CELEBRITY
On Planet Swift, the queue for overpriced merch stretches as far as the eye. But I still don my pink cowboy hat and pledge allegiance to the Great One, writes ROBERT HARDMAN
We are two and a half hours into what most of this crowd would unhesitatingly call the greatest show on Earth, when a vast white bedframe is wheeled on to the stage. The world’s most bankable singer clambers aboard for her next number.
I don’t know this song — my daughter whispers that it’s called ‘Fortnight’— but I definitely recognize the scenery. Where have I seen this before? Ah yes. It comes flooding back: July 2012 and the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Danny Boyle’s epic show involved a giant white bed on wheels during a homage to the NHS.
Except Taylor Swift’s bed is even bigger. But then everything about this show — called The Eras Tour — is on an Olympic scale. Indeed, Forbes magazine reports that American tour operators are currently selling five trans-Atlantic packages to see Taylor Swift for each package sold for next month’s Paris Olympics.
Right now, Wembley is counting down to this weekend’s Swiftquake as Miss Swift takes over the national stadium for the first of eight sell-out nights. It means that she is on track to fill Wembley more times in 2024 than the England team (and her show is twice the duration of a football match).