Taylor Swift brought Sydney to a standstill when 40,000-odd fans that all descended on Allianz Stadium to see the 23-year-old country-sweetheart-turned-megastar's Red tour.
In the past few months big-name pop artists – including Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Pink – have all stormed Australia. Swift is the youngest and most squeaky clean of the bunch. Though her claim to be putting on the biggest Australian tour by a female artist since Madonna seems statistically dubious - Beyoncé played 10 dates to Swift's four, though in arenas rather than stadiums - the night had all the hallmarks of a glitzy concert extravaganza: fireworks, hydraulics, dancers, stiltwalkers, tickertape and of course, plenty of costume changes. Swift variously donned a red dress, T-shirt and shorts, a cream ballgown (ripped off to reveal a racy black number) and finished the show in a jewel-encrusted ringmaster jacket.
Oh, and there was music too. Unlike many of her peers, Swift is a multi-instrumentalist, and missed no opportunity to show off her chops: on a banjo for Mean, a large red piano for Treacherous and on an equally scarlet, glittery Gibson Les Paul throughout. Her voice didn't waiver throughout the two-hour show.
The concert was peppered with film interludes, one of which showed Swift's transformation into a superstar by the of age 21. This was by way of an introduction to 22, one of her many anthems. Others, like I Knew You Were Trouble, Love Story and the show-closing We Are Never Getting Back Together, incited mass crooning among a hysterically enthusiastic audience.
Swift also indulged in plenty of folksy chat between the songs. She explained how she uses metaphors in her songwriting – then, for younger audience members, helpfully explained just what a metaphor is. Other topics included being an outsider, love, boyfriends, love and, er, love. While it would be easy to mock this banter, she probably pitched it exactly right for the young audience: a Disney princess – or at least older sister – sharing her advice about the world.
The less starry-eyed discussions that rage about Swift – who she's dating, does the media slut-shame her, why isn't she a feminist – didn't penetrate the walls of the stadium. The show put Swift back where she's at her best: on stage.
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