Taylor Swift’s 1989 world tour visits Utah
Kylie Chilcutt
Staff Writer
Photo by Kylie Chilcutt
Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour made a stop in Salt Lake City Friday night and the fandom surrounding Swift’s latest album, 1989, was more alive than ever.
Utah buzzed with the news long before Swift’s twenty-plus tour trucks and buses entered the state. In December, the show sold out in seconds. People readily paid hundreds, even thousands of dollars for a seat through ticket scalpers.
Vance Joy opened the show with several songs, including his hit “Riptide.” However, the response to his set was nothing compared to what occurred when Swift appeared performing a crowd favorite.
From people dressed as Swift or holding signs and lights with messages to her, to the people who did not look like hardcore fans, everyone went wild when she took the stage. The energy of the crowd was undeniable and Swift joked about everyone knowing every lyric.
The first eight numbers were heavily produced – backed with enthusiastic dancers, musicians, and props. These included the popular singles “Welcome To New York” and “Blank Space,” giving fans a chance to take in the spectacle.
Later, the singer went solo with an acoustic guitar, rising thirty feet above the extended runway on a section of it that brought her around the whole arena. This slightly more intimate setting gave her a chance to catch her breath before resuming intense dancing and singing for seven more songs.
The final part of the show sped up with another recent hit, “Style.” The singer also performed interesting versions of her older hits like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” that she clearly wanted to mix up on tour.
Swift performed every song from 1989 and sang most of them flawlessly. However, there were a few times when she stopped singing to dance and her own recorded vocals were playing as the backups.
During the song that possibly required the most energy, current hit “Bad Blood,” Swift appeared to be lip-syncing upon a close look at her face with binoculars. The verses of the song playing sounded identical to the vocals on the album until the last bridge and chorus of the song, when her lips began to match the audio again and it sounded much more like her live voice.
Upon further inspection, this is not the first time Swift has been suspected of faking live vocals. During the VMA’s when she performed the same song, people on Twitter and blogs said it looked like she was lip-syncing.
The successes throughout the incredible performance by Swift and her team outweighed any failures. The 1989 World Tour crew mastered the lighting, props, and staging to entertain the whole audience.
One special addition was that all 15,000 members of the crowd wore LED wristbands that lit up in sync to the songs. Swift said this was important so she could see each individual throughout the concert.
The thrilled expression Swift had throughout the show matched those of her fans as they danced down the sidewalks after the show was over .
