THE TAYLOR SHOW:
10 TAKEAWAYS

A few observations by a jaded older attendee of the first of Taylor Swift’s six sold-out SoFi Stadium dates.

1. There's something to be said for seeing an artist at the peak of their popularity when they're unquestionably the biggest act in the world.
2. Having been performing live for almost 20 years, Swift has total command of the ginormous stage—every move, strut, look and shake of her hair is masterfully used to generate crowd reaction.
3. The production is enormous and fresh. The staging, lighting, sound, video—everything is top-drawer. No expense was spared. It's an event every night. With over 130 planned dates and additional shows being added, this will be the highest-grossing tour ever.
4. Swift knows and is in touch with her audience like no other artist I've ever seen on this grand a scale. Her music elicits non-stop screaming, tears and people holding their hands to their hearts.
5. One side-eyed glance from Swift will elicit deafening screams from 20,000+ girls no matter which way she looks.
6. Swift performed 40+ songs for over three and a half hours. Who does that? And she's playing three shows in a row, one day off, then another three in a row. That’s a workhorse schedule.
7. In terms of popularity, no other artist could sell out six SoFi Stadium dates at 70-75k people per show, and she could have added more. To put that into perspective, the L.A. Rams football team plays eight home games at SoFi with significantly fewer people in attendance because they can’t sell seats on the field. Taylor outsells NFL teams.
8. Swift’s show is a family affair. There were three generations of fans in attendance at the L.A. concert I caught; grandmothers, mothers and daughters made up a significant portion of the audience.
9. The bonding between moms and daughters or dads and daughters as they sang and danced together created moments of joy I’m sure will last lifetimes.
10. This is music history in the making.