FOXBOROUGH—Taylor Swift kicked off the three-night New England leg of her highly anticipated Eras Tour on Friday, drawing massive crowds to the venue and its parking lots.
Between Swift and her two openers, Gayle and Phoebe Bridgers, night one at Gillette ran for about five hours. The staggered entry times and busy parking lots and roads added on hours to the experience.
“I know it took a lot of effort to get here,” said Swift, acknowledging both the traffic and the Ticketmaster fiasco of late 2022, “thank you so much for all of the effort and energy you put into being here tonight.”
The Eras Tour offers a few VIP packages that include earlier entry times and stadium-side parking, which, while an advantage for those ticket holders, proved a disadvantage for the roads.
Ahead of Swift’s shows, Foxborough Police advised concertgoers to use Waze while driving to best avoid clogging side streets.
Gillette Stadium hosted her for the 11th, 12th and 13th times this weekend, all three shows sold out.
The set featured moving platforms, colorful graphics (displayed on Gillette’s new screens), confetti, pyrotechnics and an opening in the stage that Swift dove through for one of her many costume changes.
Swift plays 44 songs each night- featuring many of her hits such as “All Too Well,” “Shake It Off” and “Karma”- but hardcore Swifties eagerly awaited the two acoustic “surprise songs” toward the end of the set.
On Friday, Swift played “Should’ve Said No” off of her debut, self-titled album, and “Better Man,” originally written for Little Big Town but featured as a “vault track” on the re-record of her fourth album, “Red.”
All of the songs she performed were met with overwhelmingly positive reactions from the crowd, including lengthy applause after “champagne problems.”
Swift shared that she and her crew have dubbed Gillette Stadium “foxy Foxborough,” noting that the fans who have historically attended shows at the venue are “the ones to watch.”
Saturday’s concert featured an intense downpour and surprise songs “Question…?” from Swift’s newest album, “Midnights,” and “Invisible,” off of her debut.
Sunday was symbolic for Swift as it was her 13th show at Gillette, 13 being her lucky number.
“I Think He Knows” from the “Lover” album and “Red” (the title track from the “Red” album) were the songs she selected to play for her final night in New England.
Opener Gracie Abrams replaced Gayle’s set from the two previous nights.
Swift certainly had a good run this weekend, one that fans can be sure will not be her last at the venue.
“We reminisce about our times playing Gillette Stadium, because it’s always special with you,” she said to her night one crowd, looking back on her fond memories here over the course of her career.
Bella Gonzalez, Swellesley’s summer intern, got a jump on things with this post. She’s a rising junior at Boston University studying journalism and media science.
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