MUSIC

Recap: Taylor Swift surprises with Tim, Faith and snakes during memorable night of hits

Cindy Watts
The Tennessean
Taylor Swift performs at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018.

Little girls in sparkles and princess crowns. Pre-teens wearing halos and feathered wings, the number 13 outlined on their hands. Young women costumed in rainbow sequined cocktail dresses accessorized with snake puppets. Fans wrapped in Christmas lights, their cheeks pasted with glitter.

Approximately 50,000 moms and daughters, dads, best friends, co-workers, singers, actresses, sisters, brothers and the smiling faces of music lovers packed Nissan Stadium Saturday night for the Nashville date on Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour.   

“I moved to Nashville when I was 13,” Swift told the crowd from the stage. “My first memory of this stadium is my mom and I got tickets to CMA Fest, and I remember thinking this was the biggest place to play. It was incomprehensible. Years later, I got to play 15 minutes at CMA Fest. I thought that was the best it was going to get. Tonight is my first time headlining this stadium. It’s my hometown show, and it means so much to me and family and friends. This crowd is gorgeous.”

The Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour will play 53 shows in 36 cities spanning seven countries and four continents over seven months in 2018. Swift’s setup includes three stages including a main stage that is 110-feet tall and a curved video wall that stretches 172 x 40 feet. The tour started in May and to date has made more than $190 million in the U.S. and an additional $11.1 million in Canada – enough to be the highest grossing U.S. Tour by a female in history.

There’s drama, sass, dancing, aerialists, costume changes, a floating golden orb, a tilting stage, tiered water fountain, towering inflatable pythons, a flying serpent skeleton, fireworks, confetti, more than two hours of songs and one confident, poised 28-year-old young woman who shows her fans how to stay true to themselves and roll with the punches on a nightly basis.

Swift launched Nashville’s 24-song set with “…Ready for It” backed by more than a dozen dancers. She followed with “I Did Something Bad,” punctuated with red fireworks and fireballs that erupted from the top of her set.

The multi stories-tall inflatable snakes uncoiled during “Look What You Made Me Do” as the interactive bracelets fans were given on arrival blinked a variety of colors in time to the music. 

Tim McGraw

While she shifted her music from country to pop years ago with the release of her “1989” album, Swift incorporated several of her country hits into the evening. Over the course of the night, fans leaped into the air while screaming the lyrics to “Love Story,” “You Belong with Me” and “Should’ve Said No.” She delivered an acoustic version of “Better Man,” a Grammy-winning song she penned that was released by Little Big Town. And Swift had extra help on her earliest hit “Tim McGraw” – Faith Hill and Tim McGraw emerged to sing it with her.

“How do you say thank you to the city of Nashville?” Swift asked. “I came here at 11 years old with a CD of karaoke music and my mom drove me up and down Music Row. I would scamper into record labels and say, ‘Please, call me.’ This is the city where I learned how to write songs. Every single thing I do, I learned in Nashville.”

Taylor Swift performs at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018.

Swift performed her new hit “Delicate” from the round orb, traveling on cables over the audience. She met opening acts Charli XCX and Camila Cabello on one of her secondary stages near the back of the floor seats for a hip-shaking version of “Shake It Off.”

Swift walked through fans to her third stage for “Blank Space” and “Dress,” then climbed to a replicated rib cage of a snake to fly over their heads and back to the main stage.

Her famous friends including Nicole Kidman and Karlie Kloss watched as Swift delivered an emotional “New Year’s Day” on a grand piano and closed a few songs later with rousing versions of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” as dancers strutted on the three-tiered water fountain. Confetti and fireworks signaled the end of her show.

Swift gathered her band and dancers for a group bow and then ran along the edge of the stage waving excitedly to fans before she disappeared under the stage.

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Taylor Swift setlist in Nashville

...Ready for It?

I Did Something Bad

Gorgeous

Style / Love Story / You Belong With Me

Look What You Made Me Do (with Tiffany Haddish speech)

End Game (Shortened)

King of My Heart

Delicate

Shake It Off (with Charli XCX and Camila Cabello)

Dancing With Our Hands Tied (Acoustic)

Better Man (Little Big Town cover) (Acoustic, Tour debut)

Blank Space

Dress

Bad Blood / Should've Said No

Don't Blame Me

Long Live / New Year's Day (On piano)

Tim McGraw (Tour debut, with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill)

Getaway Car

Call It What You Want

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together / This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Source: Setlist.fm