There is a discussion Choo and I will always have when certain songs come up on the iPod in my car. These particular songs will trigger vivid memories which had been seared into the deep recesses of our consciousness. We will start to talk about the concerts we had graced and sometimes we would go on to rank our Top 5.
The Top 5 always changes but the #1 is always the same: The National (2011) because we helped Matt Berninger get down from the boxed seats to the floor and all that time he was still singing without missing a beat; Sigur Rós (2012) because the skies opened during the encore and miraculously stopped when Jónsi sang the last note; Sara Bareilles (2014) because I couldn’t believe that with just a piano and her amazing vocals she could hold me in pure rapture; Wild Beasts (2014) because we got to hang out with the band after the concert… surreal; 张惠妹 (2012) because she is Choo’s favourite singer and it was an amazing concert, especially with the unforgettable medley of all her slow songs; Jason Mraz (2009) because that’s the one I reconnected with all my JC and Uni friends; Coldplay (2009) because who can forget the tsunami of yellow balloons during “Yellow”. Four of these mentioned will always take up #2 to #5, and the #1 slot is always Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour in 2016.
It’s an easy choice because we saw the concert in Bangkok on the second day of Chinese New Year. At that time Singapore wasn’t announced in her tour schedule and there was news it might not happen because of the song “Holy Water” due to the sexually explicit and religiously sensitive nature of the act. The world must think we are prudes. Rather than hoping it would happen, I sprang for Bangkok. She is an artiste I had wanted to see since I was a teenager. I was so glad we did this because I can tell you nobody parties like the Thais and hitting a foreign country for a gig really adds to the allure. However, we have a new #1: Taylor Swift’s The Era Tour (2024).
I didn’t get into her music from the beginning, it was her 5th album 1989 that made me go goo goo ga ga. “Blank Space”, “Style”, “Shake It Off”, “Bad Blood” and “Wildest Dreams” were just superb pop songs. After that I collected all her back catalogue and would look forward to the next new release. But it was her 8th album Folklore that made me have new found respect for her craft. It is an album that sounded nothing like all her preceding albums; it was an album that took risks. None of the songs was layered with her usual bombastic pop-ish production sheen and a nuanced honesty shined through. With all the other albums there is always that autobiographical spine and one would scrutinise the lyrics for clues to her latest emotional entanglements, Folklore doesn’t do that. Every song conjures a story of a character that feels so familiar. I know “(she) never painted by the numbers, but (this was the one she was) making it count”. “My tears ricochet” as I devoured the album and watched the movies in my head.
It wasn’t just her prolific song writing skills that defined her. It is also her easy charm and relatability. How she stood up for what she believed in laid down the blueprint for every young female artiste working in the music industry. How she went toe to toe with Spotify and gained ownership of her recordings from Scooter Braun are the stuff of legend. “(She) was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere”.
Choo would attest I didn’t sleep much the night before the gig. You can laugh at me but I know there are Swifties are out there just like me, “(our) heartbeat on the High Line”.
The Eras Tour is everything I dreamed of and so much more. The anticipation was a killer, suspense building to a crescendo and the opening was amazing and beautiful, one for the ages. I can’t remember the last time a Caucasian singer belted out 45 songs in 3h 15min. No need to think of who, there is no one. You would be lucky if you get a 2h concert. It wasn’t just the duration that was an eye-opener but how she held 60,000 in sheer ecstatic rapture that was magical. The production design for every era segment is distinctive and my favourite is of course the Folklore era. The house totally fits the pastoral vibe of the songs.
The setlist for night 2:
Lover Era
1. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince
2. Cruel Summer
3. The Man
4. You Need To Calm Down
5. Lover
6. The Archer
Fearless Era
7. Fearless
8. You Belong With Me
9. Love Story
Evermore Era
10. ‘Tis The Damn Season
11. Willow
12. Marjorie
13. Champagne Problems
14. Tolerate It
Reputation Era
15 …Ready For It?
16. Delicate
17. Don’t Blame Me
18. Look What You Made Me Do
Speak Now Era
19. Enchanted
20. Long Live
Red Era
21. 22
22. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
23. I Knew You Were Trouble
24. All Too Well
Folklore Era
25. The 1
26. Betty
27. The Last Great American Dynasty
28. August
29. Illicit Affairs
30. My Tears Ricochet
31. Cardigan
1989 Era
32. Style
33. Blank Space
34. Shake It Off
35. Wildest Dreams
36. Bad Blood
Acoustic Songs
37. Long Story Short + The Story of Us (guitar)
38. Clean + Evermore (piano)
Midnights Era
39. Lavender Haze
40. Anti‐Hero
41. Midnight Rain
42. Vigilante Shit
43. Bejeweled
44. Mastermind
45. Karma
At one point, after singing “Champagne Problems”, Taylor gave a pregnant pause that ballooned to a memorable moment. She broke persona and her mien became so natural. In that moment, with the rising screams of adoration from 60,000, I can feel her feeling she is the luckiest woman in the world. She “(paced) the rocks staring out at the midnight sea” of her kingdom, her sparkling eyes surveyed her universe of fans. “There’s robbers to the east, clowns to the west”, by this I mean her Swifties and since I am seated to her west that would make me a deliriously happy clown.
There was never a dull moment during the concert and the transitions to different eras were deftly handled. It was a perfect performance by a consummate singer-songwriter at the top of her game. She set the concert bar so high that I never thought it would be possible. This is the best concert I count my lucky stars I had the privilege of attending and for 3h 15min Taylor was “a fire and (she kept my) brittle heart warm” and kept me “on my tallest tiptoes”. If you were there, you are family to me.
That night, I was also with the two nieces of a friend who helped made this concert possible for me. As we were walking out, I turned to them and asked jokingly: “What do you think? So so only right?” They did a double take wondering what I just uttered and a few strangers who heard me also looked at me with incredulous eyes. Then I went on to say: “THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST CONCERT I HAVE EVER SEEN!” Everybody around me nodded their heads and high-fived me with their eyes. My sympathy goes out to the two of them because they are not going to see another gig that will measure up to this for a long, long time.
I get asked a lot by friends why I would pay so much for concerts when a blu-ray would suffice. Here comes my answer: I didn’t just buy tickets, I bought a piece of memory to last a lifetime. Read my first paragraph again and allow me to emphasise that that shared experience with Choo and thousands of fans is priceless. When our last “August (has) slipped away into a moment in time” we will always this memorable night and we get to relive it again whenever a particular song comes up in my car. How do you put a price tag to that?
Next up is Bruno Mars. That’s a month away so that is enough time for this to lull down to a simmer.
Reel Thoughts 