicked for every person in the crowd. Swift is as loved as she is, as famous as she is and as successful as she is because she connects with her fans. She lets them into her heart the way they let her into theirs.
She doesn’t see it as a given that her fans will always love and support her, it’s something she continues to work on because she knows it’s a two-way relationship.
So, while there is no doubt the show will forever hold a special place in the hearts of the millions of fans who will get to experience it, is it really worth the time, money and hours, sometimes days, trying to get tickets?
Lillie Rohan is an Auckland-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things relationships and dating, great Taylor Swift ticket wars and TV shows you simply cannot miss out on.
