Female Rage : The Musical (Taylor Swift in Paris)

Taylor Swift is currently touring. She completed her North American tour a couple of months ago and is now touring Europe. I managed to get a ticket for one of her sold out shows in Milan, Italy later this summer. Dublin sold out almost instantly! However I was in Paris last week and a friend managed to get us tickets for Thursday night’s show last minute, which was the first night of the European leg of her tour. I hadn’t planned to go to the Taylor Swift concert last week, so it was a very pleasant surprise to get to go.

I like Taylor Swift and I enjoy her music. However I am not a “hardcore Swiftie” so I don’t have every single one of her songs memorised. Most of the audience on Thursday night did.

At around 8pm when the countdown clock hit zero the crowd erupted. The level of energy from the gathered thousands was palpatable.

For over 3 hours Taylor Swift sang, danced, played multiple instruments and spoke to the crowd (sometimes in a little bit of French).

Here’s the full setlist from Thursday night

The sheer energy to maintain that show at that pace for that time is mind-blowing. I was standing in the audience and after a couple of hours my legs were killing me!

And yes, she does refer to some parts of her concert as “Female rage, the musical”:

Taylor Swift calls the Eras Tour "Female Rage: The Musical." pic.twitter.com/PN5J1YngPN

— Variety (@Variety) May 9, 2024

Visually the show is stunning. The stage itself is very big and she moves across it throughout the performance, so no matter where you are located you do get a pretty good view of her. Plus there’s massive video screens projecting a lot of it ….

The costumes. I lost count of how many costume changes she does. Some off stage while there’s a transition of sorts, but others were literally on stage – in more than one case the change was an integral part of the performance.

It’s a very clever show, but the setup is complex. I’d hate to think how many trucks full of gear they’ll be lugging around the continent over the next few months. Breaking it all down and setting it all up must take hours!

Either way, if you can get a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert do it – you won’t regret it! Though my feet are still complaining!

I’ll be heading to see her live in Milan in July and this time round I won’t be standing the whole time – I’ll at least have a seat to collapse into from time to time!