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Before embarking on a marathon of a concert at Gillette Stadium on Friday, Taylor Swift told the crowd just what awaited them that evening. “We’re gonna go on a grand adventure together, through 17 years of music that I’ve been lucky enough to make,” she said.
As fans cheered from every corner of the venue, the legendary pop star beamed. At “The Eras Tour,” held in what she named “Foxy Foxborough,” she would lead them through a setlist of 45 songs, both famously confessional or inspired by her own invention.
“These songs may have started out being about something that happened to me —something that I felt, in my life, or maybe an imaginary character that I invented felt,” Swift said. “But here’s my goal at the end of the night: when you think of these songs, they’re gonna be about us.”
In Swift’s spectacular juggernaut of a tour, she takes her audience on a musical journey across the eras of her career, ushering them through the wistful melodies of “Fearless,” the defiance of “Reputation,” and the earnest joys of “Lover.” Always, Swift has been known for her ability to deftly capture the feelings of a relationship through her songwriting, but with each album, she has continued to evolve, and her identity has changed. The concert showcases every moment along this odyssey, with Swift choosing to perform songs from every one of her albums, in unpredictable order. Diving into trap doors, sashaying across the stage in bejeweled ball gowns, and commanding the show with a single glance, Swift carries the “Eras Tour” with virtuosity and stamina. Perhaps what the show does best is that it reinforces her relationship to memory: something she has long been concerned with. Leading us from one period to another, Swift not only guides us down memory lane, but shows how she has reinvented herself across time.
For many fans, getting to this concert has been something of a journey, as well. The Ticketmaster fiasco that began last fall made it difficult for many to secure tickets, with website traffic, delays, and outages happening, as well as a canceled general sale. But the fans who managed to make it to Gillette Stadium showed up in style, ready for a show.
Guest stars Gayle and Phoebe Bridgers opened the Friday show and will play at the Saturday concert, as well. Bridgers and Gracie Abrams will take to the stage on Sunday. Singer-songwriter Gayle’s music, which blends pop styles together with rock, alternative, and R&B, was full of energy. The 18-year-old from Texas sang “Everybody Hates Me” as an introduction. Known for songs like post-breakup anthem “abcdefu,” she also performed hits such as “ALEX” and a cover of Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know.” Bridgers, an indie folk musician with melancholy lyrics and airy vocals, showcased lilting melodies in “Motion Sickness” and “Garden Song.” Before “Chinese Satellite,” she ironically dedicated the song to someone who picketed a past show. Later in the evening, she would join Swift to sing “Nothing New,” a song about anxieties over the ephemeral nature of fame.
Swift first takes us back in time to the “Lover” era, clad in an iridescent Versace bodysuit with studded boots and strutting across a stage lit by a rosy glow. Before the song “The Man,” a criticism of patriarchal society, she told the crowd that it was her eleventh show at Gillette, flexing an arm and exclaiming, “You’re making me feel so excellent right now!” Singing the title track from the album, she performed in front of a giant dollhouse that fans will recognize from the song’s music video.
