 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Describing the event that Taylor Swift put on Friday night as a “concert” comes far short of depicting the magnitude of the night. Take the greatest Super Bowl halftime show you can imagine…now have it go for three and a half hours…with a performer who actually sings and balances Mick Jagger’s swagger with Tom Petty’s genuineness and appreciation of fans. …and add in incredible dimensionality with the show’s width, depth and height…oh and throw in a Beatlemania-style crowd where (thanks to the amazing sound system) you can hear all the songs clearly.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Rising above the stage from beneath a covering of large vividly-colored sails, Swift ignited Levi’s Stadium’s sold-out crowd - meeting their intense anticipation with unequaled charisma as she blasted into “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” flowing into ‘Cruel Summer” – a single performer alone on a stage approximately 80 yards deep and 50 yards wide. With all the recent talk of aliens, it seems only natural to question how any being from this earth could deliver enough energy to captivate the massive crowd of 58,000 for 45 songs and more than 210 minutes with no set break and only a few moments to even recapture her breath. And then, of course, she was going to do it all again once more on Saturday night in Santa Clara. It seems like no mere Earth human should be able to pull off this feat.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“You’re making me feel so powerful Santa Clara!” Swift told the audience before going into a flex pose and kissing her bicep. “I guess what I am saying is, you’re making me feel like I’m The Man!” A giant office set emerged from the middle of the video screen as Swift playfully interacted with backup dancers/office employees - singing, dancing and posing her way through the three-story structure in the first full group dance number as she continued songs from 2019’s Lover album. “You Need to Calm Down,” “Lover” and “The Archer” completed the album’s revisiting with Swift bringing her act to the very front of the stage for the first time. The ending of "The Archer" featuring a video simulation of the office structure burning to the ground.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Though the stage was nearly as deep as a football field, Swift was in constant motion out and across its huge expanses. Unlike so many acts that have used a small auxiliary stage to reach further out into a stadium with one brief two or three song visit, Swift was a constant visitor to the outer reaches (and fans) of the stage limits and spent much of her time in the middle performance diamond at the center of the stadium. It made the event feel far more intimate than it seemingly should have and gave so many of her fans the ability to connect.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
2008’s Fearless was given the next visit with Swift donning a sparkly acoustic guitar to take on the title track. “Are you ready to go back to high school with me?” Swift playfully asked as she went into “You Belong with Me” and then “Love Story” where she ended up again out at the front of the stage with the entire band.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The tenth song was the first from 2020’s Evermore and saw Swift and opening band (and Swift BFF’s) Haim rise from the center of the stage dressed in costumes befitting the fable tone of the giant forest set. Their collaboration “No Body, No Crime” was one of the night’s major thrills as the four engaged playfully in the song’s tale of romantic betrayal and, ultimately, revenge murder. Haim lead vocalist and guitarist Danielle Haim unleashed a furious solo and Swift going from Haim sister to sister on their elevated platforms as all took turns on the vocals. Earlier, Haim performed a great, energizing set prior to Swift and after opening performer Gracie Abrams had delivered a well-received helping of “bedroom pop” to the audience in the Friday daylight.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Swift’s first turn at the piano came with “Champagne Problems” with the Fearless video set having evolved from a forest to a snowy tree to an underground scene deep in the giant tree’s roots. The night’s first real ballad was performed under a shining moon and ended with Swift sitting tearfully at the piano as the crowd roared for well over two minutes. Swift’s tears evolved to laughing as she took out her ear monitors to soak it all in and mouthed “What is happening?” to the crowd as the ovation got louder and louder. “This is amazing!” Swift exclaimed. “What are you doing? What is that? I love you!”
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Tolerate it” followed with Swift setting a huge table in a cold room for dinner with a window looking out on a snowy forest. Her love interest joined at the table and then was subjected to Swift’s wrath as she cleared the table and confronted him. The performance demonstrated amazing artistry by Swift as she was able to effectively tell an intricate, emotional story despite being in a giant stadium.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Swift’s most rocking album Reputation from 2017 got the next visit – introduced with Swift taking on a serpent-like persona for “Ready for it?” and leading with ferocity as she stomped her way across the entire-stage at full-throated vocals. “Don’t Blame Me” saw the lasers surrounding the stage projected skyward and creating an effect that made one question whether the aliens were calling Swift back or if the mighty performer was going to pull a UFO back down to earth.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The transition to 2010’s Speak Now album began with “Enchanted” when Swift entered in a Cinderella outfit to roaring applause and was joined by background dancers in ball gowns as the crowd sang along. As Swift donned her acoustic guitar in the middle of the stage and played “Long Live”, fireworks from the adjacent Great America theme park began bursting to the side of the stage. Later, during the Red portion of the concert, Swift remarked “Did you guys see the fireworks behind the stage? We brought fireworks with us, but those weren’t ours. That was so cool!” The performance of “22” had the crowd exploding with Swift wearing an oversized white t-shirt with “A lot going on at the moment” in lettering on the front. She then performed the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” on guitar in a full red sparkle coat as the entire audience’s wrists lit up red as their light bracelets were engaged.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
2020’s Folklore received the longest visit of the night. Prior to playing “Betty,” Swift told the crowd that she had always been known for autobiographical songs, but that on the “Folklore” album she had started it two days into the pandemic and “decided to put a little distance between myself and my songs and create some characters.” “Betty” was started with just an acoustic guitar before Swift joined her other players on the steps of the grass-roofed bayou cabin set. The cabin was transformed via the video screen into an oceanfront aristocratic ball scene for “The Last Great American Dynasty.” The video design was spellbinding the entire night and often flexed between reality and fantasy as it pivoted back and forth from great live images to other pieces seamlessly. “Illicit Affairs” and “My Tears Ricochet” saw Swift singing passionately from her knees with the latter being delivered in a gospel style as she brought her backup singers all the way to the front of the stage. The album’s last track was “Cardigan” with confetti cannons creating simulated fireflies throughout the stadium and the haunting undertone of the song fully explored.
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The songs of 1989 from 2014 were highlighted by “Blank Space,” which saw Swift once again raised up on the magic platform - this time atop a dozen video images of herself in various outfits choreographed to mimic her live performance and glowing bikes filling the stage. “Shake It Off” was one of the biggest dance numbers – delivered as a fun sing along that led into a fused together “Wildest Dreams” and “Bad Blood.”
 |
| Taylor Swift @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The acoustic, surprise section of the concert that follows the 1989 era has featured different songs and often guests every night. Friday’s shows first surprise saw Swift joined by The National’s Aaron Dessner for 2020’s “Right Where You Left Me.” “I’ve genuinely been rehearsing this for six weeks” Swift said – promising that if she could complete the verbose song’s lyrics perfectly, she would let loose with an unimaginable celebration. The celebration was not meant to be as she tripped over some of the last verses before stopping to admit to the error as the audience roared their support and then saying “We can’t let it end there” before picking it back up. For the final surprise song, Swift took to the piano for a beautiful version of “Castle Crumbling.”
 |
| Gracie Abrams @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
From there it was into the Midnights era that was highlighted by a Godzilla-like Swift destroying a model city on video as she sang “Anti-Hero” - a song of self-examination that includes the lyric “It’s me. Hi, I’m the problem. It’s me.” “Bejeweled” brought the sassiest moments of the night with many of the dancers being given moments in the solo spotlight. The marathon performance ended with Swift and team running through the finish with “Mastermind” and “Karma” as the audience enjoyed a second helping of fireworks and Swift introduced all her co-performers to end an incredible evening. As Swifties old and new filled the streets of Santa Clara with enthusiastic energy abounding despite it being over five hours since the event began.
 |
| Swifties @ Levi's Stadium (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Thanks for reading and while you're at it, you can follow us as well here: Instagram | Facebook.
