Whether it be blasting “22” on your 22nd birthday or “Bad Blood” when thinking back to a fight, there is a Taylor Swift song appropriate for every emotion you have. I had the privilege of seeing Taylor Swift during her 1989 World Tour in early October and it was absolutely amazing.
Shawn Mendes, a Toronto-born artist graced the stage and performed his hit singles, “Life of the Party”, “Stitches” and even covered Ed Sheeran’s,”Thinking Out Loud”. Vance Joy, an Australian artist then wowed the crowd by switching out acoustic guitars for ukulele. The amount of soul and passion he put into his voice was incredible and I got chills just by hearing how gracefully his voice drifted from octave to octave.
Taylor came out onto the stage wearing her signature red lip and a midriff baring two-piece set. “Welcome To New York” was playing and she completely blew all her Swifties away with the amount of confidence she exudes.
“Hi, I’m Taylor and there’s something you need to know about me… I was born in 1989,” was absolutely the best opening line to a concert I have ever heard.
Every attendee was given a white bracelet that would connect to the Rogers Centre’s wifi network and it lights up to the beat of the music once Taylor started performing. The onstage visuals were extremely creative and captivating but this bracelet light show made the whole experience even more special. For her song “Out of the Woods”, Taylor and her backup dancers were surrounded by 3D paper airplanes that were circling around the stage. A key identifying factor of the 1989 World Tour is that Taylor would bring out a special guest for every show and this time around it was Charlie XCX to perform “Boom Clap”.
From turning all the negative media about her dating history into empowerment for young women everywhere, Taylor is definitely a visionary in the midst of the strong feminist movement. Many of her songs are about falling in love, heartbreak, betrayal and growing up. Hearing it is one thing but actually seeing her perform these autobiographical pieces really made me appreciate the talent of song writing.
One of the most emotional parts of the concert was when Taylor performed “Fifteen” on an elevated surface, guitar in hand and singing the words that everyone in the crowd knew. No matter if you are 25 or actually 15, this was one of those songs that tugged on your heartstrings because the feeling of everything crashing down in the midst of your youth is hard but moving forward is something we all must do one day.
During this performance, every single bracelet turned a deep blue. Imagine being lost in a sea of 50,000 blue lights and melting into the sweet sound of Taylor’s voice and the honey chord strums of her guitar. It was a very beautifully simple moment where the only thing that mattered was the connection we all felt.
By far, my favourite performance was when Taylor remixed an old song of hers, “Enchanted” with one of her new songs on the album, “Wildest Dreams”. I thought it was an amazing transitioning parallel to make between a song outlining how amazing it was to meet someone but knowing this person would one day leave you and the only thing remaining would be the intangible memories. Enchanted is one of those songs that I hold very dear to my heart because it reminds me of my best friend, who has been with me through every “Taylor Swift” moment I’ve had and hearing it being performed in front of me was surreal.
All in all, I would highly recommend going to Taylor Swift’s concert the next time she’s in town because in the words of Ed Sheeran, she will make you feel everything from “from hate to love, from love to lust, [and] from lust to truth”.