When Taylor Swift arrived on the Aviva stage bang on 7.15pm on Friday night for the first of her three shows in the Dublin 4 venue, it is with all the pageantry of pop royalty.
She is preceded by courtiers bedecked with huge plumes of multicoloured silk floating in the evening air above and Swift herself gliding down the long walkway that spans nearly the whole length of the stadium.
It looks like something from Denis Villeneuve's eye-popping and supremely weird Dune movies. Swift makes her return to Dublin as the all-conquering queen of all pop. Look on my works, ye mighty, and dance!
It is quite an entrance for a show with flawless production design that just keeps piling on spectacle after spectacle and hit after hit. We have gathered - all 50,000 of us - to witness Swift’s evolution from country ingénue to purveyor of icy modern pop and heartache folk.
The last time she played here was for two notably unsold out nights at Croke Park five years ago but there is something about the futuristic Aviva that suits her a whole lot better. And a lot has changed for Swift since 2018; she got far, far bigger and her fans, well, they got far, far more loyal. Outside the Aviva, hundreds of ticketless Swifties stand in mute reverence hanging on her every word.
"Dublin," Swift announces. "We’ve arrived!" and barges straight into a Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince. The roar from the audience is Shea Stadium decibel level and Swift wears an expression of mock surprise at the response. "Dublin, that was wild! You guys are making me feel so good - it’s gone straight to my head. You’re making me feel very powerful."
Sure, it’s a line she probably lobs out every night on the Eras Tour but it loses none of its impact on a crowd who have been counting down the minutes to this moment.
"We have 18 years of music for you tonight," she says. "One era at a time. You’re about to hear a lot of songs. These songs are my life and imagination."
What we get is three hours and twenty minutes of high concept entertainment, from porchlight country pop, a flurry of anthemic bangers about self-belief and self-affirmation, seething rebukes to lovers and exes and the anguished indie folk of her recent albums, Evermore, Midnights and this year’s Tortured Poet’s Department.
There are pyrotechnics, laser lights, smoke machines, fire cannons, a fireworks finale, image projection tech and, LED bracelets - one for every boy and girl - that turn the Aviva into a glittering firmament as darkness falls.
For the Lover Era, she hefts her big and very pink acoustic guitar for the strum and twang of Cruel Summer, followed by The Man and You Need to Calm Down. It’s a soothing opening set for a long, long night.
An hour in and Swift hits her stride with a power set of thunderous drums and her dance troupe throwing more shapes that a dizzy fullback. Of costume changes, there are many. She’s in a shimmering sequinned pink showgirl meets circus ringleader bodysuit for the Lover Era; a purple southern belle ballgown for Speak Now; a vampish snakeskin catsuit for the Reputation Era; and a black velvet caped Celtic goddess vibe for Midnights and Evermore.
Neon bicycles whip past and encircle her for a fun reading of Blank Space, massive plumes of flame erupt from the stage during a ferocious Bad Blood and for her best song (don’t @ me!) Look What You Made Me Do, she enters another realm of pop mastery and crowd control.
In fact, it’s the Reputation section of the night that she seems to be having the most fun. This is Dark Taylor - F bombs are dropped and the set design and massive on-stage screen lurches into frazzled overload.
The evening is much shorter on the big sister homilies of her earlier gigs. Instead, we get the crowd-pleasing likes of "It’s been over five years since I’ve got to play in Dublin and you know this already, but nobody does it like you."
And always keen to burnish her reputation as a Hibernophile, Swift and her hyperactive retinue have been swotting up on the local lingo. The biggest roar of the night arrives when dancer Kam Saunders, the comic relief of the Eras Tour, shouts "póg mo thóin" during a blisteringly good We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Later, Swift herself delivers a "one, two, three" countdown as Gaeilge and dons an orange top and a green ra ra skirt along with one green ankle boot and one orange one for Style.
"The Irish are unmatched storytellers," she coos as the night winds down. "And you have the best accents!" Ah, would ya schtop, Princess Tay Tay! Go on . . .
Rammstein’s Dublin show a few nights ago left the RDS reeling with pure flame-throwing theatrics and showmanship. Taylor’s Éire Eras shows are likely to do the same to the faithful.
Her vocals are uncannily flawless (take that, Grohl!), her energy levels almost superhuman. Three hours and 20 minutes and 45 songs later and I’m wrecked. God knows how she does it. Pop royalty must work very hard to make it look so easy and so very good.
Taylor Swift setlist Aviva Stadium 28 June:
Lover Era
Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince
Cruel Summer
The Man
You Need to Calm Down
Lover
Fearless Era
Fearless
You Belong With Me
Love Story
Red Era
Red - Intro
22
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
I Knew You Were Trouble
All Too Well
Speak Now
Speak Now - Intro
Enchanted
Reputation Era
...Ready for It?
Delicate
Don't Blame Me
Look What You Made Me Do
folklore / evermore Era
cardigan
betty
champagne problems
august
illicit affairs
my tears ricochet
marjorie
willow
1989 Era
Style
Blank Space
Shake It Off
Wildest Dreams
Bad Blood
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
Female Rage: The Musical
But Daddy I Love Him / So High School
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?
Down Bad
Fortnight
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
Surprise Songs
State of Grace / You're on Your Own, Kid
Sweet Nothing / hoax
Midnights Era
Lavender Haze
Anti‐Hero
Midnight Rain
Vigilante Shit
Bejeweled
Mastermind
Karma
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