Taylor Swift fever struck Paris on Thursday as the highest-grossing tour in history finally arrived in Europe, with fans treated to the first-ever performance of songs from her latest album.
The Eras Tour began its European leg with four dates at the La Defense Arena in Paris.
“I wish I could have toured Europe more. This is a dream crowd,” the 34-year-old megastar told the ecstatic audience.
There were deafening shrieks as images of typewriter sheets indicated that songs off the new album “The Tortured Poets Department” were starting late in the show.
Emerging in a lyrics-covered dress, she ran through several of the darker new tracks starting with “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Fortnight”, a particularly furious rendition of “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” and an elaborate “I Can Do it with a Broken Heart,” with a golden-era Hollywood dance routine.
Other “The Tortured Poets Department” songs performed included “So High School,” “Down Bad” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” according to ETonline.
“You were the first crowd to see songs from ‘The Tortured Poets Department’,” she said, before adding: “Or, as I like to call it, ‘Female Rage: the Musical.’”
That was a dream come true for many in the audience.
“I’ve been so excited for so long, I can’t believe it’s actually happening,” said 11-year-old Emma, who had flown in with her mother from New York.
Adding songs from “The Tortured Poets Department” wasn’t the only change to the show and its 45-song setlist.
Perhaps the biggest change, according to ETonline, is the “Folklore” and “Evermore” setlists were combined, cutting four songs across the two albums: “‘Tis the Damn Season,” “Tolerate It,” “The 1” and “The Last Great American Dynasty.”
“On the Eras Tour, we have now reunited the sisters, combined them into one chapter,” Swift said, according to video posted to social media. “You can call it “Folklore, Evermore” or you can call it the Sister Albums! You can call it whatever you want as long as you promise to sing ‘Champagne Problems’ with me.”
“The Archer” was removed from the “Lovers” portion of the show and “Long Live” was cut from the “Speak Now” era setlist, according to ETonline.
One of the secret songs was, fittingly, the “Midnights” bonus track “Paris.”
Parts of the show were also rearranged to make room for the newest era. The “Red” era was moved from the fifth to the third slot, according to ETonline, and the newest album was introduced following the “1989” set.
The venue said a fifth of the crowd were from the United States — many attracted by Europe’s rules against charging huge mark-ups on resale tickets that can save Americans thousands of dollars compared with shows at home.
Georg’Ann Daly decided to celebrate her 23rd birthday with the Paris show. It meant flying from Nashville to Chicago to London and catching the Eurostar to Paris.
“I’ve always been obsessed with Taylor Swift,” she told AFP.
A handful of superfans camped out from Tuesday in Paris to ensure they got a prime spot.
“I didn’t plan to, but I came to check it out and I saw the first tents and I panicked a little,” said Chris, 30.
Noah, 20, is seeing all four Paris concerts — he used 22 email addresses to get through the lottery system and secure the tickets.
After wrapping up her run in Paris, Swift will head for dates in Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland and Austria.
The Eras Tour has worked its way across North and South America and Asia since starting in March 2023.
By the end of the year, it had already become the first to sell more than $1 billion in tickets and is on track to more than double that by the time it concludes in Vancouver this December.
Swift’s popularity shows no sign of dimming — the new album sold 1.4 million copies on its first day and broke every streaming record, reaching a billion streams on Spotify within five days.
Swift’s tell-all dissections of her love stories have been the fuel powering her global domination, and fans have been poring over “The Tortured Poets Department” for cryptic clues about ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, her short-but-dramatic fling with Matty Healy (lead singer of The 1975), and her current partner, American football star Travis Kelce.
“Taylor talks about toxic relationships, impossible love, politics, mental health, and so much more,” said Chris as she waited by her tent for the big moment. “I think we can all find a song that resonates with our experiences.”
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