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Swifties from all over the Buckeye State descended upon Cincinnati on July 1st to get a glimpse of and to sing along with Taylor Swift at Paycor Stadium.

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It has been five long years since Ms. Swift has toured, but she more than made up for it by playing well over three hours and playing songs from each album, or "era."

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On Saturday, the starting time was moved up one hour because of threatening weather that was in the forecast.  This meant that opening act Gracie Abrams set had to be cut, but Indie pop trio, Muna warmed up the crowd for Miss Swift.

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The  spectacle began after a large clock counted down the time until the start of the show.  Dancers paraded around the large stage with huge flower fans and made their way to the center of the runway where Taylor appeared on a riser to open the show with " Miss American and the Heartbreak Prince"  from her Lover era.  She then proceeded to play five other songs from that album then went to the next "era" of songs.

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Each era was like an entire Broadway production with different sets and costume changes and fantastic chorography. 

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Taylor Swift is a true entertainer.  She works the stage and makes sure everyone cand get a good view of her.  Of course, she knows the camera is on her at all times and would often give a head toss, or a wink or a smirk to her adoring fans.

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Fearless  was the next era to be played. That contained the huge sing-a-long hits "You Belong With Me," and "Love Story."  

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Not that every song wasn't a sing-a-long to most fans.

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Swift thanked the crowd for coming early.  She noted that there wasn't one empty seat even though she started an hour early.

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The Evermore era contained five songs like "Marjorie" and "Champagne Problems."

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Another set and costume change brought on the Reputation era with songs like "Delicate" and "Look What You Made Me Do."

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"Enchanted" was the only song from Speak Now that was played but four songs from Red, "22," "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," "I Knew You Were Trouble," and "All Too Well" got everyone on their feet and dancing.

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Things slowed down a bit when Taylor went into her Folklore era.  The stage was set up like a cabin and she remained at the back of the stage for this mostly acoustic set.

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The pace picked back up again when "Style," "Blank Space," "Shake It Off," "Wildest Dreams" and "Bad Blood" were played from the 1989 era. 

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It was then time for the acoustic, "surprise songs" part of the show.  Taylor said that she has been playing different songs every night of the tour.  She brought out her co-writing partner and Cincinnati native, Aaron Dessner to play "Ivy" for the first time live.

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Miss Swift then said she was going to do something she hasn't done yet so far on this tour.  She said she was going to play three acoustic songs and the place went crazy.

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Because she got her set cut because of the early start time, Gracie Abrams was brought out for the two of them to duet on her hit, "I Miss You, I'm Sorry" that featured Taylor on guitar and Abrams on piano.

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The third bonus song was "Call It What You Want" that featured Taylor on piano.

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Her newest album, Midnights was the last era featured in this three hour and twenty minute extravaganza.  

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I'm not sure how anyone can top this performance.  It had everything you could ever want in a concert.

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Review by Greg Drugan

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