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 Photo: Taylor Swift
Gloriana’s Tom and Mike Gossin are tattooed kids from Utica, New York, who somehow wound up in a country pop group in Nashville, but with their plaintive harmonies and slick, catchy hooks, they prove pretty irresistible as tonight’s opening act. To be honest, it’s mostly curiosity that drew me to Taylor Swift – as a 20-something guy, I’m really not in the target demographic for her squeaky-clean country pop, but I saw her go toe to toe with Kanye on the VMAs, I saw her performing alongside Stevie Nicks at the Grammys, and frankly, I’m fascinated to find out just what makes her tick. It turns out that Swift’s greatest strength is in the way she connects with her audience. There is nothing aloof about tonight’s performance. Take the opening number You Belong With Me – a naggingly catchy song about the girl who doesn’t get the guy, she performs it with utter conviction, and while she’s singing, she’s not a good-looking, polished pop star with a big set of pipes and an expensive stage show, she’s a dorky kid just like everyone else in the arena. As pop concerts go, Swift’s is engaging and well-staged, with set and costume changes every few songs – including a sequence with cheerleaders and another in elaborate Marie Antoinette-style gowns – but her real talent is in engaging with the crowd. At one point, she disappears from the stage, and emerges, after a video interlude, standing smack bang in the cheap seats at the back. She performs a clutch of songs there, then tiptoes down into the audience – thousands of screaming teens fall over each-other to touch her, but her beatific smile never falters as she makes her way back to the stage. As a casual observer rather than a Swift fan, I still had a whole bunch of fun at tonight’s show, and truthfully, I’ll be fascinated to see her grow and mature as a performer.
ALASDAIR DUNCAN
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