PHOTOS + REVIEW — Taylor Swift at Raymond James Stadium 2023 ⋆ Shows I Go To

PHOTOS + REVIEW — Taylor Swift at Raymond James Stadium 2023

Taylor Swift • April 13, 2023 • Raymond James Stadium — Tampa, FL • Photos by Jeff Roach — instagram.com/jeffroachphotography

TAYLOR SWIFT REVIEW — TAMPA

In July of 2020, there wasn’t very much to get excited about. Human contact was at an all-time low, live shows were non-existent, and most artists weren’t even releasing new music because they couldn’t tour behind it. During this tumultuous time, I learned Taylor Swift was dropping a surprise album produced by Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, of The National and Bleachers respectively. That album was the now iconic folklore; it became my favorite album of 2020 and changed my feelings on Taylor Swift forever. I loved these songs dearly and wanted so badly to hear them performed live. Three years and three albums later I finally got my wish. Taylor Swift announced “The Eras Tour,” a three-hour plus, 44-song show highlighting almost all of her albums and culminating with her newest album Midnights. The tour sold out completely during the pre-sale leaving fans without a pre-sale code completely out of luck. I felt privileged and honored for the chance to see this truly epic show in person.

Just getting to the show was a feat in itself. The normal hour-long trip from Orlando to Tampa took me over three hours, but I made it in time to hear opener Gayle closing out her set with her hit “ABCDEFU” from outside the venue. I arrived at my seat just as Beabadoobie was hitting the stage. I wasn’t too familiar with her music prior to the show, but after seeing her command that huge stage at Raymond James Stadium, I’m a fan for sure. If she comes back in town for a headlining show I will definitely be there.

As the time grew closer to 8:00 pm, a giant countdown clock appeared on the screen and 70,000 Swifties all screamed at the top of their lungs. I definitely regret not bringing my earplugs to this one. I’ve been to some of the craziest metal shows and this was by far the loudest show I’ve ever been to with just the screams alone. My ears are still ringing two days later.

The theme of “The Eras Tour” is a journey through Taylor’s music over the last seventeen years, each broken up into sections by album. When the countdown clock reached zero, the music hit for “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” and I knew we were about to get a set of songs from the 2019 album Lover. The tour for the Lover album was canceled due to the pandemic so this was a great way to open the show for fans that had been dying to hear these songs live but never got the chance.

Taylor then decided to take it back toward the beginning by playing a short set from her second album, Fearless. She played “You Belong With Me”, “Love Story” as well as the title track, paying homage to the album that helped her crossover from country radio to the mainstream. Hearing these songs back to back with the Lover songs just proves what a diverse artist Taylor Swift has become after all these years.

Evermore, the companion album to folklore, was up next. I was so excited to finally hear these songs live. Taylor was able to make songs that I thought would not translate well to an 80,000 capacity venue seem like they were being performed in my living room. Even with a chorus of Swifties singing along to every word, I was still able to hear every note thanks to the expert production on this tour. As awful as it was that all the tickets to this tour sold out during the presale, the one cool aspect is that every single person in the venue wanted to be there and went through a lot to get these tickets. We were there to have a good time, but when Taylor spoke, we listened, unlike other shows I’ve been to of this size where the crowd just talks over the artist.

The appropriately titled “Ready for It” started off the Reputation era. This was the last album of new material that was performed live before the pandemic. This set featured the huge hits “Delicate” and “Look What You Made Me Do” She then slowed things down a bit playing only one of two songs from Speak Now, “Enchanted”; this is a fan favorite that had nearly everyone singing along.

The Red era was up next and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Some of the highlights of this set were “22” and of course “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. She also played the entire ten minute version of “All Too Well” for the newly re-recorded Red (Taylor’s Version).

It was finally time for the era that I had been waiting for all night, the folklore era. This is the album that turned me from a casual fan to a certified Swiftie. I had been dreaming of hearing these songs live for nearly three years. She played almost every song I wanted to hear off the album, “the 1,” “betty,” and my all-time favorite “the last great american dynasty”, which had some beautiful choreography to go along with it. The night could have ended right then and I still would have left a happy man, but there was still almost an hour left.

Taking time for only a brief costume change we were thrust into the 1989 era. This is probably he most mainstream pop album and contains some of her biggest hits, “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood”. I loved hearing one of my personal favorites, “Wildest Dreams”. I couldn’t believe that after over two and a half hours Taylor showed no signs of slowing down and her voice still sounded great. She hadn’t even touched her newest release, Midnights, yet.

Each night Taylor has played a surprise two-song set where she vows to never play the same song twice over the course of the tour so that every night can be a unique experience. On my night, we were lucky enough to hear the title track for Speak Now on acoustic guitar as well as “Treacherous” from Red on piano. Both songs were right in front of me at the end of the stage. Her voice sounded so great by herself with no accompaniment. It felt so surreal looking back and seeing 70,000 people singing along just like me. These surprise sets have proved to be a true bonding experience between Taylor and her fans.

As we neared the three-hour mark, it was time for Midnights. What is truly amazing is after all my years of going to shows, I’ve never had an artist close out a show with a block of new material and still have almost every person stay until the very end. Even some of the greatest artists of all time lose the crowd when they try to play a new song mid-set, to play seven new songs at the end of a three-hour plus, 80,000 capacity concert where everyone knows how bad the traffic is going to be is unheard of. She closed out the set with “Anti-Hero,” “Bedazzled,” “Mastermind,” and ended everything with “Karma” as fireworks shot out over Raymond James Stadium. As I looked around I could tell that every person in that venue felt as privileged and honored to be there as I did. I’ve been to a lot of shows, I mean A LOT of shows and this one was definitely one of the best. Taylor Swift put every ounce of energy she had into giving every one of her fans their money’s worth and has set the bar for live performances in the future.

An extra special shout-out to our photographer and my friend of ten years, Jeff Roach. Make sure to check out all of his amazing shots. Without him, none of this would be possible!

Taylor Swift Tampa Review by Trevor Bosmans.