A filtered voice rang out, capturing what every Italian fan had been thinking: "It's been a long time coming." It was Taylor Swift, and she was absolutely right.
It had been 13 years since Taylor Swift last performed in Italy. Back in 2011, her Speak Now era was already setting records and inspiring younger Swifties to dream about wedding interruptions, living in big old cities, and blushing wonderstruck all the way home. Even though I didn’t make it to that show, I was one of those Swifties when Taylor was still fully country, and Italy was just starting to know her.
Finally, on July 13th, Taylor returned, now a worldwide pop sensation, to perform for three hours at one of two sold-out shows at San Siro Stadium in Milan, each in front of more than 60,000 fans.
Right after the Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince intro, the whole stadium was dancing to Cruel Summer and belting out the "first bridge of the evening" while Taylor dazzled in the iconic sparkling Versace outfit.
The Eras Tour is a blend of new music and nostalgia. These two dimensions coexist during the Fearless and Red sets—songs we sang as teenagers (and still do) alongside new adaptations of old classics (All Too Well 10-minute version, we're looking at you). The whole stadium went down when, during We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, one of the dancers expressed in Italian, and with a very edgy expression, that no, we were never EVER getting back together.
The folklore and evermore sets were sweet, soft, and cinematic, from the haunting willow to the tragic illicit affairs, while 1989 and reputation brought back all the synth-pop anthems Taylor had accustomed us to.
Taylor was a force of nature during the whole show: she engaged with the audience, sang, danced, and played guitar and piano. She also got emotional during a beautiful fan action organized by Italian fans. While singing Enchanted (one of my all-time favorites), thousands of signs saying, "We are enchanted to meet you after 13 years," appeared everywhere. She looked around wide-eyed, mouthing, "There are so many," and thanked the audience with shiny eyes while disappearing in a purple cloud at the end of the act..
Despite the elaborate choreographies, enormous stage, and stunning visual effects (Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department, we saw you), the show is still filled with spontaneous moments. Taylor knows her audience very well - at the end of the day, we are perfectly fine with just her, a guitar, or a piano. One of the best moments of the night was the "surprise song" segment, where she picked four songs, two of them mashed up, from her previous records. These vary each show, and for our evening, we were treated to incredible mash-ups: I Almost Do / The Moment I Knew and the 1 / Wonderland. Taylor shines when she can connect with the audience, perform her songs solo, and give the lyrics all the emphasis she feels. Probably to her surprise, the whole stadium sang along, even to deep cuts and songs from deluxe editions of her albums.
She interacted with the audience, swallowed a bug and had to stop in the middle of a song (good chances she just wanted to prove us to be human), and was pleasantly surprised when 65,000 people sang "Sei bellissima - you are beautiful" to her between songs. This, and the two minutes of spontaneous standing ovation (at a random moment—we were just feeling the need to acclaim her in every possible way) showed one thing: Taylor Swift, Italy loves you. Please don’t wait another 13 years to come back.
