Bleary-eyed Taylor Swift fans told this morning how they carried on partying into the early hours after last night’s ‘electric’ three-and-a-half-hour concert which was among the best they have ever seen.
A carnival-like atmosphere took over the streets of Edinburgh after the U.S pop megastar kicked off the UK leg of her sellout Eras Tour with a flawless showstopper of a performance in which she told the adoring 73,000-strong crowd: ‘What a way to welcome a lass to Scotland.’
The 34-year-old drove fans wild when she emerged at Murrayfield Stadium in her signature blue and gold sequined leotard following a riotous warm-up from American pop-punk band Paramore.
Over the course of 46 songs, Taylor shook off a cramp in her hand, witnessed a live proposal, gifted a fan her hat and even suspended a tune so fans could receive medical aid – all in between 12 costume changes.
Now, fans have been seen queuing as early as 7am this morning for tonight’s second gig while most people are ‘still in bed’ recovering.
Jessica McCloud, 41 and her daughter Alexis, 15, had flown from their home in Houston, Texas into the Scottish capital last week especially for the gig.
It was the third time they have seen the Anti-Hero singer play live, and Jessica said: ‘Last night was incredible, the crowd were amazing. It was up there with the very best concerns we’ve seen, there’s no doubt.
‘We saw Taylor Swift a few years ago in Houston on her Reputation tour and then again in Houston during last year’s Eras tour.
‘But we’re huge fans and we’ve never been to Scotland before so booked up the trip and made a holiday out of it.
‘I’m so glad we did because the concert was fantastic, there was even a carnival-type atmosphere before and after when people were walking from the Stadium back to the centre singing Taylor Swift songs.
‘We had a blast and managed to roll into bed around 1am – but there were still people out and about going strong.’
Alexis said: ‘She’d changed some of the choreography from last year and performed some surprise acoustic songs, so she really shook it up and made it quite fresh.
‘Her outfits were so eye catching as well. My personal favourites from last night were the green dress from Evermore and the Vivienne Westwood Tawdry Poets Department dress. She looked and sounded awesome.’
Beth Sumecki, 28, from London travelled up to Scotland with mum Tina Conti, 60, from Portsmouth.
They headed down Edinburgh’s historic Princes Street with their luggage just after 8am this morning clutching cups of much-needed coffee.
Beth said: ‘The concert last night was electric, it seemed everyone in the stadium was singing along and knew all the words.
‘We were near the back of the stools but had a great view. Everyone stood up throughout, nobody was sitting down which really added to the energy of the gig.
‘I loved it when she played the surprise songs, especially Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
‘But I also loved when how towards the end of the gig, when it got darker, the whole stadium lit up with people’s phones and the wrist bands which sparkled in unison. It was magical.’
Tina added: ‘I’ve never been to a Taylor Swift gig until last night, but I’ve been to countless other concerts over the years and what stayed with me is the friendliness of the crowd.
‘There was such a hive of positivity, everyone had a smile on their face, complete strangers were making friends with each other, people were swapping wrist bands. There was a really, really good vibe going on.’
Lucy Harvey, 17, Ruby Gallagher, also 17 and her sister Breege Gallagher, 12, we’re heading home to Glasgow from Edinburgh’s Waverley rail station.
Lucy said: ‘We’ve never seen Taylor Swift before, but she was everything we expected her to be and more. She was brilliant, I loved it when she sang I Know Places.’
Ruby said: ‘We gave her a Scottish welcome and I think she really appreciated it. The whole concert was off the scale, we’ve always wanted to go and see her and last night exceeded all expectations.’
Still wearing her Taylor Swift-inspired pink Cowgirl hate Breege added: ‘The atmosphere was unbelievable, she changed into so many costumes but looked great every single time. It was an amazing show.’
The rave reviews, meanwhile, has left Olivia Anderson, 19, brimming with excitement as she prepares to see Taylor Swift this evening.
Olivia, who has travelled up from Bath, Somerset, said: ‘I just can’t wait, some friends went last night and said it was incredible.
‘I’ve been reading all about it on the news and on social media, looking at all the videos and photographs.
‘It looked unreal and I hope she will be as good tonight, maybe even better! The excitement levels have definitely ramped up.’
Posting a video on social media, one fan also claimed last night that Taylor looked at her to say ‘are you good?’ before singing directly to her.
They wrote on X: ‘She kept smiling and singing to me and I swear I am not hallucinating. This is the closest and most magical night of my life.’
Another superfan posted a clip of Taylor refusing to sing her song until security helped a fan in the audience.
Swift could be heard saying: ‘I’m just gonna keep playing till somebody helps them,’ while continuing to strum her guitar.
‘Just let me know when [you’re good]’ she said, before adding, ‘I can do this all night!’
Once the situation was handled, she said: ‘You’re good?’ before yelling ‘Awesome!’ and continuing the song.
Certain fans in the audience were all particularly struck by a group of girls who were dancing next to the stage.
One person wrote on X: ‘These girls were dancing the whole concert and it was so entertaining to watch, I hope you all had the best time you made us smile.’
Another added: ‘Whoever you are, you are truly having the time of your lives and it’s adorable to watch!’
Fans started queuing yesterday from as early as 3am – in order to be the first inside for the gig, which kicked off at exactly 7.18pm.
Excitement built to fever pitch with a two and a half minute countdown on the big screen before Taylor finally emerged from a stage, which rose dramatically into the air in the middle of the stadium to hysterical screams from fans.
Taylor started out with 2019 tune Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. And as she took in the adoration of thousands of fans she had in the palm of her hand, she almost seemed overwhelmed by the response.
Between songs, she paused to tell them: ‘What a way to welcome a lass to Scotland… you’ve gone and made me feel so amazing… You’ve got me feeling really, really powerful.’ Towards the end, she vowed: ‘We have to do this again.’
And as she rounded out the monster set with Karma, fireworks shot out from the top of the stage, lighting fixtures within the grounds and the roof of the stadium itself, prompting an avalanche of cheers from fans.
The sell-out show saw her run through a cavalcade of hits including Cruel Summer, Lover, You Belong With Me, Love Story and 22 – which saw her hand a fedora hat to a young fan in the audience, as is tradition at each show.
Last night’s Murrayfield gig also made history having the highest attendance of any stadium show the country has ever seen.
Taylor told the crowd: ‘I have not been in Scotland for almost a decade now. And I was wondering what it was going to be like when we go back to visit there, how are they going to be as a crowd and, do you know what, you kind of answered me before I even got on stage.
‘I had someone pull me aside and say, ‘Hey, we’ve checked this 20 times and we swear… tonight’s concert is the most highly attended stadium show in Scottish history.’
She will perform tonight and tomorrow evening at Murrayfield before heading to Liverpool, Cardiff, Wembley and Dublin.
Swift fans were also delighted after she also added two unexpected mashups of previous tracks during the ‘surprise song’ segment of the show.
Taylor performed a guitar mashup of Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve from Midnights 3am Edition and I Know Places from 1989. The second ‘surprise song’ was a piano hybrid of ‘Tis the Damn Season from Evermore and Daylight from Lover.
The reaction from Swifties was swift, as they took to social media to share their feelings about these surprise medleys.
‘This is the best combo of surprise songs ever like, unbeatable,’ posted one fan, as another shared ‘Edinburgh wins!’
However, some fans expressed their disappointment at missing out on these unique pairings.
‘DR TAYLOW ALISON SWIFT WHAT R U DOING?,’ posted one fans, as another, shared, ‘NOOOO I lost Daylight and TIs The Damn Season at the same time Nooooo’
Another chimed in: ‘Taylor Swift wants me dead as I walk.’
Elsewhere in the excitement of yesterday, a Swift superfan said she made 120 friendship bracelets to take with her to the record-breaking Eras tour in Edinburgh so she can ‘swap or give away as many as possible’.
Kayleigh Gore, 33, from Teesside, Middlesbrough, said she started to create her vast collection of bracelets in November ahead of Swift’s second show in the Scottish capital on Saturday.
Ms Gore, who will be attending the highly anticipated tour with three friends, said the concert will mark the first time she has seen the superstar singer perform despite being a fan since Swift released her debut album in 2006.
The fan-established tradition of making and trading friendship bracelets for the Eras tour was prompted by a lyric from Swift’s hit track You’re on Your Own, Kid, where she sings: ‘So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, you’ve got no reason to be afraid’, sparking a global trend.
This has prompted a number of fans to queue for a bracelet shop in Edinburgh, called pie in the sky, as one fan posted a picture of an enormous line in the streets.
Ms Gore, a lecturer in psychology at a sixth form college, said: ‘I started making the bracelets around November, December because I’d seen a lot of the people, when she was on tour in America at the time, were doing it there.’
‘Because it was months and months away, I was making them every now and then but over the last two or three months I’ve been making them two to three times a week.
‘So far, I’ve got about 120. As we’ve got closer to the date, I’ve started to do very simple ones because I was trying to get as many as possible so I can swap or give away as many as possible on Saturday.’
Ms Gore added that she has made bracelets with beads spelling out song lyrics and titles associated with each of the artist’s 11 albums.
‘I realised when I started making them that I was making a lot based on my favourite songs and my favourite albums but because I’m wanting to swap them with fans and we all have different favourites, I then made a list of songs from each album and worked my way through,’ she said.
‘I’ve got some from every album that she’s done. I’ve seen a couple of people on TikTok who haven’t had time to make any, so if they can’t trade and they just want to take some of mine, I’m perfectly happy with that.’
Ms Gore said she will be enlisting her three friends to help her carry the bracelets into the venue, as well as attaching clips to her bag to hold them all.
‘Because I’ve got so many, I’ve already told my friends they are going to have to carry some for me,’ she said.
‘I think I could get at least half of them on my bag with the clips.’
Ms Gore added that she has been ‘tearing up’ with excitement at being able to attend her first Taylor Swift concert.
‘I’m very excited, I’ve been a fan since her debut, so about 2006, and this is the first time I’m going to get to see her live,’ she said.
‘I’m getting more and more emotional as we get closer to the date and I’ve been listening to the set list in my car.
‘Every time certain songs come on which are my favourites I start tearing up because I’m so excited to see it live.’
It appears Edinburgh also fully bought into the Taylor Swift pandemonium as a train station began blaring out her songs and a tram branded her name on its side.
Scottish Gas Murrayfield could also be seen welcoming Swift to Edinburgh with a performance of her hit ‘Love Story’ on the bagpipes by the Reel Time Pipe band.
Hotels in the city also joined in on the fun by leaving extra chocolate bars for people staying in their hotel, in a nod to one of Swift’s songs.