After rain delay, Taylor Swift rocks Nashville: Top moments from the shows

Believe the hype.

The Eras tour arrived Friday in Nashville with a mountain of expectations. Three nights in a stadium? In the city where her career started? After a mad dash for tickets? And it's her first major tour in nearly five years?

A normal entertainer may balk at these stakes. But Taylor Swift isn't like other entertainers.

Music City's three-night run on the most talked-about tour of the year kicked off Friday inside Nissan Stadium with record-smashing singalongs, show-stopping duets and an only-in-Nashville surprise. Behind Swift's unmatched ambition and sharp-eyed fanfare, it was the kind of show that'll be talked about long after the final song ended.

From weather woes to surprise announcements, here are the top highlights from Swift's time in Nashville.

Her persistence era

Swift and Swifties pushed through storms on Sunday, her final show of the weekend.

After a weather delay caused Swift fans to shelter-in-place for nearly four hours, a storm advisory at Nissan Stadium lifted at 9:25 p.m. CDT, according to a social media statement from venue organizers.

"Drop everything now ... meet me in the pouring rain," Nissan Stadium tweeted in reference to the 2010 Swift song "Sparks Fly." The post continued, "Shelter in Place has officially been lifted. Fans, please start making your way to your seats. Once production wraps up, Taylor Swift will hit the stage."

Due to the delay, the concert no longer included opening sets from Phoebe Bridgers and Gracie Abrams.

Taylor Swift's triumphant return: Singer rewards fans with 44 songs at Eras Tour opener

Her marathon era

Like the name suggests, Swift covers so much ground in this show. With a 45-song set spanning 10 albums in nearly three-and-a-half hours, Eras embraces a marathoner spirit typically reserved for catch-'em-while-you-can rock icons like Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney.

But unlike blasting "Born To Run" or leading a spontaneous singalong to "Hey Jude," Swift choreographs her set like a conductor would lead an orchestra or a director would deliver a musical. Each moving part — dancers, band members, set pieces — plays a role in telling a story of the "era" being chronicled on stage.

Backed by towering screens and flanked by her reliable dancers, Swift opened the show by inviting her audience into the rainbow-drenched songs of 2019 album "Lover" before donning a sun-soaked dress in a callback to 2008's "Fearless" and embracing a J.R.R. Tolkien-like fantasy for a handful of spellbinding cuts from 2020 album "Evermore." She traveled through the eras in distinct acts with full and abridged songs — like a stadium-sized Broadway production that at one moment soaked the audience in red lighting and backdrops (because, you know, "Red") before recreating a fireside hang for the folk-tinged "Betty" and other songs off Grammy Award-winning album "Folklore."

She offered a fresh spin on well-worn eras — sometimes literally, like when her backup dancers rode beach cruisers across the stage during "Blank Space" — and gave plenty of attention to the four (!!!) albums released since she last embarked on a coast-to-coast tour, including "Anti-Hero," "Bejeweled" and more from the set-closing "Midnights" era.

Taylor Swift tour has many 'eras.' We tracked her movements to give you the look and feel.

Her record-breaking era

Swift invited plenty of company to join Friday night's career-spanning adventure. An audience of nearly 70,500 attended the show, setting a single-night Nissan Stadium attendance record, eclipsing past concerts and professional sporting events.

"Oh my beloved Nashville, you're making me feel so good right now," Swift said early in the show. "Tonight is the highest-attended event to take place in the stadium because 70,000 of you decided to hang with us this evening."

And the benchmark may not hold for long. With two more shows slated for this weekend, Swift could break her own record before leaving town.

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Her fans' era

They dress for the occasion. They sing along to every word (even when it's 10-minute redux of "All Too Well"). They don't leave the stands until the last note rings out. Beyond songwriter, Swift's superpower may be the dedicated fandom that'll follow her through each cryptic clue, ticketing rush and re-recorded album.

On Friday, these so-called Swifties turned out with bejeweled eye pieces (because "Bejeweled"), head-to-toe cloaks (because "Willow"), snake-covered t-shirts (because "Reputation") and tie-dye pastels (because "Lover"). Some came ready to hear songs that climbed the charts before they were born, while others reveled in re-living eras from life's formative years.

And as each new song kicked in, they jumped at a chance to shout each word — like a group of friends passing around the aux cable on a late night filled with unforgettable songs. Only instead of a designated DJ, they're singing along with Swift.

Or, as Swift described her crowd at one point Friday night: "You guys are, like, on fire."

Her surprise era

After weeks of well-placed clues and TikTok-fueled speculation, Taylor Swift confirmed Friday — mid-show, no less — which album comes next in her expansive "Taylor's Version" project: "Speak Now."

"I've been planning something for a while," Swift said as the Friday night audience exploded with applause. "It's my love language with you. I plot. I scheme. I plan. And then I get to tell you about it."

As the album title and July 7 release date flashed across the stadium screen, she added: "I think, rather than me speaking about it ... I'd rather just show you."

Swift put a bow on the "Taylor's Version" unveiling with an acoustic rendition of "Sparks Fly," a 2011 single off "Speak Now" before taking audience members back to her self-titled debut album with a piano-backed rendition of 2006's "Teardrops On My Guitar."

"Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" wasn't the only time Swift surprised her fans on Friday night, either. The singer enlisted Eras tour opener and indie-rock favorite Bridgers for an acoustic duet of "Nothing New," a song the two released together on 2021's "Red (Taylor's Version)."

"This is a regular day in my life," Bridgers quipped as she stepped up the microphone hours after performing her own set.

Swift replied, "I feel the same, getting to sing this song with you for the very first time in a sold-out stadium."

'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' coming: Taylor Swift confirms album during Eras tour

Her openers' era

Bridgers played main support Friday, her first night on the Eras tour. As on-and-off rain covered the expansive stage, the singer-songwriter and her five-piece band ripped through dad-dedicated favorite "Kyoto," the sobering "Graceland Too" and other cuts from 2020 album "Punisher."

And the first surprise of the night came during Bridgers' set, when she invited Lucy Dacus and Nashville's own Julien Baker — AKA indie supergroup Boygenius — on stage to sing the trio's new single "Not Strong Enough." Running up and down the stage together, the Boygenius members backed Bridgers through her set-closing number "I Know The End."

"We gotta talk about this," Swift said during her set. "You got to see a genius, a friend ... our creative savoir. I can't believe [Phoebe's] on tour with us."

Taylor Swift Eras tour set list in Nashville

• "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince"

• "Cruel Summer"

• "The Man"

• "You Need to Calm Down"

• "Lover"

• "The Archer"

• "Fearless"

• "You Belong With Me"

• "Love Story"

• " 'Tis the Damn Season"

• "Willow"

• "Marjorie"

• "Champagne Problems"

• "Tolerate It"

• "Ready For It?"

• "Delicate"

• "Don't Blame Me"

• "Look What You Made Me Do"

• "Enchanted"

• "22"

• "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"

• "I Knew You Were Trouble"

• "Nothing New" (with Phoebe Bridgers)

• "All Too Well (10-Minute Version)"

• "The 1"

• "Betty"

• "The Last Great American Dynasty"

• "August"

• "Illicit Affairs"

• "My Tears Ricochet"

• "Cardigan"

• "Style"

• "Blank Space"

• "Shake it Off"

• "Wildest Dreams"

• "Bad Blood"

• "Sparks Fly (surprise song)

• "Teardrops On My Guitar" (surprise song)

• "Lavender Haze"

• "Anti-Hero"

• "Midnight Rain"

• "Vigilante S---"

• "Bejeweled"

• "Mastermind"

• "Karma"

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Taylor Swift powers through rain delay in final Nashville show