A lifelong Swiftie reviews Taylor Swift's second Santa Clara concert
On Saturday night, legions of Swifties flocked to Levi’s Stadium for the second Santa Clara show of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
There were the requisite dads and boyfriends, of course, but this was a show for the girls – pint-sized Swifties in princess dresses, college-aged girls in sequins and middle-aged mothers just as obsessed with Taylor as their daughters. The demographic was so skewed that on the floor level of the stadium, one of the men’s bathrooms had been transformed into a women’s bathroom with a temporary sign.
It’s become a tradition for fans to trade homemade friendship bracelets at the shows, inspired by a line from Swift’s song “You’re on Your Own, Kid” – so everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief when Levi’s Stadium reversed its puzzling ban on them. Little kids in pink cowboy hats eagerly extended arms stacked with bracelets to trade with women quadruple their age. Even I, who came bracelet-less, managed to acquire one by the start of the show.
Following an emotive set from Gracie Abrams and an energizing one from Haim, a countdown timer appeared on screen. Everyone sang along to Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” blasting over the stadium speakers, until the timer reached zero and the “Lover” era began.
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After a stunning entrance involving backup dancers with fluttering pink kites, Swift emerged to sing a short version of “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” followed by fan favorite “Cruel Summer,” in which the crowd shouted the frenzied bridge at the top of their lungs. 2019's “Lover” is the first of four albums Swift has released since the last time she toured five years ago.
As a Swiftie who has never had the pleasure of seeing Swift live in concert before, I was out of my mind excited at the chance to be in the same room as her. But with all the chaos surrounding the ticketing process for the Eras tour – Ticketmaster headaches, tickets being resold for thousands of dollars – I feel confident in saying that every single person in the stadium felt wildly lucky to be there.
Swift knew it, too.
“Is there anyone here tonight who put in an extensive amount of effort in order to be with us here at the Eras tour?” she asked. A huge roar ensued, hands shooting up across the stadium.
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The “Fearless” era came next, a blast of nostalgia for anyone who came of age with Swift. Singing along to “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” with Swift in a fringey gold dress and sparkly boots transported me back to middle school, pining over a crush on the school bus while listening to my iPod. This was the simplest part of the set in regards to stage design, but the songs spoke for themselves. I almost teared up.
The rest of the night unfolded in a similar fashion – by dividing the 3.5 hour set into “eras” of the albums Swift has released over the past 17 years, complete with coordinated outfit changes and imagery, I felt myself teleported throughout different moments of my life.
The towering pine trees and glowing lanterns of “Evermore” and the mossy piano and wood cabin of “Folklore” took me back to cozying up with the two albums in the depths of the pandemic, back when my world shrunk to the size of my apartment. “1989” sounded like my freshman year at UC Berkeley, dancing to “Style” with my soon-to-be best friend in our tiny dorm room. “Speak Now” was listening to the title track over and over again on the boombox in my high school bedroom, hiding the CD from my friends when they came over because for a few snooty teenage years, Taylor Swift wasn’t cool anymore.
Even albums I hadn’t enjoyed as much when they came out were incredibly fun live. “Reputation,” an album that initially made me cringe for Swift’s whole “good girl gone unconvincingly bad” shtick, made sense in a stadium. The pounding bass of “…Ready for It?” emphasized with slithering snake imagery was one of the most pulse-elevating, danceable moments of the set.
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Perhaps my favorite era, though, was “Red.” Following a one-two-three punch of massive hits “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” Swift delighted in the sudden appearance of fireworks from neighboring amusement park Great America during her set.
“That was so cool,” she said. “It happened last night, too, and I was secretly hoping it was going to happen again. And it did. Nothing like more pyro in a show that already has a lot of flames and fireworks.”
But the less flashy part of the “Red” era was the true highlight – Swift’s performance of the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” punctuated with autumnal confetti. Some might call playing a 10-minute-long song in the midst of a 3.5 hour show overkill, but not me. In my opinion, it’s the best song she’s ever written.
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Each night, Swift has been following up the “1989” portion of the show with two surprise songs, different for every show. Saturday night’s first pick was an acoustic guitar rendition of “Stay Stay Stay,” a cutesy song that Swift said she hadn’t played since the “Red” tour. Then, she played a deeper cut: “All of the Girls You Loved Before,” a previously unreleased track from “Lover” that Swift officially released on March 17 to celebrate the beginning of the Eras Tour.
After being seemingly shocked and pleased that fans knew and sang along to the obscure “Lover” track, Swift blew a kiss to the crowd and dove headfirst into a hole in the stage, a stunt that has become a tour highlight.
The night concluded with Swift’s most recent album, “Midnights.” After emerging in a new sparkly dress and climbing a ladder into a fluffy purple cloud, Swift launched into the ethereal-sounding “Lavender Haze.”
Before announcing the final song, Swift thanked the crowd, declaring, “Santa Clara, I love you so much.” She and her backup dancers, dressed in a rainbow of shimmery jackets, sent off Levi’s Stadium with the fun, easy-breezy “Karma.” More fireworks and confetti ensued.
Taylor Swift’s honorary mayorship of “Swiftie Clara” may have come to a close Saturday night, but for Swifties, her powerhouse performance will rule our heads for many midnights to come.
Source: SFGATE
