Taylor Swift brings curtain on Edinburgh Eras tour by saving best for last

The US singer performed for 10.5 hours by the time she brought the curtain down on the initial leg of her UK and Ireland tour.

Taylor Swift has praised her Scottish fans and said Ta-ta to Scotland following three record-breaking concerts…and praised Swifties for saving the best for last.

Taylor, 34, said: “We have actually had the most wonderful time in Edinburgh. This is actually our third and final show in Edinburgh on our visit to Edinburgh and this crowd have come clearly to prove a point. You’ve decided to prove it true that they save the best for last. You’ve proved it to us tonight.

“I mean from the way you are committed out there. I mean it’s not just performances in the crowd that I’m captivated by. You’re not just here to dance. You’re not just here to sing.

“You are here to totally commit to the moment, to the vibe, to the night and that is just the best fun for us to perform.

“Most of all I’m particularly grateful because it’s been shockingly amazing in Edinburgh because every night I got to go onstage and they pulled me aside and said, ‘You know this crowd broke the all time stadium attendance record for all of Scotland for all of time.

“So tonight I said there’s no way they can possibly fit more people into the stadium, there’s no way they can do that.

“And, yes, they told me tonight that this show is now the highest attendance stadium show in Scotland.”

It really was a phenomenal and record-breaking visit and the singer, 34, admitted she was overcome with emotion after playing the shows at Edinburgh’s Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in front of 220,000 people.

Taylor, who had told The Record that performing in Scotland “feels like coming home”, performed for 10.5 hours by the time she brought the curtain down on the initial leg of her UK and Ireland tour.

Stepping onstage to a roar that made me think this is what The Beatles at Shea Stadium must have sounded with a poorer sound system, Tay Tay wore a red, white and blue bodysuit and pink Cristian Louboutin boots as she delivered a set that rocked from the off. Cruel Summer was apt considering the chill in the air for these £1 billion tour dates that have injected almost £100 million into the Scottish economy and Edinburgh welcomed her with open arms – even projecting the cover of her newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, onto the rugged walls of Edinburgh castle in celebration of her stay.

She said: “It’s been an absolute delight and honour and experience.

“On behalf of me and my band and all my fellow performers and my crew, you have made us feel so at home in Scotland.”

The impressive set list had been organised into 10 sections representing each of her musical eras across her 18 year career.

Segments including Lover, Fearless, Red, Speak Now, Reputation, Folklore/Evermore, 1989, The Tortured Poets Department, Surprise Songs and Midnight.

There were almost as many designer costume changes as there were songs, each one more stunning than before.

She performed an average of 45 songs from her hit-packed and spectacular show each night and at one point, on Friday, stood awestruck during a two-minute Swifties roar.

Among the songs were renditions of favourites such as Betty, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Shake It Off, Champagne Problems, Willow and Bad Blood.

Throughout the weekend, Taylor has told the Swifties how impressed she has been by the reception.

Taylor told her fans: “You’re doing really excellent work here as a crowd and just being here has been one of my favourite places to be on tour and I have all of you to thank for that. You know how to make a lass feel welcome.”

Taylor added: “I’ve been touring, playing live shows since I was, I don’t know, 16 or whatever and I’ve gotten to do so many tours that I’ve had so much fun doing.

(Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
“Before the Eras tour I was in a pattern of like I’d put out an album and then I’d do a tour named after that album and that was so much fun.

“But I think one of the reasons why Eras tour has been the most fun in my life is that my one regret on those tours we did is that we really didn’t come to Scotland enough.

“The results are clear. This was a huge mistake on my part.”

Swift, who didn’t play Scotland during her 2018 Reputation tour and who has traced her ancestors to Scotland, said: “Every time I perform in Scotland it honestly feels like I am coming home.

“I don’t know if that’s because of my Scottish roots or the fact I am always made to feel so welcome.”

Waitress Kirsten Donnelly, 21, from Glasgow, was among those fans who got into the spirit of Taylor’s Eras tour by replicating costume changes while enjoying the show with friends.
Kirsten said: “I did one costume change. That’s all I have in me. I just wanted to do something special.

“I’ve built this up so much for a year I just had to do something so I thought why not just do two costumes.”

Thanks to the power of velcro, friends helped Kirsten do a quick change during the show into a gold dress and cowboy boots.

She added: “It was for the Fearless era. My first one was from the You Belong With Me video and then I tore it off to match Taylor’s dress onstage.”

Taylor also hailed Scotland for being the inspiration to some of her music.

The Tortured Poets Department star revealed that material from her 2020 album Folklore had been born out of YouTube videos she watched during the Covid pandemic to keep her sane.

The Pennsylvania-born singer, who once dated Scots DJ Calvin Harris and is currently going out with Kansas Chiefs footballer Travis Kelce, said she was worried at the time that she might never get to play live again.

She said: “In my life Folklore was not just an album I made it was an entire imaginary world that I escaped into every day during the pandemic. I started writing songs two days into the pandemic and I think we all had our methods of escapism during the pandemic.

“Mine was that I would just pretend that my reality was actually like I was an extremely poetic Victorian lady wandering through the woods of the Scottish wilderness.

“She always wrote on a parchment with a feather quill. That was who I pretended who I was. It’s probably the only things I’ve seen online of Scotland.”

She added: “It was nice, a bit draughty in the winter.”

This time, for the song Enchanted she wore a Lavender dress for a Disney Princess complete with a train but what makes her such an idol to many of her fans is that this is someone who is determined to be in complete control of her destiny and succeeding.

Dark clouds drifted overhead and the occasional drop of rain fell, but she looked skyward, gave a disgusted look and that was enough for the weather to think twice, or at least delay the inevitable. It did rain briefly during the visually spectacular and pinch Look What You Made Me Do.

But compared to festival mud-fests it was nothing, ‘spitting’ as your granny would say, and it certainly wasn’t going to dampen the spirits of the Swifties.

As she kicked off the Folklore era and before the song Betty, she said: “I have done a lot of costume changes but I have never looked out and seen an entire crowd do a costume change. You guys came prepared for the rain. And there’s no one I’d rather dance with in the rain.”

That rain was lighter than a feather and didn’t last long. After a deafening standing ovation, Taylor said: “Thank you so much I’m never going to forget this crowd.”