Taylor Swift Rocks Her First Night at U.S. Bank Stadium

As we entered the stadium, attendees were each given a wristband to wear during her show. When Taylor Swift took the stage at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, the wristbands wrapped around each audience member’s wrist filled the stadium with the color red. We soon discovered the bands would glow different colors for each performance.

The use of lights, flawless transitions in which Taylor didn’t skip a beat and the pop star’s effortless expression of loyalty and gratitude for her longtime fans made this perhaps Taylor’s most dazzling and energetic performance.

Following the opening song, “Are You Ready For It,” she transitioned into “Look What You Made Me Do,” stepping on beat to the lines “and make it look oh…so…easy”.

This set the stage for a brave performance, portraying Swift’s evolution into an artist who seems truly fearless for, you could dare to say, the first time.

A glimpse into Swift’s fearlessness also arose in her performance of “Look What You Made Me Do” as giant inflatable snakes emerged around her and she trampled confidently over illusory golden serpents slithering beneath her feet on the floor of the stage.

She was menacingly charming as she strutted to this song in a sequenced black dress and sang “they’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one,” and dared them to “light me up, light me light…go ahead an light me up,” the energy growing more vivid with each proposal. A playful grin was sometimes detectable on her face.

Entwined in Swift’s strong and fierce performance of her songs from her Reputation album was the importance of hope that Taylor has held dear throughout her career, and only increasingly so.

This was evident in her performance from her album 1989 when she belted, “we come back every time, we never go out of style.” It was almost as if this song was allowed to grow into its true meaning in the context of Taylor’s Reputation tour.

“King of My Heart” was a wicked performance, including golden clocks displayed behind her, as she sang about a fulfilled dream: “and all at once you are the one I have been waiting for, king of my heart, body and soul.”

Taylor came more alive with each note, the energy of the performance filling the whole stadium.

Swift offered some insight from her experience of being on tour, claiming, in light of having only eight shows for her Reputation tour left to perform in America, it is important that, “when you’re really happy, don’t let it pass you by. Don’t fail to be there in that moment”.

Her performance of “Shake it Off” from 1989 echoed this sentiment as the audience wildly waved their multicolored, rainbow wristbands in the air. Her song from Reputation, “Dancing with Your Hands Tied,” also echoed the sentiment of the importance of finding strength in the experience of being where you are.

To open this song, Taylor claimed that sometimes when you’re going through a tough time, you just need to keep dancing, even if it seems like you are dancing with your hands tied.

Taylor’s appreciation for her fans resonated when she told us that she knew stadiums were very large places to perform, so she wanted every person to wear a wristband so that she could see every single one of the people in the crowd.

Her gratitude to her fans for allowing her and her talent to evolve into what it is now – fierce, loyal and free – was expressed through a performance of a mash-up of “Long Live,” from the album Speak Now, a song “that has always been about you,” she said to the audience, and “New Years Day,” from her Reputation album.

Taylor Swift ended strong with “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” The Lights on the wristbands flashed dazzlingly. Taylor Swift ended the show in the middle of a giant fountain spewing water, fearless as always.