Taylor Swift delights Cardiff with greeting in Welsh: concert report

Everett Collection

“I spend a lot of time planning these things,” Taylor Swift said with a grin – and with classic understatement – as she strapped on her acoustic guitar for the “surprise songs” portion of her “Eras” tour stop in Cardiff, Wales. “I like to challenge myself to do different things every night (so) every single show is unique.”

Given the unprecedented attention the tour has garnered since it launched over a year ago and 100 shows in Glendale, Arizona, this seems like a bold statement.

After all, almost everyone in the 67,000-capacity Principality Stadium had almost certainly seen most of the show already, either in the cinema, on Disney+ or both, possibly at multiple screenings. Even the most casual observer – there don’t seem to be any of those here, even the few dads portrayed as hardcore Swifties – will have caught key moments on the news or in the countless social media streams that circulate around each show.

And Swift, as always, went out of her way to make the girls (and boys) from the Welsh Valleys feel special: not only did she treat them to a host of surprise songs (more on that in a moment), she also welcomed them in the local language. Welsh is one of the more difficult European languages, but her rendition of “Shwmae, croeso i daith Eras” (“Hello everyone, welcome to the ‘Eras’ tour”) certainly sounded authentic.

In fact, some parts are so well known that the audience not only sang along to the songs, but spoken for some of Swift’s song announcements. Some even tried to make the exact same face as Swift when she announced them. When even your facial expressions have their own greatest hits compilation, what can you do to maintain an element of the unexpected?

As it turns out, quite a lot. It is to Swift’s eternal credit that, despite everything, the “Eras” tour remains a stunning, heart-wrenching spectacle that feels as fresh as the Welsh mountain air.

The surprise songs help, of course. The concept of alternating between playing different acoustic versions—one on guitar, one on piano—of songs from their catalog is a deceptively simple idea that still ensures everyone is there for every single date of the tour, not just the one they’re going to (and quite literally, through their steady stream of re-releases of their latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which includes exclusive recordings of those versions).

Waiting for the date of one’s “Eras” becomes a musical game of “Deal or No Deal” as fans hope that by the time they take their seats, many of the prized classics of their personal selection from the red side of the board will still be in play.

Cardiff certainly made a deal: “I Forgot That You Existed” from “Lover” was mashed up with “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” from “Reputation,” complete with a hilarious version of the latter’s guffaw: “I can’t even say it with a straight face.”

And just as fans were pondering the meaning of this intriguing combination, Swift topped it off by skillfully combining two profound songs: “I Hate It Here” from “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” – a song she had never played live before – with “The Lakes,” the track found on the deluxe version of “Folklore.”

The audience’s enthusiastic response was a tribute not only to the depth of her catalog, but also to the fans’ devotion to it. But Swift’s genius is in making even the more familiar elements of this fantastic show seem special.

In fact, of all 101 shows on the tour so far, Cardiff could certainly claim to be the most iconic. This was Taylor Swift’s first-ever headlining show in Wales – although she did perform just down the road in Swansea at a BBC Radio 1 festival in 2018 – and Cardiff is the only city she played for just one night.

This is not for lack of demand. The streets around the Principality Stadium – normally the home of Welsh rugby – were as packed with enthusiastic fans, ticketed and unticketed, as they always are on a Six Nations match day.

And it wasn’t for any lack of affinity between Swift and the Welsh, either—after all, she’s probably the only international pop superstar to ever reference the Welsh national sport in a song, declaring “You’ll find me in the pub/ We’ll be watching rugby” in “London Boy,” and she even mentioned the original Welsh tortured poet Dylan Thomas in the title track of her latest album.

Before “Betty,” she also spoke of her love of the “beautiful Welsh countryside,” while a backing dancer interjected “Ych a fi” (which roughly translates to “disgusting”) during a rollicking “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and counted to four in Welsh during “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”

Swift got a lot in return for this local commitment. The response to “Champagne Problems” grew throughout the British tour, but the thunderous applause that followed here, which lasted for nearly four minutes, seemed to stun even Swift, who has probably seen just about everything an audience can think of.

“This audience is an experience for the history books,” she marveled. “This is different.”

And it’s no wonder. If tickets for the rest of the tour are literally worth their weight in gold, then tickets for the one-off date in Cardiff must be worth their weight in diamonds. That meant everyone here was determined to squeeze every last bit out of the experience.

Everywhere, mothers and daughters or groups of best friends in classic Swift outfits (the “22” look seems to be the moms’ era of choice) were in raptures. Little kids in cowboy hats—whatever Welsh entrepreneur invested in pink Stetsons the last time Beyoncé left town is sure to retire on the proceeds after tonight—swapped friendship bracelets with cool older girls eager to welcome them into the Swift sisterhood.

There was a lot Tears – the older Swifties may have been processing emotional trauma, but for some of the younger ones, Swift’s appearance in the same room seemed to have a similar effect to meeting the “real Santa Claus.”

But there was also tremendous joy in a stadium used to displaying Welsh ecstasy and heartbreak. No matter how well you think you know the twists and turns of this set, nothing can really prepare you for watching total strangers do spontaneous synchronized dance routines during a jubilant “Bejewelled,” or several generations of female relatives put aside their concerns about obscene language and shout “Fuck the patriarchy!” in unison during a devastating “All Too Well.”

There were too many onstage highlights to list, but take your pick from a version of “Style” that was as snappy as Swift’s lime green and orange outfit; a performance of “Look What You Made Me Do” that rocked as hard as opening act Paramore; or a wonderfully spooky performance of “Willow” that found Swift breathing new life into even the most familiar corners of the setlist, ensuring that every single song earned its status as a standard work.

Meanwhile, the latest era – “The Tortured Poets Department” – is already one of the set’s strongest. Swift smiled as she appeared to float on a rotating glass block above her dancers during an intense “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” and threw herself wholeheartedly into “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” with delicious irony, complete with a silent-movie-style skit preceding it as her dancers coaxed her to get dressed and head back out.

The song is about dancing through heartbreak in earlier parts of the Eras tour, but tonight Swift’s winning grin seemed authentic, wonderfully real, right down to her pronunciation of “Diolch o galon” (“Thank you from the bottom of my heart”) as she ended the performance.

Cardiff was also probably the only show on this leg of the tour that took place indoors. The stadium’s retractable roof – designed to protect the Welsh rugby flavour from the equally unpredictable local weather – was closed, although it was probably the only day of this typically rainy British summer that it was not It’s raining outside.

That meant a more subdued final fireworks display, but also that the entire show was held in darkness. That gave the stadium an unusually intimate atmosphere, which Paramore – the kind of high-profile opening act that only the Eras tour can provide – took full advantage of.

Hayley Williams made it clear that she was happy about the unusual role of opening act rather than main act – “If you’re not ready after these 45 minutes, we’ve failed!” – but the delighted look on her face as the crowd roared the first chorus of “Still Into You” showed that Paramore are much more than that.

A fast-paced set of bangers including “Aint’ It Fun,” “This Is Why” and “Misery Business” (the latter was re-included in the set at Swift’s request) followed, taking anyone unfamiliar with the band on the same journey as Williams’ T-shirt, which read, “Try it – you’ll like it.”

The Eras may be so big now that they practically have their own time zone, their own gross domestic product, and their own unique appeal. But when you’re actually there, every moment from the opening scene, “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” to the climax, “Karma,” remains gloriously spontaneous and, yes, unique. Rest assured, you’ve never seen anything like it before, even if you think you have.