Taylor Swift Aviva Stadium, Dublin ★★★★★ Taylor Swift gets straight to the point as her Eras tour finally reaches Dublin . “It’s been a long time coming,” she sings, having materialised amid a blur of peacock-bright dancers, wearing a rainbow jumpsuit that sparkles in the soft evening light. How right she is: Swiftmania has hurtled around the world since the singer began her blockbusting greatest hits show in Arizona last year and now it at last reaches the Aviva Stadium, making landfall in a roiling wave of tears and cheers.
With chalky clouds bunched above Dublin, Swift appears on a glittering walkway just after 7.15pm, negotiating her autumnal ballad Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. The song is one of her darker numbers but at the Aviva it is received as a ray of light by the 50,000 or so lucky enough to obtain tickets for the first of three sold-dates at the venue (where celebs in attendance include a back-from abroad- Ryan Tubridy) .
Not since the glory days of Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna has a pop star so completely owned their moment as Swift has in 2024. As she begins her exhilarating and riveting three hour-plus concert in Dublin 4, the sense of occasion is almost too huge to quantify. All day Dublin has been rebuilt as Taylor-town.
In the city centre, Swift fans have made their presence felt since morning while 3Arena, which Swift headlined in 2015, has been converted into a huge merchandise stall, where Swifties have pati.
