July 2023

Therehas beennothing since the earlydays of Motown that has encapsulated the heartbeat of the city like Taylor Swift did in two sold out shows at Ford Field. The buzz about the weekend in the Motor City has continued to grow since the opening two nights of her ErasTour, inGlendale, Arizona, back in early March. With Swiftmania growing in each preceding city, the excitement reached fever pitch locally as tickets became commodities being exchanged for thousands of dollars by fans wanting to be a part of the opulent celebration. Even Swifties, who could not get their hands on the elusive tickets, lined the outside the domed stadium hoping to be part of the experience. Swift’s Eras Tour is a phenomenon that broke the Internet, along with Ticketmaster, when it went on sale last fall. It sparked lawsuits against and congressional investigations into the ticketing giant over its inability to handle the enormous demand. But any controversy and Taylor Swift fan base anger toward the snafu were set aside on Saturday night, as the close to 60,000 fans, who packed into Ford Field in Detroit, got even more than they could have hoped from the 33-year- old country turned pop Icon. “Who here put in an expensive amount of effort?” Swift cheekily asked the adoring throngs early on in the night, eliciting a large amplitude of applause. Swift kicked off the evening by letting fans know her performance would cover 17 years of her music, while lighting up Ford Field in and encompassing the fans into the choreography in ways none of them could have imagined. From the unique electronically controlled light-upwristbands that transformed the stadiuminto a stunning light show, to the callbacks reminiscent of the cult favorite Rocky Horror midnight shows, the crowd became a undeniably huge part of the amazing production. The aptly named Eras Tour is an event that redefines the idea of a pop concert, let alone ANY concert if that’s even the right descriptive term to use. The immersive and extravagantly staged affair, that pieces together aspects of Cirque du Soleil spectacle and three-ring Barnum & Bailey entertainment, intertwined with state of the art visual technology. It’s a three-plus hour spectacle thats a journey through Swift’s career, divided eloquently into 10 very distinctive parts (Eras) – nine dedicated to her individual studio albums and one featuring a pair of “surprise” songs, which on Saturday were tour debuts of “All You Had To Do Was Stay” from her “1989,” album and “Breathe” from “Fearless,” the later finding Swift taking center stage on a flowery decorated piano. Those two center stage solos were the quietest moments of the the night during the 44-song, three-hour and 20-minute extravaganza. During the overwhelming majority of night, the Swifties – dressed in every conceivable type outfit, albeit heavy on the glitter and sparkles – sang along, loudly, to every note as Swift and her seven- member band plus 14 highly skilled dancers delivered energy filled choreographed productions for each. As a demonstration of the magnitude of Swifts creative range it was a genuinely awesome survey of her musical library, bouncing from the pure pop of her “Fearless” and “Red” eras to the sophisticated ambience of “folklore” and “evermore” albums finally capturing the more mature and modern dance flavor of her latest release, “Midnights.” TAYLOR SWIFT LIVE AT FORD FIELD | DETROIT, MI Review by John Swider | Photos by TAS Rights Management 15