Taylor Swift in Zurich - 10 July 2024

Fans shaking with excitement, friends crying in each other's arms over their favourite song, parents dancing and singing along with their kids, a stadium full of joy: all in a day's work for Taylor Swift. The pop superstar captured the audience's hearts when she came to Zurich on her Eras Tour. Casual fans turned into Swifties, diehard fans became even more devoted.

It seems incredible that someone as young as Taylor Swift can already put together what is essentially a Greatest Hits tour – and then some. The tour's shows are over 3 hours long, spanning the entirety of Swift’s discography, from her country roots in «Taylor Swift» to her most recent album «The Tortured Poets Department».

Swift’s career facts are staggering: The Eras Tour has become the highest-grossing concert tour of all time; it boosts the local economy of every city it visits; Swift’s song lyrics have made their way into university curricula (including at the University of Basel); and she is the first artist to achieve billionaire status solely on the basis of her music.

The hows and whys of it all have been widely discussed already and go beyond the scope of this review. Just two things of note: it’s telling that Swift has been subject to the kind of criticism that her male counterparts never hear. And it says a lot about the music industry – and society at large – that a pop phenomenon like Swift is taken less seriously because her fanbase is predominantly female. This is patent nonsense. Because Swift is seriously good.

An absolute pro on stage, she navigated all the eras with aplomb in Zurich, allowing Swift newbies to discover gems like «champagne problems» and «willow», while cementing the banger status of «Cruel Summer», «The Man», «Blank Space», «Shake It Off» and «Bad Blood», to name just a few.

You’d think that acoustic interludes would be impossible at a concert of this scale, but Swift pulled it off with the 10-minute «All Too Well» (a bold move to play such a long, relatively quiet song amidst the glitz and glamour); and, later in the show, with surprise songs «closure / A Perfectly Good Heart» and a gorgeous mashup of «Robin / Never Grow Up».

The show was a tight choreography of singing, dancing, stage design and costume changes, complete with a full band, dancers and backup singers. In its best moments, the concert was as perfect as pop can get, conveying the feeling of being young and carefree, of mellow summer evenings, of euphoria.

The day after the concert, the LED wristband that we all received was still going strong, its blinking lights a lovely reminder of a spectacular pop extravaganza.

Shout-out to support band Paramore, a big name in their own right. They delivered an outstanding set, led by singer Hayley Williams’ charismatic and dynamic stage presence.

- Anna Wirz

Zurich setlist on 10 July 2024

Photo Credit: TAS Rights Management

Promoters in Switzerland: TAKK AB Entertainment, Gadget