Sparks Flew: A Gazette Swiftie’s concert review
When I was 12 years old, I heard Taylor Swift sing “Long Live” live for the first time at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz., in October of 2011.
In July 2023, I covered Swift’s Eras Tour show at Mile High Stadium in Denver, hearing “Long Live,” a song I grew up with close to my heart, live in a stadium of 70,000 people.
Taylor Swift performs ‘Long Live’ at her Denver night one concert on the Eras Tour.
In the same way Taylor Swift had grown up, going from playing an arena of fewer than 30,000 fans to playing a sold-out show of more than 70,000, not including the fans gathered outside the stadium just to listen in, I grew alongside her.
PHOTOS: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour 2023 at Empower Field
For longtime Taylor Swift fans, the Eras Tour has brought back waves of nostalgia, hearing songs many of us danced to in middle school and cried to in high school.
The show takes fans through Swift’s 10 studio albums, or eras, beginning with her seventh studio album, “Lover.”
“Lover” era takes the audience through pop anthems, like “Cruel Summer,” and love ballads like the album’s namesake, “Lover.”
Sparks fly as Taylor Swift dazzles Denver in sold-out concert at Empower Field Friday night
Her stage production, from glittering outfits to soft pink imagery, encapsulates the softness and excitement of being in love as told in the album’s stories.
Swift’s “Fearless” era comes next, bringing nostalgia with imagery of her musical transition from country to pop in 2008. The stage becomes an image of an acoustic guitar as Swift sings popular songs from her second studio album, including “Love Story,” “You Belong with Me” and the album’s namesake.
The “evermore” era takes fans on a dramatic journey through woods, fog and songs from her pandemic-released ninth album. The songs, matching black-clad dancers and imagery of a dark forest on stage, include heartbreaking ballads like “willow,” “’tis the damn season” and “marjorie,” a song Swift wrote for her late grandmother, drawing fans to wave their phone lights in the air.
Ask me what I learned from all those years: A ‘Swiftie’s” first Taylor Swift concert
The transition into “reputation” is a dramatic one, like the album itself, which drops head-banging tales of anger and revenge and is Swift’s sixth album, released in 2017.
Snakes slither onto the giant screen, an ode to the album’s use of a snake motif after Swift was called a snake on social media, to dig at people who use internet name-calling as a bully tactic. “reputation” brings energy and drama to the stage as Swift runs through songs like “Don’t Blame Me” and “…Ready for It?”
Swift then flashes back to her “Speak Now” Era, one brought to life through effervescent purple imagery, her song “Enchanted,” and, as of recently, “Long Live.”
Swift played “Long Live,” a song weaving the story of her early rise to fame, for the third time on the Eras Tour at her show in Denver on Friday, rousing reminiscent joy among longtime fans who heard it played at the end of shows on her “Speak Now” tour in 2011.
The “Red” era brings fans in the iconic red heart-shaped glasses to their feet for popular hits like “22” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.”
The tone shifts again into her “folklore” era, another album Swift wrote during the pandemic, taking the audience on a whimsical, longing journey through forested scenes and songs that tell stories of fantasy worlds Swift created in her head during the pandemic. She gave a nod to Colorado on Friday, saying she pictured the state while writing the album because “it’s really, really pretty here,” she said.
Swift’s fifth studio album, “1989,” named for her birth year, rallies every fan out of their seats with upbeat pop bops like “Blank Space” and “Shake it Off.”
She wraps up with her newest album, “Midnights,” released earlier this year, playing songs like “Anti-Hero” and “Karma” that have dominated social media and music billboards in recent months.
Friday’s show ended with a bang as fireworks went off and confetti drifted through the crowd of screaming fans at 11 p.m. after three hours of nonstop dancing and singing word-for-word only a small portion of the artist’s 10-album musical resume.
Swift also surprised fans with two songs not on the normal set list, a tradition new to her concerts. At Friday’s show, she played a new song, “Timeless,” a song “from the vault” of her recently re-released “Speak Now” album.
Older fans rose to their feet for the second surprise song, “Picture to Burn,” a hit from her debut album, which was released in 2006.
For myself and many of her female fans, there’s something healing about growing up with an artist like Taylor Swift. She is a megastar representation of what it feels like to grow up as a woman, or anyone who connects with femininity.
While her concerts provide a space for rhinestones, dancing and glitter, they provide a safe space to be feminine in a world that often stifles it.
Swift has written about this throughout her career in songs like “The Man,” which sheds light on double-standards in an alternate world in which she is a man and the actions she’s spited for in real life are praised in a life where she isn’t a woman.
As a reporter and an outdoor enthusiast, I’m constantly immersed in male-dominated spaces where, oftentimes, people are told masculinity equates success. Swift’s concert Friday gave me a space to revel in and celebrate being a woman in a world where femininity isn’t always celebrated.
For long time Swifties, her concerts and music are also a space for connecting with their inner children.
There is still a 12-year-old in me listening to Swift’s first albums, dancing in my room, who still comes to life surrounded by a community of people in sparkly outfits trading friendship bracelets.
It’s about more than the music – it’s also the community.
Andre’a Arnold, a fan from Denver, called herself a “mom by Swiftie,” originally getting into Swift’s music through her daughter, Penelope Arnold, 27 — a Swiftie for about 13 years.
“Where else do you get to go and see a community that is literally just taking care of each other?” Andre’a said.
And it’s true. A Taylor Swift concert brings a sense of safety to the fear many people feel at large events in today’s world.
Swift’s concerts are different. Fans trade bracelets they made at home, help each other fix dresses, dance with strangers, offer feminine products to their neighbors in times of need, and revel in the joy of feeling like the stadium is full of friends they haven’t met yet.
As for the show itself, Swift is a powerhouse.
The Eras Tour brings together music from Swift’s catalog to 131 shows across five continents. Every show is at least three hours long, and the pop star doesn’t stand still. Her stage is big, and she puts some distance into her sparkly heels, dancing dramatically and singing nonstop for two nights in a row in each city.
Swift doesn’t seem fazed by weather, either, not skipping a beat when it’s pouring rain, as it has at several of her shows.
Swift herself acknowledged the show’s vast coverage of her musical career at the show Friday, saying several people asked her throughout the pandemic how she was going to handle a tour after releasing four un-toured albums in under four years.
“People said, ‘What are you gonna do, like, a 3 1/2-hour tour and play all of them?'” she said. “And I was like, ‘Yes. And it’s called the Eras Tour.”
The magnificence in her fame doesn’t seem to be lost on the star, which is part of what makes her relatable to fans. She feels like she could be any of us, a girl who grew up on a farm in a small town, cried about high-school breakups and messes up her words on stage sometimes.
The difference, of course, is that she’s sold out every stadium on her tour and essentially broke the largest ticket sale website in the country with the demand to see her shows.
Despite that, she cracks jokes on stage and takes moments to pause and stare in awe at the screaming crowds.
Swift is a symbol of girlhood, femininity, friendship and joy to the community of people who listen to her music. She is a beacon of light in a world that is often unsafe for the kinds of people who admire her.
Taylor Swift performs during the first of two shows at Empower Field at Mile High for The Eras Tour on Friday, July 14, 2023, in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Taylor Swift performs during the first of two shows at Empower Field at Mile High for The Eras Tour on Juy 14 in Denver.
Rachel Rowan of St. Louis holds her hands in the sign of a heart as Taylor Swift performs at Empower Field at Mile High on Friday.
Paisley Martinez, 4, lays a kiss on her dad, Alick Martinez, while they dance in a large crowd gathered outside of Empower Field at Mile High on Friday.
Taylor Swift performs during the first of two shows at Empower Field at Mile High for The Eras Tour on Friday, July 14, 2023, in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)