Taylor Swift

[KevShmev]

Yep, yep, the changes look great to me all things considered. She obviously wasn't going to cut any of the big hits, so some of the deep cuts had to go to make room for the TTPD songs.  I thought So Long, London would be in the mix, but none of the other new ones surprised me.  Having seen some clips of the visuals, she really went all-out again with this new era being added.  Some really awesome stuff.  I like that she shuffled some of the other eras around as well in the set list to mix it up a bit.

[MirrorMask]

So I figured it out indeed, the Folklore / Evermore merger 

Yeah, I can see how she picked those songs, they're some tunes that translate well live. I Can Do It with a Broken Heart, as I said, is something that I can't stand musically, but the lyrics are deep and hey, having sad lyrics with energetic music is straight out of Springsteen's playbook. It was inevitable that the most dance-y song would end up in the set.

Also, Who's Afraid and Smallest Man are one of my favorite songs from the album so that's fine with me.

One of the surprise songs in Paris was Paris, I guess she'll save So Long London for London. And if and when Florence Welsh can eventually be a guest at a show, who know what might happen.......

[KevShmev]

I am not sure Florida would work nearly as well as an acoustic song (which I assume it would be if Florence Welch guested at a show to sing it with her); it needs the dynamic shift of the melodies and the pounding drums in the chorus to really "hit," IMO.

I figured I Can Do It with a Broken Heart was a given since it's the only real bop on the record and is a live natural, but I can't say it's one I reach for right now.  It is one of the few from the main album here I will often skip over.  I like it, but there are just many others I'd rather hear right now.

I have a hunch that Who's Afraid of Little Old Me will eventually be seen as THE most classic song from this record by the more hardcore fans.  I doubt it would touch the success of Fortnight if even released as a single, but Fortnight is for the casuals; Who's Afraid... is for the dedicated fans. 
 

[KevShmev]

BTW, it is worth noting that after resetting the surprise songs slots for the 2024 shows, she recently changed it to where she can do whatever the hell she wants.   In other words, if she wants to play a song over and over in a surprise slot, she is gonna do it.  You're On Your Own, Kid has already been played five times in a surprise slot on this tour, and I wouldn't be shocked if it gets that many more plays in the final 65 shows (87 down, 65 to go!!).

[Zook]

Maybe she'll burn herself out, take a nice long break, and come back with something fresh.

Knowing my luck she'll do just that, but then storm the Capitol and I'll be blue balled again.

[MirrorMask]

BTW, it is worth noting that after resetting the surprise songs slots for the 2024 shows, she recently changed it to where she can do whatever the hell she wants.   In other words, if she wants to play a song over and over in a surprise slot, she is gonna do it.  You're On Your Own, Kid has already been played five times in a surprise slot on this tour, and I wouldn't be shocked if it gets that many more plays in the final 65 shows (87 down, 65 to go!!).

She could make a double album alone with just the surprise songs.

And You're On Your Own, Kid is one of the very best songs on Midnights so it's no wonder she plays it.

I believe she did Haunted at least once? or am I confusing it with Red? that would be great to hear, alongside with Carolina, Peter, whatever is left of Folklore and Evermore, and maybe for the novelty of it, most of the latest album in rotation.

[KevShmev]

Haunted has been played more than once, as I remember seeing that she played it sometime last summer, and then I know she played it at one of the Australia shows that the Chats and Reacts podcast ladies attended (one of them is a HUGE Haunted fan).

For anyone unfamiliar, and I am guessing most here are, there is a YouTube podcast of two ladies from Australia who do real live reactions to Swift's music. Their reactions can be a bit over the top at times (but I will take positive and happy over negative and constantly critical), but they are highly entertaining, and always do a great job of breaking down the lyrics and figuring out where new lyrics might connect back to older ones.  They went to a handful of shows in Australia, the last of which they were invited to by Taylor herself, who had her dad meet them at the show, where he let them sit in the VIP tent and handed both personalized letters Taylor had written to both of them.  Very cool.

And yeah, I suspect much of the new album that is not in the every show set will get played at some point in the surprise slots.  She did My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys last week on just piano, and my guess is that is how she wrote the song since it is one of the six solo writes on the record.

[MirrorMask]

She played Peter in Sweden whoohooo!

I was just doing other stuff, went on YouTube to save a video I wanted to see later, noticed a live streaming of the show, clicked on it just for the passing curiosity of seeing what she was playing....... and it was acoustic set time and I got to hear most of Peter live!

It's still my favorite song on the second disc, alongside with The Albatross, I Hate it Here and The Black Dog.

In the chaotic mess of properly getting to know 31 songs, I vastly overlooked Guilty as Sin in the main album, that is in the upper half for me. Florida is still my favorite song but Who's Afraid is a close second. Other great tracks are Smallest Man and But Daddy I Love him. The title track is great but I realized the lyrics annoy me for whatever reason, too personal with specific references. Maybe it's the knowledge that it was for a rebound guy with whom the fling expired long before she even had a chance to record the song  talking of personal specific lyrics, I don't know why I accept "we danced around the kitchen in the refrigerator's light" but not "You smoked, then ate seven baras of chocolate, we declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist". It's something untangible related to the feel of the song I guess.

[KevShmev]

But Daddy I Love Him is the one song here that I feel should have recorded with her live band and nothing else (credits show it was recorded with both live instruments and programmed ones).  The programmed effects in between the vocals in the chorus are a bit bothersome.  That should have been a straight rock song with her band.  I still like the song, but that's the one song where I feel the production lets it down a little.

I do feel like the run of songs from Fresh Out the Slammer through Who's Afraid... is THE best stretch on the album.  I hum "Florida!" to myself at least once a day.   And yeah, Guilty as Sin went from being a bit of a blur at first to a major standout.

I did see that she played Peter yesterday, which was great to see.   That is still my favorite song from this, with Who's Afraid of Little Old Me, My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, How Did It End?, The Prophecy, Guilty as Sin, I Hate It Here and So Long, London all on my list of next tier favorites.  Cassandra has been making a major charge lately, to where that could be one of my top favorites here soon.

The Black Dog is still a bit of a struggle for me.  I like it, but it's not one I ever seek out on its own to hear.