Taylor Swift sets Toronto’s Rogers Center on fire for her first concert | Taylor Swift in Canada

Taylor Swift gave the first concert of a series of six Thursday evening at the Rogers Center in Toronto in front of nearly 50,000 swifties jubilant. She will perform in the metropolis until November 23.

The lights went out a little before 8 p.m. Thursday evening in a packed stadium. It’s no longer a secret: since the release of the documentary The Eras Tourthe show begins with a parade of dancers dressed in immense veils who, once gathered in the middle of the stage, open to reveal Taylor Swift like Venus emerging from the waters, standing in the conch of a shell, one of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance.

This symbol is only the first in a series of paintings that represent the successive eras of the most popular singer on the planet. After opening on Miss Americana et Cruel Summerthere is the office tower that accompanies The Manthe homage to silent cinema by I Can Do It With a Broken Heart or heightened nature with a small house deep in the woods and a piano covered in moss for the time Folklore et Evermore.

Dresses and sequins

The magic comes mainly from the video and the light which make up most of the scenography of the show. Taylor Swift regularly climbs on a podium, crosses the stage on a sort of boat during the time The Tortured Poets Departementbut she never flies above the crowd or makes objects appear off the stage like Madonna in her Celebration Tour.

Besides his albums, Taylor Swift shows one after another the sequined outfits, there are so many of them that the subtitle of the Eras Tour could be 50 shades of sequins. The singer goes through all the cuts and shapes of the genre, often changing herself on sight. The only times when the sparkles disappear are during the moments dedicated to the albums of the year 2020 and to The Tortured Poets Departement where the singer wears white dresses, rural in the first case and in the second, her outfit is like an immense book page torn from a book which surrounds her silhouette.

For more than three hours, at a sustained pace, the star goes through his biggest hits since the beginning of his career. There are nine eras that correspond to all of his albums except the first. She goes from Lovers has Midnights passing through Red et Reputationthus bringing to life more than 15 years of music.

Between great spectacle and proximity

There are inevitably some moments stronger than others and the public has expectations. If the crowd ever falls asleep, their attention sometimes wanders. But it only takes one Shake it Offand Anti-Hero or a You Belong With Me so that the Rogers Center once again transforms into a huge prom.

Taylor Swift draws on the strength given by this crowd in order to occupy the stage without much technical equipment. This is undoubtedly one of the most surprising elements of the concert: the synthesis between pyrotechnic spectacle and feeling of intimacy, especially when she is alone with a microphone and a guitar or a piano. In these moments, she seems to take us back to her beginnings, on the stage of Blue Bird Café of Nashville. Taylor Swift becomes a magician, we knew she had a unique talent for telling stories, but this quality extends to the way she brings them to life on stage.

The audience, made up mainly of young women, expresses their joy and happiness every moment the singer stops to give them time to do so. So, during these moments, Taylor Swift savor this joy as if it were a surprise. After more than 140 dates, his excitement seems to be intact. At no time does this meticulous spectacle seem cold or too oiled. The star offers a generous performance, she seems to be keen to abolish the distances between herself and her audience and the audience reciprocates this. She thanks the Canadian public several times, to whom she assured during the concert that she had wanted to end her tour in our country, because we would be one of the most generous people in the world.

Throughout the evening, the singer makes one think in turn of Gwen Stefanihas Britney Spearshas Enya or even John Baezbut she does not copy any of them. Taylor Swift is unique, both in terms of everything she has accomplished in the world of music and in the strictly artistic aspect. When we leave her concert, we have no doubt: she is an icon and she has everything it takes to last.