By Brooke Hill | News Editor
Snakes, fire and confetti marked the final night of Taylor Swift’s North American portion of her “Reputation Tour” in Dallas Saturday night.
Charlie XIX and Camila Cabello kicked off the night with their songs while getting the crowd ready for Swift. The two won’t be continuing on to the international portion of the tour, so it was both of their final nights. Both brought great energy to the stage with their dance moves and vocals, but the tour was extra special for Cabello, who said she used to not be able to afford Taylor Swift concert tickets when she was a fan during Swift’s Speak Now era, and now she’s come far enough to be the opening act.
The air was almost electric with anticipation once Cabello’s set ended and fans were ready for Swift to take the stage.
She opened with “Ready for It,” and the screams from fans went on for minutes after she finished the song. Her opening made it obvious that those in attendance were not in for just a concert, but for a full-out show. About 20 backup dancers were dressed in villainous outfits to accompany the dark-horse mood Swift was going for throughout the night.
Swift followed by performing songs off of Reputation like “I Did Something Bad,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Gorgeous” and “King of My Heart.” She truly became an actress onstage, over-dramatizing every little facial expression and dance move to emphasize the “new” Taylor Swift that came along with the Reputation era. It was as if she was playing a character.
The surprise guests of the night was Sugarland, who recorded a song Swift wrote called “Babe.” Swift sings backup vocals on the time and Saturday night was the first time the song was ever performed live. It was a special element to the night, since fans can now say they were present for the first live performance of one of Swift’s song. The performance was also a nice tribute to Swift’s country roots, and Jennifer Nettles’ vocals sounded even better live than they do on the radio.
A golden cage picked her up offstage to deliver her to one of two B-stages that she had toward the back of the floor area so she could get closer to fans in different areas. Cabello and Charlie XIX joined Swift for a performance of “Shake it Off,” which was the most lighthearted part of the night with colorful confetti shot across the stadium that provided from the black color scheme and dark tone surrounding the Reputation album.
The best part of the night was when she sat down on the B-stage with just her voice and her guitar and treated fans to some old songs. Arguably the most anticipated part of each stop on the tour was finding out which old songs Swift would play, as she played different ones in each city and never repeated the same song twice. “All Too Well” was Saturday night’s surprise song, and it was the biggest hit of the night. Fans screamed the words to the song so loudly that Swift stopped in the middle of the song just to appreciate all of the cheers.
After performing “Blank Space” and “Dress,” Swift returned to the main stage to perform a mix-up of “Should’ve Said No” and “Bad Blood,” which blended together perfectly and got the crowd revved up again following the slower portion of the show.
She closed with “Call it What You Want” and “Getaway Car,” closing the night on a perfect note.
Another special aspect of the night was that every attendee was handed a light-up wristband as soon as they walked in the door. The wristband was controlled by Swift’s team and lit up different colors for different songs and even flashed to the beat of the music. This was Swift’s first ever stadium tour, and she said halfway through the night that she wanted the wristbands to be a part of the experience so she could make sure she saw every single fan in the room. It added an extra special element to the night, as it was a way to unite everyone together, and it was spectacular to be able to look around the room and see all of the lights.
The Reputation tour was the best Swift tour yet and created a buzz that is unlikely to disappear for quite some time.
“I died and came to life and died again,” said Fairview junior Kylyn Rosenfeld.
