Review: Taylor Swift's Eras Tour At Wembley

It's been a long time coming, Taylor Swift's first headline show in London since her cancelled 2020 appearance at BST Hyde Park. And it was with those words that she began a high-energy, three-hour odyssey through her musical career that showed her fans exactly what they'd been missing.

There's very little to say about the Eras Tour that hasn't already been said. Superlatives struggle to keep up with the hype of the record-pulverising tour, a hype that begins back on the Jubilee line somewhere around Baker Street, with fans trading friendship bracelets with complete strangers on the tube.

To call it just a show is underselling it. The Eras Tour is an experience, one that London Swifties were lapping up with glee on Friday night, from the huge merch megastore in a Wembley multi-storey car park (queues are long but constantly moving, though products for sale here are much the same as those at the other stands dotted around, leading some fans to wonder why they bothered queuing) to selfies with the new mural.

And then there's the small matter of the show itself. The opening night in London was always going to be extra special. The only city getting a double dose of the Eras Tour (she's back at Wembley in August) is a place she once called home, a home she broke up with in the melancholy So Long, London on her latest album.

Unsurprisingly, she swerves that particular song here, and also London Boy, but does perform The Black Dog — which has been linked to a Vauxhall pub of the same name — as part of the acoustic 'surprise song' section. She also talks about her earliest experiences of performing in London back at the start of her career, managing to mention a gig at King's College before the rest of her words are swallowed by the cheers of the frenzied crowd.

Swift's knack for audience interaction, coupled with her regular but seamless requests for 'some help over here please' when she spots people struggling in the crowd, makes the show feel far more intimate than the huge stadium tour it is. Until, that is, the spectacular special effects kick in: red hot pyrotechnics, hypnotic confetti, charming fake snow, and literal fireworks from the Wembley Stadium roof combine with exquisite choreography, dazzling costumes, an ever-changing set and the catchy lyrics and vocals that Swift is known for, coming together for an incredibly honed show.

All that said, even Swift herself couldn't have planned for the rain that started to fall over Wembley with apt timing as she performed Midnight Rain, one of the evening's final songs, flanked by dancers wielding umbrellas. At least, we don't think she planned it. After all, its Taylor's world, we're all just living in it.

The Eras Tour is at Wembley Stadium on 22 and 23 June, and 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 August. Londonist saw this show on a review ticket.