The cultural juggernaut comes to town. I’m a fan enough of Swift - not a Swiftie by any means, and I still don’t think The Tortured Poets’ Department is very good, but equally we bought these tickets long before that even happened, so what can you do. I have had an up and down thing in recent months with how I see Swift, coinciding with the amount I do or do not pay attention to her various pieces of good or bad press. I am happier not being aware of what she’s up to and just trying to enjoy the music for what it is.
In short, the Eras tour is neither the second coming of live entertainment that the Swifties want to convince the world it is, nor is it an over-manufactured shim for the real thing. On the former front: this is I think a function of the Swiftie tendency to have a very narrow view of the world - if you’ve not seen many concerts, I can understand why you would assume this is something unique or innovative. Having heard a tonne about how clever and brilliant the staging is… eh. It’s good. It’s not special. On the latter front: like, she is singing. It’s topline stuff, there are obviously beds of backing vocals, but I think it’s disingenuous to suggest she’s miming or it’s all backing track. There is nothing here she’s singing (or, indeed, not) that I wouldn’t have told you I expected to hear from her from listening to the studio version.
As a “folkmore girlie”, obviously that was my favourite portion of the, yes, three hour show. It’s a shame it was cut down to make room for TTPD material, but what can you do. I found myself surprisingly emotional at Betty over Cardigan, but back to back excellent. 1989 shines as it was made to here. TTPD is still not a great album, and the live renditions really do underscore how anemic the studio backing tracks are. I am not particularly a dedicated enough fan to care about these specific surprise songs (why is she so insistent on witholding folkmore from me), but the audience laps it up.
Speaking of. I am actually pleasantly surprised by the lack of overwhelming screaming/fangirl-ism. I can actually hear the music at all time, no one (or very rarely someone) in earshot singing along out of tune. But I cannot help but feel like Swift didn’t really even need to be there for them to have had as good a time as they did. The communal element of it was clearly the key, and that could have been achieved in any number of ways.
Griff is a perfectly pleasant support act, including a cover of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Paramore are obviously the main sideshow, inasmuch as that’s not a contradiction in terms. Hayley Williams is having a lot of fun on a stage this size, and it’s nice to see them enjoying themselves after whatever debacle was happening with their label.