Taylor Swift sings “The Black Dog” live for the first time during a show at Wembley Stadium

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Taylor Swift performed “The Black Dog” live for the first time on Friday (June 21) during the first night of her Eras tour at Wembley Stadium in London.

Wearing an orange dress, the 34-year-old pop superstar performed the song at the end of her concert during her “surprise songs” portion, in which she plays acoustic versions of some of her songs.

“Black Dog,” which is widely believed to be about 1975 frontman Matty Healy, with whom she had a brief affair, is from her latest album, The “Tortured Poets” section. It contains references to a South London pub as well as to the pop-punk band The Starting Line, whose music was covered by The 1975 during live performances.

“I’ve never played this live before,” Swift can be heard telling the audience in videos posted on X.

Swift did not perform “London Boy” or “So Long, London” – both of which are said to be about her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn – as some fans had predicted. However, she surprised the audience with “Hits Different” from her 2022 midnight Record “Death By A Thousand Cuts” from their 2019 Lover Album and a mashup of “Maroon” and “Come Back… Be Here” by midnight and her 2012 album Redrespectively.

Swift has two more nights in Wembley this weekend before travelling to Dublin.

Her first night at Wembley was attended by numerous celebrities and personalities, including her boyfriend and NFL athlete Travis Kelce. Bridgerton Main actors: Nicola Coughlan, Cara Delevingne, Queer EyeJonathan Van Ness and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer. The Prince of Wales and the royal children were also said to have been present.

Before Swift’s concert, Buckingham Palace gave the “Anti-Hero” singer a royal welcome, with the military band playing a special version of her hit “Shake It Off” during the changing of the guard.

Early Friday, singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams shared a video on Instagram of Swift putting out a fire in her New York apartment.

“Writing this entire song from 2am to 6am was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” the “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” singer wrote in the caption. “@taylorswift now we know how to use a fire extinguisher. I love you.”

The two sang a duet on the song “us” from Abrams’ latest album. The secret of uswhich was published on the same day.

You can read The Five-star review of Swift’s first UK performance here.