Taylor Swift Eras tour Melbourne concert: relive the pop star’s biggest ever show – as it happened (2024)

A huge thank you to everyone who followed along tonight. Thank you to everyone who sent us in tips and photos and lovely messages. Thank you to Taylor Swift’s team for randomly emailing us a bunch of new photos right in the middle of the concert – that was very exciting!!

As a reader, Amy, just put it: “I have such a weird combo of emotion and FOMO with each new update. I am FOMOTIONAL.”

We also are FOMOTIONAL.

And if you are coming to this blog way past its end, don’t worry – you can read it all again. <3

And that’s a wrap Swifties (and to any newcomers).

Thank you so much for sticking with us through this mammoth first Australian show – we had a ball, hope you did too! Yes, I’m talking to you still here at 11pm.

OH MAN. That last song was the energy we needed. I can’t believe that is over, and that I experienced it through someone screaming on Twitch. Here are some beautiful pics we just got sent by our colleagues in the chat group.

This from Sian Cain – she says the night was “spectacular”.

And this from Meadow Nguyen up the back.

Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen has just sent us this one. Spare a thought for Giselle, who has to file her review first thing tomorrow morning. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out what she thought.

Taylor:

Melbourne I’m never going to forget tonight. You have been unbelievable. Do you have time for one more song?

Yes, we do Taylor.

And here it is, the last song of the night.

Karma!

We found video of one of the most emotional moments of the evening – the first time Taylor has ever played You’re Losing Me live.

She played this song after announcing the Bolter edition of the Tortured Poets Department, which has since magicked its way onto her online store.

I don’t know how she has the energy for this routine. I am so impressed and pretending we aren’t nearing the end.

We’re getting some lovely emails from people as we wrap up.

Nicole says “my daughter is at the concert and I’m sitting here in Kyneton hoping she’s enjoying her long awaited Tay Tay experience. She’s there with people she doesn’t know – my husband’s work colleague offered her a ticket after spending two days online and missing out like so many.

“She knows how lucky she is to be there. I’m sorry to all of those that missed out.”

Another reader, Christina, says: “Thanks to my 13 yo I’ve become a huge Swiftie. We warned her we wouldn’t try to get tickets due to the cost of travelling etc, but took her to opening night of the movie. We were all transfixed and singing along in that cinema full of young fans. I hadn’t felt so much joy in a room. Can only imagine how magic it has and will be for those going to the concert.”

She says her daughter has been updating us “all evening thanks to your blog … it’s a pretty special kind of infectious joy and magic that she spreads.”

We could not agree more.

Taylor is currently singing Midnight Rains. Four songs left. Argh. Here’s a pic from up the back.

Crying and dancing along to a really bad quality livestream of Anti-Hero and pretending it looks like this.

As the show reaches its final act, we’re thinking about Adelaide-based Shelley Roach and her daughter Morgen, 14, who missed out on tickets. Shelley decided to drive them the 730km to Melbourne so they could sit outside and listen to the concert.

When we met, the pair were sitting in the park around the MCG with their family friend Tanya. The decorated their chairs in Taylor theme.

Morgan said they tried so hard to get tickets – her mum almost ate fish eyes in a competition:

We couldn’t get tickets. We trained so many times. Mum nearly won a competition on the radio but someone got put in before mum, which was really sad.

She was going to eat fish eyes!

We didn’t get any of them, or any re-sales, so mum said, ‘Let’s drive out to Melbourne’. We stayed with mum’s best friend she hadn’t seen in a long time. Now we are here – we are going to enjoy the atmosphere.

They left Adelaide on Thursday morning at 6.40am, and because of the traffic drove for 12 hours to Melbourne, listening to Taylor the whole way.

Morgan said Marjorie was her favourite song.

It makes me cry every time I hear it. It makes me think about my grandma, she wrote it about her grandma.

I will cry a bunch. People might think I’m a brat sitting outside crying, that I’m not inside, but it’s just the song! The song is so sad!

She said she lives “everything about” Taylor.

She [has] created such a community. Being here, they’re so kind and everyone is making bracelets. There’s so many people here, and she did that. Nobody else did that.

I love that she is who she is and she is OK to say what she thinks. She’s great.

Maybe they’re still listening outside, as Taylor brings out a huge Lavender Haze.

The final era of the night is saved for the album, Midnights, which could’ve been the entire tour if it weren’t for the pandemic (I mean I am really glad we just got 3.5 hours instead).

Midnights is Swift’s tenth and latest studio album (aside from her re-records) and the era she is living in today.

It’s sleepless nights, lavender haze, smeared lipstick, splashed wine, and of course, friendship bracelets.

For the closing chapter of the concert, Swift opens with Lavender Haze, then the lead single Anti-Hero, followed by Midnight Rain, Vigilante sh*t, Bejeweled, Mastermind and Karma.

Let’s go!

Woah OK. Taylor has also unveiled “an alternative cover to Tortured Poets no one has seen. There is an exclusive song on this called the Bolter. This is called the Bolter edition.”

Here’s what it looks like – thank you to our woman in the room who took this photo while also transcribing all the quotes, Sian Cain!

The best transition there ever was

After Swift performs the surprise songs, a hole on the T-shaped stage opens, and Taylor dives into it and “swims” towards the main stage. There are visual and sound effects simulating a swimming pool:

It’s truly a work of art.

This transition marks the beginning of Midnights, her last era. And I can’t believe we’ve made it.

Thank you for sticking with Steph and I.

At the piano, Taylor wants to talk about her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department. “Basically I’m very excited for April 19,” she says. “I cannot wait for you to hear all of these songs. These albums – I think more than any other ... I needed to make it … For me, the things I was going through ... it reminded me why songwriting actually gets me through my life,” she says.

Now she is launching into a song she has NEVER played live before: You’re Losing Me. Giselle texts the group chat: “I’m going to cry forever.”