Taylor Swift brings her sold-out Eras Tour to London
LONDON — It’s been “So Long, London,” but Taylor Swift is back.
The 14-time Grammy winner returned to the UK capital for her next sold-out Eras Tour show, where a 90,000-strong crowd of screaming Swifties greeted her at Wembley Stadium on Friday.
“London, look what you’ve done now,” Swift, 34, said onstage during the first of a three-night run.
“You’ve got to see something like this to see how amazing you’re making me feel right now,” she said of the massive audience from the stage.
“That was really cool. That immediately went straight to my head. Now you’re making me feel really, really powerful.”
Outside the stadium, die-hard fans began to line up hours before they were allowed inside in a desperate bid to secure standing spots by the barrier.
“I’ve waited for this day for so long,” self-proclaimed Swiftie Maisie Holland, 22, tells Page Six. “Me and my sister bought these tickets last year and have literally not stopped talking about it since then.”
And it’s not just the fans who brought the excitement with them; London itself has been Swift-ified.
The city has had no shortage of the singer’s presence in its bars and hotel lobbies, including the Black Dog pub, after which the singer named a track on her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
While countless listeners speculated that the song was inspired by Swift’s six-year relationship with her English ex Joe Alwyn, the actor claimed last week that he has never stepped foot in the pub.
Friday’s concert marks the first time that the “Lover” songstress has performed in London since her April 2023 breakup from Alwyn, 33, and subsequent fling with Matty Healy, who also hails from the area.
In January 2023, Swift took was a surprise guest at Healy’s band the 1975’s London concert at the O2 Arena.
During the brief appearance, she treated the crowd to the first-ever live performance of her “Midnights” track “Anti-Hero.” She also covered the 1975’s song “The City.”
Ahead of Friday’s gig at Wembley, lines began to form in the early hours of the morning, with full-fledged queues standing firm just before 2 p.m. local time — a whopping six hours before Swift took the stage.
“We’re here from Austin, Texas, because we weren’t able to get tickets in the US,” says 27-year-old Mara Garcia, who went to London with her friend Laura Slater to see the Eras Tour.
“London is probably the most iconic city to see her show at because she spent so much time here, so we feel very lucky,” Slater, 26, adds.
In and around the capital, Swiftmania has been in full force for days.
Not only are Swift-centered tours being offered to fans and tourists — which take Swifties to the singer’s rumored favorite London hangouts — but markets and stores are also selling unofficial merch while blasting her tracks.
In the lead-up to the London leg of her tour, Swift was seen reuniting with her A-list friends in the highbrow Notting Hill neighborhood.
The “Cruel Summer” singer was joined by her posse consisting of Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, Andrew Scott and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Swift’s longtime gal pals Cara Delevingne and Lena Dunham, both of whom live in London, also attended the swanky dinner at Argentinean restaurant Casa Cruz.
The group was later joined by Haim sisters Este and Danielle, who are close friends with the “Karma” songstress, as well as the Pretenders rocker Chrissie Hynde.
Swift’s London stint comes hot on the heels of her shows in Edinburgh, Scotland, Liverpool, England, and Cardiff, Wales.
Next, she will travel to Dublin for another three-night run.
