T-Swift elicits cheers, tears from fans

By Kurt Wagner

No man will ever cheat on Taylor Swift.

Forget the fact that Taylor can sing.

Forget the fact that Taylor is long, blonde and has eyes so big and round they look like they should belong to Bambi.

You can even forget the fact that Taylor makes more money in one night on tour than most Americans probably make in a year.

The reason no man will ever cheat on Taylor Swift is because if they do, she will write a song about them. And that song will probably go straight to the top of the charts.

I recently had the opportunity to see America's most popular artist -- sorry Justin Beiber -- perform at HP Pavilion last Sunday for Taylor Swift's Fearless Tour. I knew that T-Swift sang a lot of songs about love, but what I didn't know, was that they were ALL about love, some of them including boys from Taylor's life as the main characters.

At precisely 8:35, Taylor emerged from the floor dressed in a bright yellow drum major's outfit for her first song "You Belong With Me." The costume didn't last long and was ripped off halfway through the song by background dancers to reveal a sparkling silver dress, the first of eight costume changes in the night for Taylor.

The concert started off strong with the opening song followed by other fan favorites "Our Song," "Teardrops On My Guitar" and, of course, "Fearless."

The two-hour long performance was broken up into three sections, the second of which consisted of Taylor displaying her acoustic talents for a much lighter segment of the show. In order to give the fans in the back of the pavilion some love as well, Taylor performed the whole second segment of the concert about 100 yards in front of the main stage on a small, revolving platform.

For the average T-Swift fan, the show slowed up a bit here. Most of the songs were much softer and slower, lacking the dramatic stage lighting and sets that were present in segments one and three. Despite the slower songs like "15" and "Tim McGraw," nearly the entire audience remained standing and sang along to every word.

The concert's finale was by far the most energetic, entertaining and elaborate segment of the show. In her songs "Picture To Burn" and "Should've Said No," Taylor was fierce, and at times, quite frankly scary. She tossed a couch from the top of the stage to the lower level. She battled one of her musicians to see who could bang on giant metal oil drums with more ferocity. And to close the night, Taylor stood underneath a waterfall, arms outstretched and fists pumping to the lyrics of "Should've Said No," the word "no" crashing down on her, a mere outline in the cascading sheet of water.

Despite the overall performance, which was really one of the best concerts I have ever been to, what surprised me the most was Taylor's relationship with her fans. Never in my life have I seen a performer look at her fans with the admiration that Taylor had for the sell-out crowd Sunday night. Twice during the evening, Taylor spent close to five minutes walking through the audience distributing hugs and handshakes to anyone within arms length. Many of the hug recipients cried.

At one point during the night, Taylor remained on stage while the curtain dropped for a set change and the crowd went nuts. The audience was so loud that for nearly five minutes straight, Taylor was inaudible over the screams.

"Fearless" was worth the price of admission. Taylor's energy and enthusiasm for every song leave no doubt in my mind as to why she was nominated for the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year Award.

Contact Kurt Wagner at jwagner@scu.edu or at (408) 554-1918.