Taylor Swift kicked off the final leg of the Eras Tour in Miami, Florida, with the type of performance that will surely go down in Swiftie lore as one for the history books.
“Miami, we are so back!” she declared Friday night, shortly after things began in their usual manner, with the singer emerging from beneath the stage to bring the crowd of 61,000 people at Hard Rock Stadium to life with her Lover era hits “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” and “Cruel Summer.”
Little did they know what the singer had in store for the night.
This time, Swift’s 3.5-hour journey through 18 years of music would feature new costumes, a few setlist changes, and a surprise appearance from Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine — all while rain poured down on the stage and the crowd for a majority of the show.
Good thing a little rain never stopped Swift. In fact, Swifties consider rain shows to be somewhat sacred experiences. So, rather than bring down the mood, the late-night showers merely served to further energize the crowd.
It almost seemed cinematic, as if the pop star had somehow figured out a way to control the weather, the way the rain would dissipate at certain times, only to return with even greater force at other moments.
By the time the show reached the Reputation era, the rain cascaded from the sky as Swift performed some of her most intense tracks like “Ready For It?” and “Don’t Blame Me.” It then slowly retreated for a brief time, only to return when Swift reached the acoustic set. It ebbed and flowed several times, clearing up through most of Midnights, but making one last appearance to join the confetti that fell from the rafters for the final song of the night, “Karma.”
For the first time, Swift also debuted a new outfit for her Reputation era. Her black bodysuit, which has been adorned with red snakes every night since the first stop in Glendale, Arizona, more than a year ago, instead glittered with shimmering gold snakes.
The singer acknowledged her new looks (which also included a silver Fearless dress and a black Midnights bodysuit with shimmering stars and a moon) during the acoustic set, after twirling around in a pink and blue cotton candy-esque dress, also new, as she grabbed her guitar.
“I’ve got a new dress for you and everything. I love when you guys notice these things. It’s the most rewarding thing in the world,” she said, before singing mashups of “Tim McGraw”/”Timeless” and “This Is Me Trying/Daylight.”
At this point, the audience was still reeling from an electric Tortured Poets Department set that included a rare surprise guest. When the opening notes of “Florida!!!” began — a very fun, yet expected departure from the typical setlist, given the venue — rumblings grew as the audience dared to hope that Welch might make an appearance. So, when she emerged from beneath the stage behind Swift, the screams were deafening.
Welch added an ethereal quality to the TTPD era as she flowed around the massive stage, belting effortlessly the name of the state in which she sang.
Even though this was a surprise, guest performance, it almost felt like a staple of the show, with Swift and Welch looking thick as thieves, exchanging a cheeky smirk as Welch sang the brazen lyrics, “So I did my best to lay to rest / All of the bodies that have ever been on my body / And in my mind, they sink into the swamp / Is that a bad thing to say in a song?”
The Eras Tour is officially the longest tour Swift has ever done, which, she explained, is no accident. She is playing a record-breaking 152 dates, which will have spanned nearly two years by the time she takes the stage for the last time, because she’s having “the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”
And, for those seemingly brief 3.5 hours, Swift always finds a way to draw everyone in the audience in with that infectious joy, as if she’s somehow singing directly to each of them. Miami Night 1 was no exception.
