Last weekend, Taylor Swift took over Toronto during a two-night stint to sold-out crowds at Air Canada Center as part of the second leg of her Fearless tour. Sparkly signs decked out in glitter, homemade t-shirts paid homage to the pop-country sensation, and the level of anticipation leading to the start of the show kept growing. Not to be outshone by her fans, there was a lot of sequins and sparkliness throughout Swift’s set as well.
Gloriana and Kellie Pickler served as the opening acts, and did respectively good jobs getting the crowd pumped up. But as soon as 8:00pm hit, it was clear that the cheers were getting louder for the main act. Taylor Swift started off her 2.5 hour set with “You Belong With Me”, dressed up in a band uniform, which was the first of many outfit changes throughout the night.
It was in the moments that Swift spent wearing her heart on her sleeve with her dialogues to the audience that really stood out. She told stories of love, of her high school years, and of her dreams – which served not only as the lead-ins, but also as the subjects of her songs of which her audience was familiar with. Just before starting “Hey Stephen”, Swift made her way past a far section of the stadium and made an effort to hug as many fans along the way as possible. It was nice to see that Swift returned the favour to fans, seeming as excited to see all of them as they were all in seeing her.
Although Swift has been criticized consistently in regards to her live performances, she sounded great, and overall the show quality was high. It is rare to find a superstar who maintains the ability to be honest and humble, regardless of the level of fame that they have achieved.
Don’t change, Taylor Swift.
Setlist:
- You Belong With Me
- Our Song
- Tell Me Why
- Teardrops On My Guitar
- Fearless
- Forever and Always
- Hey Stephen
- Fifteen
- Tim McGraw
- White Horse
- Love Story
- The Way I Loved You
- You’re Not Sorry/What Goes Around Comes Around…
- Picture to Burn
Encore:
- Today Was a Fairytale
- Should’ve Said No
