13 February 2014

12 February 2014

Taylor Swift at the O2 11/2/13

Following on from last week's Taylor Swift concert, I was fortunate enough to be able to go back this week to see the final date of the Red tour.

As expected, she was once again phenomenal, although her voice seemed to be straining in parts. Fair play to the girl, she's just around 80 tour dates and probably hasn't been home since about 1972. She probably just wanted to go home, onesie-up and stuff her face full of chocolate chip cookies.
One of many outfits
Nevertheless, she put on a fantastic show, with multiple outfit changes, audience interaction, and plenty of high-flying, platform-raising stunts. The crowd this week weren't quite as wild as last week -for a start, no audience members were wearing wedding dresses- and her special guest Ellie Goulding didn't get quite as mental a welcome as last week's guest, Danny O'Donoghue. O the luck o'the Irish.
T Swizz and Ellie Goulding do their thang
Special mention to support act The Vamps who were her support act for the tour, and were great at getting the crowd going on both date.


5 February 2014

Taylor Swift at the O2, 4/02/2014


Taylor Swift at the O2 was always going to be a sight to behold, what with her massive UK fan base, unique sound, and self-confessed love for "Fundon" (which is how she refers to London), but I hadn't predicted just how incredible the London leg of her Red tour was going to be.

Thanks to the lovely Julia at Ketchum, and their client Stub Hub, we were in a corporate box, which was an experience in itself, and for any other show, the main part of this blog post would be talking about that - but the dynamic performance of Taylor Swift overshadowed even that.
Corporate box- cheeky! Photo courtesy of Emma Cleaver

When we arrived, the support act were just wrapping up -it turned out to be The Vamps, a band whose music I am vaguely familiar with, but who I'll be listening to more now. Then came the inevitable gap between them rounding up and Miss Swift coming onstage, at which point we took the opportunity to survey the audience from our vantage point. A scuffle amongst the floor level crowd and a gathering of bodyguards centred around a middle-aged woman indicated that Taylor Swift's mother had arrived.

At about 8.30pm Taylor Swift arrived on stage, and the fun really began. From the off, her confidence and clear enjoyment made her dynamic to watch. Her oufits- of which there were predictably several in the 100 minutes she was on - had her own quirky style injected into them. She opened in a pair of high-waisted hotpants, demure blouse and red sparkly flats- a lady clearly at home with the fact that her eternally long legs do not require heels!

Ethereal being T-Swizzle is literally put on a pedestal
Despite her fondness for her instruments, she barely stood still for the whole performance, dancing on stage, in the audience, on an elevated catwalk, and at one point in a hanging platform which carried her from one side of the arena to the other. Damn, that girl can work a crowd, at times resembling a young Immaculate-Collection-era Madonna, at other times her youthful side showing through.

One thing I did learn is that Taylor Swift's fans are hardcore. We saw all kinds of crazy outfits, from onesies to wedding dresses - presumably a homage to TS's penchant for wearing them in music videos-, fans with her name, quite literally, in lights, all of which made for a great atmosphere and enhanced the performance no end. But I have NEVER heard a crowd go quite as wild as when she introduced her guest for the night as none other than The Script's Danny O'Donoghue.

The set list was varied, from her newest material, her mainstream hits such as 'We are never getting back together' to her old school stuff, including my personal favourite, Love Story.

I would definitely see Taylor Swift live again- which is why I'm doing exactly that next Tuesday. Same time, same place, hopefully the same incredible performance!
The opener