1989: Taylor Swift Delivers Our Wildest Dreams
Taylor Swift has been making news across the world with her 6 leg, 85 show 1989 World Tour. She brought the tour to Toronto’s Rogers Centre this chilly October weekend for two amazing sold out dates and we’d been waiting for her.
Opening act Shawn Mendes did a great job of filling the seats early. I’m sure the Toronto native had lots of friends and family in the audience. Mendes and his guitar were all that we needed. His cover of Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud was a huge hit with the crowd and the there was no shortage of ladies singing along with his current radio hit Stitches.
#1989TourToronto @ShawnMendes and an acoustic guitar singing @edsheeran #perfect! pic.twitter.com/YHrnyV7baT
— Trish Cassling (@trishca) October 2, 2015
Next up was Vance Joy. Vance’s performance proved that Taylor sure knows how to pick an opening act. With a warm friendly smile, sparkling eyes and touching love songs that speak to our hearts, Vance Joy had our undivided attention. He sang his hits, Mess is Mine, Fire and the Flood, Georgia and did a great cover of Sam Smith’s Stay With Me, finishing up the set with his huge hit Riptide.
And then it was time for Taylor!
At 25 years old the singer is unmistakably an old pro. From the first to the very last note, she had us eating out of her hands. While Taylor is no longer marketed as a country singer, her country fans have followed the genre jump and she’s added a whole new group of pop fans, and we’re all showing up for this breathtaking adventure.
Opening the evening with Welcome to New York, if there was any doubt that this lady is a pop icon, all doubts vanished immediately. Decked out in a black bustier, short red skirt, sparkly jacket, killer heels and sunglasses, Taylor was accompanied by a dozen male dancers on stage. For the next two hours the songstress owned the stage, strutting her way up and down the catwalk like a runway model.
While most of the material was from the multi-million unit selling 1989 album, she did reach back into her library to bring us some of our favourites including, I Knew You Were Trouble but with a brand new slower synth twist, a killer version of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, with a heavy The White Stripes style and an acoustic version of You Belong With Me reminding us vaguely of the Taylor we’ve watched grow up.
Taylor speaks to the audience like we’re having a conversation. She was welcoming and genuinely appreciative and connected to the crowd. She shared stories, and clips from her friends that made us feel like we were getting a sneak peak behind the “Taylor Swift” machine. She recognized our energy by promising us a surprise, if we could continue to ramp it up. And we did! The excitement continued to grow and while we could guess at who would show up, you never know!
Friday night’s special guest was none other than multiple award winning, multi-platinum artist Keith Urban. The crowd went wild! Keith performed his latest hit John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 and Somebody Like You with the Taylor piping in to round out the vocals. She’s still got a little country in her, you knew she did.
I’d been looking forward to this show all week and any time things got a little tough or I felt a little tired, I’d remind myself that it was almost “Taylor Time”. It put a smile on my face and made it easy to power through. I enjoyed every single moment! I’ve been a Taylor fan from the start and while this was my first Taylor Swift concert, it will definitely not be my last.
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1989: Taylor Swift Delivers Our Wildest Dreams
By Trish Cassling
Taylor Swift has been making news across the world with her 6 leg, 85 show 1989 World Tour. She brought the tour to Toronto’s Rogers Centre this chilly October weekend for two amazing sold out dates and we’d been waiting for her.
Opening act Shawn Mendes did a great job of filling the seats early. I’m sure the Toronto native had lots of friends and family in the audience. Mendes and his guitar were all that we needed. His cover of Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud was a huge hit with the crowd and the there was no shortage of ladies singing along with his current radio hit Stitches.
#1989TourToronto @ShawnMendes and an acoustic guitar singing @edsheeran #perfect! pic.twitter.com/YHrnyV7baT
— Trish Cassling (@trishca) October 2, 2015
Next up was Vance Joy. Vance’s performance proved that Taylor sure knows how to pick an opening act. With a warm friendly smile, sparkling eyes and touching love songs that speak to our hearts, Vance Joy had our undivided attention. He sang his hits, Mess is Mine, Fire and the Flood, Georgia and did a great cover of Sam Smith’s Stay With Me, finishing up the set with his huge hit Riptide.
And then it was time for Taylor!
At 25 years old the singer is unmistakably an old pro. From the first to the very last note, she had us eating out of her hands. While Taylor is no longer marketed as a country singer, her country fans have followed the genre jump and she’s added a whole new group of pop fans, and we’re all showing up for this breathtaking adventure.
Opening the evening with Welcome to New York, if there was any doubt that this lady is a pop icon, all doubts vanished immediately. Decked out in a black bustier, short red skirt, sparkly jacket, killer heels and sunglasses, Taylor was accompanied by a dozen male dancers on stage. For the next two hours the songstress owned the stage, strutting her way up and down the catwalk like a runway model.
While most of the material was from the multi-million unit selling 1989 album, she did reach back into her library to bring us some of our favourites including, I Knew You Were Trouble but with a brand new slower synth twist, a killer version of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, with a heavy The White Stripes style and an acoustic version of You Belong With Me reminding us vaguely of the Taylor we’ve watched grow up.
Taylor speaks to the audience like we’re having a conversation. She was welcoming and genuinely appreciative and connected to the crowd. She shared stories, and clips from her friends that made us feel like we were getting a sneak peak behind the “Taylor Swift” machine. She recognized our energy by promising us a surprise, if we could continue to ramp it up. And we did! The excitement continued to grow and while we could guess at who would show up, you never know!
Friday night’s special guest was none other than multiple award winning, multi-platinum artist Keith Urban. The crowd went wild! Keith performed his latest hit John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 and Somebody Like You with the Taylor piping in to round out the vocals. She’s still got a little country in her, you knew she did.
I’d been looking forward to this show all week and any time things got a little tough or I felt a little tired, I’d remind myself that it was almost “Taylor Time”. It put a smile on my face and made it easy to power through. I enjoyed every single moment! I’ve been a Taylor fan from the start and while this was my first Taylor Swift concert, it will definitely not be my last.
Author profile
Writer/Photographer/Editor
Toronto Music Blogger
Fanastic job Trish. Admittedly I’ve never been a Swifty myself, I suspect I would appreciate her like in concert should that opportunity arise. No question she’s a tremendous talent and I respect how she has connected to her fans. Glad you enjoyed her show. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Donna!
Next time she’s in town, we have another date! great review Trish! 🙂
Thanks Deb, sounds like a plan!