Taylor Swift delivered the live debut of “The Black Dog” on night one of her Eras Tour in London. The 34-year-old pop superstar’s first-time performance of the emotional ballad arrived during the surprise songs portion of her concert at London’s Wembley Stadium on Friday (June 21). “I’ve never played this one live before,” Swift told the crowd, as seen in a fan-captured clip on X (formerly Twitter).
Wearing a long orange dress and seated at a piano, the singer beautifully performed “The Black Dog,” which appears on her double album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology . The song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May.
The TTPD track was mashed with “Come Back...
Be Here,” from her 2012 Red album and “Maroon,” off 2022’s Midnights . Friday’s surprise songs set also featured a mashup of “Hits Different” and “Death By a Thousand Cuts.” Some have speculated that “The Black Dog” is about the 1975 frontman Matty Healy, who Swift was rumored to have briefly dated in 2023.
The song name-checks pop-punk band The Starting Line, which Healy’s group has covered live in recent years. “I just don’t understand/ How you don’t miss me in The Black Dog/ When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young/ To know this song that was intertwined/ In the magic fabric of our dreaming,” Swift sings on the chorus of “The Black Dog.” “Old habits die screaming.
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