About 36 songs into Taylor Swift’s marathon “Eras Tour” show at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday, October 25, the glittering, strutting superstar got downhome for a few songs. Her usually sparkling costumes gave way to a rustic dress that suggested fall’s turning leaves. And instead of performing with a squad of dancers and her band, the solo Swift accompanied herself, first with acoustic guitar and then upright piano.
Swift introduced the brief solo acoustic set with some personal history. She’s been performing in Louisiana since she was 15 or 16 years old, back when she was a country singer. Of course, her many millions of fans know she has country roots, just as they likely know the words to every song on every one of her albums.
Taylor Swift in New Orleans. Photo courtesy of TAS Rights Management
Friday at the first of Swift’s three night-night weekend stand at the Superdome, fans constantly sang along with their heroine. Passionately. Simply put, Swift—using her own life for material as well as her imagination—expresses the feelings and experiences of legions of girls, young women and older women in the songs she sings in stadiums filled with her overwhelmingly female fans, aka Swifties.
The singer’s fans love to dress like Taylor. Echoing Madonna fans of the 1980s, Swifties reflected their superstar Friday at the Superdome by dressing in sparkling miniskirts, short-shorts, tops and bodysuits, outfits often mirrored on stage by Swift’s “Eras” costumes.
Swift has achieved another of her many firsts with the Superdome appearances—she’s the first musical artist to perform three consecutive evenings at the venue. Another first achieved by the singer’s New Orleans weekend, one not likely to be topped soon, all three shows were instant sellouts.
Swift’s previous firsts in Louisiana include the first stadium show of her career at Tiger Stadium in 2010. “I’m Taylor,” she told the audience in Baton Rouge that night. “This is the very first time in my life I have ever headlined a stadium.” Booked at Bayou Country Superfest though the show was, the then 20-year-old Swift proved she was a pop superstar in the making. Five years later, she returned to Tiger Stadium on a similar mission: “This is actually the very first stadium show, on the ‘1989’ U.S. tour,” she said.
Standing on her massive “Eras” set Friday at the Superdome, Swift took a few moments to welcome the Swifties, mentioning that 65,000 were present. Graciously comfortable though the singer was even while people watched her every move, she didn’t chat much. With nearly 50 songs from 10 albums crowding the set list, there was no time for extended pleasantries.
Swift’s “Eras Tour” show is a three-hour retrospective of the 34-year-old singer-songwriter’s 18-year career. Dressed in a glistening blue-and-gold bodysuit, she launched this highly theatrical production in New Orleans by striking a pose, standing center stage on one of the rising platform that returned periodically throughout the concert. The video screen behind her magnified Swift’s entrance via three gigantic, real-time images of the star.
An opening set of five songs from Swift’s 2019 album, Lover, expressed sentiments her fans in the Dome likely recognized. In “Cruel Summer,” she sang of a bad-boy love affair. “I’m drunk in the back of the car. And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar. Said, ‘I’m fine,’ but it wasn’t true. I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you.” Subsequently donning a sparkling silver jacket and dancing with male and female dancers in suits all the way to the top of a faux office suite, Swift summoned her female empowerment theme with “The Man.” Introducing the song, she told the audience: “You make me feel—really—powerful. I guess you can say you make me feel like a man.”
Taylor Swift in New Orleans. Photo courtesy of TAS Rights Management
Swift performed love songs [dressed in a princess gown amidst a romantic backdrop for “Enchanted”]; lust songs [the hip-hop infused “Ready for It”]; songs of romantic obsession [“Don’t Blame Me”]; and, of course, breakup songs. The latter included the bittersweet “All Too Well” [performed with snowflakes on the video screen and paper flakes falling in the Dome] and righteous “We Are Never Getting Back Together Again.” These end-of-love songs, particularly, inspired fervent singalongs.
At this glorious point in Taylor Swiftian history, the soon-to-end “Eras” tour signifies the peak of her stardom—so far. No matter what happens next, her history-making three-night stand at the Superdome is a high-water mark in a phenomenal career, possibly the most phenomenal career in pop music history.
