Pop star Taylor Swift joined her “best friend” Ed Sheeran to kick off the final leg of the Eras Tour’s European leg on Thursday night at London’s Wembley Stadium for the first of five shows. Performing a medley of the two songs they wrote together, “Everything Has Changed” and “End Game,” Swift thanked Sheeran for being by her side and performing in front of a sold-out crowd of 92,000 fans. The concert was her first performance since the Vienna shows were canceled last week due to a terror threat.
It was also the first time the American singer had returned to the UK since the Southport attack last month, in which three children were killed during a Swift-themed dance class. According to the BBC, Taylor Swift has privately reached out to the families affected by the attacks. He made no reference to either event during the show.
Concerts in the Austrian capital have been cancelled after authorities said they had foiled a terror plot planned for one of Swift’s sold-out shows at the Ernst Happel Stadium. The 34-year-old pop star, who has not spoken publicly from Vienna, released a statement after the killing of the three little girls in Southport. He said he was “completely shocked” by the “loss of life and innocence”.
Taylor Swift thanked Ed Sheeran for taking the time to play with her on her tour. As with most Eras Tours, things went more or less according to plan. But Sheeran’s appearance during the night’s surprise acoustic section drew a huge roar from the 92,000-strong crowd. The songs featured in the acoustic section toward the end of the show were kept secret from the audience until their performance. After a mash-up of their 2012 hit “Everything Has Changed,” the duo launched into their 2017 collaboration “End Game.” Swift then returned the favor by dueting on Sheeran’s ballad “Thinking Out Loud.” “He’s one of my best friends in the world,” he told the crowd at the end of their mini-set. “He’s working very hard, he’s on tour at the moment and he’s probably very tired, but he wanted to come and play for you,” he added.
The 34-year-old megastar put on a mind-blowing show of 46 of her biggest hits. At over three hours, there’s not much time for digressions from the setlist, and other than that, Swift’s interactions with the audience stayed on script. Swift thanked her fans throughout the night, and while introducing the songs, she expressed how overwhelmed the crowd felt. And she said she’ll miss performing in front of those crowds and that she’s experiencing “feelings and emotions that I didn’t think about until I talked about it.”
Fans have been asked to pay attention to her surprise songs, which are often the best way to tell what mood she’s in. When a fan died of cardiac arrest after an Eras tour concert in Rio de Janeiro last year, Swift didn’t directly address the incident at her subsequent concert, instead posting a statement on social media. However, fans interpreted the song choice “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” as a tribute to Ana Clara Benevides Machado, 23.
Last night in London, Swift chose to perform “King of My Heart” from “Reputation” and “The Alchemy” from her latest album “The Tortured Poets Department.” Neither choice reveals much about her state of mind, but it does show how vast her repertoire of songs is.
Tight security measures were put in place ahead of his Wembley performance, which ends next Tuesday. Those without tickets were not allowed to leave the stadium during the show, a practice known as “Tay-gating”. Fans were also reminded of Wembley’s strict bag rules, which include a long list of prohibited items. His Wembley shows, which will also take place on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday nights, will see him set a new attendance record. He has previously played three nights at the same stadium.