Taylor Swift Sydney concert review as seen by a genuine Swiftie

The music experts have had their say but what did the diehards think of Taylor Swift’s first Sydney concert? One of her biggest fans delivers her verdict.

• Fan gallery: Opening night
• What it costs to be a Swift fan

Let this moment go down in history – this is the biggest concert of this generation. Not since the likes of The Beatles, Elvis and the Spice Girls, has a performer had this much impact on a crowd.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour performance is a delicious treat to fill the soul. For three-and-a-half hours Swift delivered a stellar show. While our feet ached from standing up, dancing and singing along, Swift never faltered. The sheer athleticism that comes with such a performance is outstanding.

It pays off – in return, the audience happily sits in the palm of her hand. When she says throw our arms up and scream we do, and when she hushes the crowd for a quiet song, the crowd stills.

It should be, for all intents and purposes, the exact same show fans have seen for over a year now on TikTok and in her Eras Tour movie. The only difference, the two acoustic surprise songs she plays towards the end of the set.

Taylor Swift performing on night one in Sydney at Accor Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

Yet, somehow, despite performing a near identical set list, Swift manages to make the show special. When she sings and talks, she convinces you that this show is unique – it is for us, Sydney, and us only.

It’s in the way she recognises how Australians say her name ‘Tayla’, or the way she waits for us to sing ‘Sydney’ during Blank Space.

Taylor Swift is live in Sydney for the first time since 2018. Picture: Richard Dobson

Taylor Swift on the opening night of her Sydney leg of her Eras Tour. Picture: Richard Dobson

Another spectacular element of Swift’s shows, which can only be felt in person, is the stage design and effects.

Videos and social media fail to capture the magnitude of Swift’s stage, lighting and set design. When she sings her fan favourite All Too Well, mentioning “the first fall of snow”, fake snow fills the stadium, white powder covering our hair.

Taylor-mania is reminiscent of the original Beatlemania of the 1960s. Picture: Bill Tindale PH

It’s the sound of 81,000 voices singing along, hugging each other and comparing outfits that make this concert special. She has an effect on everyone, from the eight-year-old girl at her first concert to the 45-year-old man sitting next to me, who would not look out of place at Blink-182, singing his heart out during Taylor’s fan anthem, Long Live.

During Don’t Blame Me, where powerful beams of light lit up the sky, the man looked at me, his jaw open.

“She is amazing,” he says, awe-struck. There are practically tears in his eyes.

When the show finishes, in an explosive bang for her finale, Karma, there’s no cries for an encore. Just a sudden silence as the crowd realises what has just happened.

They don’t demand a follow up song – they are grateful and in shock at what they have already witnessed.

Women pull off their knee high cowboy boots and limp home, while others gather armfuls of confetti to stuff in memory boxes.

All leave with a smile on their face knowing they were just a part of history.

Taylor Swift’s night one Sydney set list

Lover

1. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince

2. Cruel Summer

3. The Man

4. You Need to Calm Down

5. Lover

6. The Archer

Fearless

7. Fearless

8. You Belong With Me

9. Love Story

Evermore

10. ‘Tis the Damn Season

11. Willow

12. Marjorie

13. Champagne Problems

14. Tolerate It

Reputation

15. … Ready for It?

16. Delicate

17. Don’t Blame Me

18. Look What You Made Me Do

Speak Now

19. Enchanted

20. Long Live

Red

21. 22

22. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

23. I Knew You Were Trouble

24. All Too Well

Folklore

25. The 1

26. Betty

27. The Last Great American Dynasty

28. August

29. Illicit Affairs

30. My Tears Ricochet

31. Cardigan

1989

32. Style

33. Blank Space

34. Shake It Off

35. Wildest Dreams

36. Bad Blood

Surprise Songs

37. How You Get The Girl

38. Wild Horse / Coney Island (Sabrina Carpenter duet)

Midnights

39. Lavender Haze

40. Anti‐Hero

41. Midnight Rain

42. Vigilante Shit

43. Bejewelled

44. Mastermind

45. Karma

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Originally published as Taylor Swift Sydney concert review as seen by a genuine Swiftie