On the third and final evening at Lincoln Financial Field, over 67,000 fans gathered to see Taylor Swift’s third, sold-out homestate show in Philadelphia. She became the first performer in history to play the Philadelphia Eagles’ stadium for three nights in a row. Swift grew up in the town of West Reading, Pennsylvania until her family moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was 14. Swift mentioned her Pennsylvania roots in lyrics including “It always leads to you in my hometown” in her album Evermore’s song titled “Tis the Damn Season” which is a tale of someone returning to their hometown while being in an emotional relationship with someone of their past. 

The third Philadelphia show happened to fall on Mother’s Day giving the show even more significance to mothers bringing their daughters to this night of the tour.  Swift mentioned a fan telling her that her mother brought her to a show growing up, and now she is here bringing her daughter to the Era’s Tour.  Taylor Swift has bonded mothers and daughters for years since she began touring on her first tour for Fearless in 2009. Personally, my mother brought me to a show in 2009, where I could hear all of the songs on Fearless in person instead of listening to the cd driving to school in my used Toyota Camry. 14 years later and sitting in the thirteenth row, seemingly being Swift’s favorite number at Lincoln Financial Field, this was the first show I’ve seen Swift perform since my teenage adolescence.

Being in the crowd, now as a thirty-one year old, I saw diversity in age everywhere I looked– a father taking his pre-teen daughter to this show bedazzled in rhinestones in the shape of a heart on her face, two teenage girls with arms covered in friendship bracelets losing their voice with every song, and mothers with their little girls who had to sit on the chairs to see above the crowd.  A nostalgic reflection of remembering my mom bringing me to the Fearless tour, memorizing the Swiftian lyrics of Enchanted with my younger cousins on vacation, and feeling connected to the misfit character with an unrequited love for a crush that Swift created in the “You Belong with Me” video.  

Swift began her set with songs in the Lover era, captivating the audience with the song, “The Man,” in her shimmering blazer singing about the societal double standards for men and women.  With the strumming of the guitar and catchy beat of Love Story, I smiled seeing every person in the crowd near me singing the lyrics “It's a love story, baby, just say, ‘Yes’” The song still strikes a chord of romantic, forbidden love in a fairytale that every girl dreams about.  In retrospect and in the present, I still can connect with characters she has created who have realistic dreams, fleeting relationships, love and fury, and all the emotions in between.

Unbeknownst to me that Swift skips through eras, the suspense was kept high. The setlist was a near perfect shuffle of upbeat songs, ballads, and even the noteworthy ten minute version of “All Too Well.”  Swift shifted into the Evermore era in a bohemian style dress singing songs from the 2020 album, in which she revealed she was not sure she’d ever be able to play these songs for a crowd again.  In this part of the set, Swift spoke about how she wrote as many songs as she could to cope with the worldwide pandemic, using every ounce of her creativity even in a difficult time.  Sprinkled in the Red era, Swift brought out one of her “favorite artists of all time” and opening guest, Phoebe Bridgers.  The sounds of the rhythmic guitars and harmonious voices of Swift and Bridgers, as they sang the duet, “Nothing New,” left fans in adoration hearing Swift’s live entry into an indie sound on more recent albums. The song was originally written for Red when Swift was 22 about being the less shiny, new starlet in the music industry as she continued to make music. Bridgers and Swift sparkled on stage with complementary red and black guitars and in admiration of each other’s talent. 

Moving through the eras and costume changes, Swift met fans in an emerald green dress sitting center stage in an intimate moment with just her piano. Each night of the Eras tour, she played what fans have called “surprise songs” where she plays songs not on the typical set list. She mentioned this part of the set was her favorite part of every night of the tour.  Given the performance landed on Mother’s Day, Swift shared a story about the secretly recorded track on Fearless called “Best Day” when she was a teenager. She said she created a video montage of home videos of childhood memories while playing the song for her mother, Andrea Swift. After listening to the song, her mother said the song’s lyrics shockingly included things that they both had gone through together not realizing Taylor had written it.  Taylor later revealed that she wrote this song from her memories about their relationship.  “It was the sweetest thing ever because I just think she couldn’t have comprehended that I would write a song about the two of us,” Taylor shared. After the song, there was not a dry eye in the stadium from the genuineness of the touching story between Taylor and her mother.  It’s rare to witness an artist connect so closely with her fans every night and in an authentic way that we can all relate to.

Seeing a spectacle and performer effortlessly sing 45 songs, streams of endless rainbow confetti, surprise fire globes, matching visuals and aesthetics for every era, it truly was a stellar evening for a homecoming show that I feel lucky to have experienced. I now truly understand how difficult the ticket market is to even get your hands on a single ticket for these shows.  In those three hours, I forgot that the outside world existed for a smidge of time, feeling like a teenager again with 67,000 strangers who had a similar connection to her music. It’s clear that this tour was a holistic look at her seventeen year career, and it seems that beyond this tour that she will be moving into a new era to continue to flourish as the one and only Taylor Swift.