TAYLOR SWIFT
Suncorp Stadium 05.12.2015
Taylor Swift is the undisputed global Queen of Pop. Tonight she played to 50 000 paying customers at Suncorp Stadium. The last time she played the venue, it was the first time a female artist had filled a ‘room’ this size in the two decades since Madonna last toured. The first time Swift performed anywhere in Australia it was only a couple of kilometres down the road at the Tivoli to a thousand people. A class act: she brought the same energy to that gig as she brings tonight.
The party gets started before you sit down. There’s a buzz in the air – fans are dressed in costumes. Neon signs spelling out ‘1989’ are everywhere. When Taylor hits the stage at 8.30pm sharp she welcomes us to New York (‘Welcome To New York’). The stage is lit up like Times Square and she is joined on stage by a small army of musicians and dancers.
The hits come thick at fast. New Romantics is next, followed by Blank Space, I Wish You Would and How You Get The Girl. Swift embraces the gargantuan nature of the occasion. Her shout outs to the crowd are custom written to make the connection with people from the front rows to the bleachers. Mine is played for the first time on the tour and tonight it is dedicated to Rachel Erlandsen who recently lost her life in car accident.
On the early tours, Swift wasn’t adverse to a little banjo and demonstrating her own chops. Tonight she’ll play an acoustic guitar as she rides a cherry picker over the crowd below. In between sets Swift’s famous friends pop up on the big screen to tell their own stories with the woman currently ‘at one’ with the zeitgeist.
As the show moves on there are costume changes, and more hits. Love Story, Bad Blood and Wildest Dreams are all standouts. Echoing Coldplay, fans tonight are given a wrist band as they enter the venue. On cue the wrist bands light up and mirror the mood of the song in question. Holding up your cell phone suddenly seems so … last week.
As the night comes towards a conclusion, Taylor has given it her all for almost two hours. The fans have sung their hearts out and Swift takes a moment to acknowledge her special relationship with Brisbane. It’s surreal to consider that just over half a decade ago Swift was starting on the ‘ground floor’ here with an act that was more Shania Twain than ‘global dominating pop’.
By the time Shake It Off rolls around, the stadium are on their collective feet. The song is nothing short of brilliant tonight. To hear that many people singing in unison is a magnificent moment, which is capped off by the best display of fireworks you’re likely to see this side of the Ekka. Bravo Taylor!
WORDS: Sean Sennett
