Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour moved back inside on Friday night (June 9), playing the first of two concerts at Detroit’s Ford Field, which has been hosting Swift’s home in the Motor City since 2011.
A crowd of nearly 59,300 — including a significant number of travelers to the show — gave Swift a thunderous welcome that left her wide-eyed and grinning by the end of the second song “Cruel Summer.”
“You’re making me feel phenomenal right now,” the pop superstar told the Swifties, a cross-generational albeit mostly female throng (though a few “Proud Swiftie Dad” T-shirts were spotted in the crowd). “I’m already starting to feel, like, powerful, you know what I mean?”
Playing under a roof, of course, meant Swift and company didn’t have to deal with weather issues like they did in Nashville, although it was a pleasant late spring day in Detroit. It also limited the chance she’d swallow any flying insects, like she did in Chicago. The domed setting did, however, provide different circumstances for the Taylor-gaters outside, who could not hear the music like they could at the open-air venues. That kept the numbers down but there was still a concentration of fans on the east side of the stadium, opposite of the stage, who were able to peer through the windows and were filming the production on their cell phones.
The covering also added another dimension to Swift’s opulent light show, particularly during “Don’t Blame Me,” when the rows of floodlights that shot towards the sky made shapes on the roof. It also reflected the pyrotechnic moments in a different way, lighting up the venue even more intensely than others.
Twelve weeks in, Swift’s Eras Tour is looking and feeling dialed-in — a 44-song, three-hour and 20-minute treat for Swifties who haven’t seen her on stage in five years. That made for a smooth night for all concerned on Friday, with some moments that still stood out from the evening.
