Taylor Swift kicks off the 1989 world tour
by Leanna Tabora, junior entertainment editor
Global superstar Taylor Swift just kicked off her fourth world tour in Tokyo, Japan.
She brought her first pop album to life in the 1989 World Tour for what she calls, her “biggest tour yet.”
An audience of 55,000 people gathered at the Tokyo Dome on May 5th to witness the 7-time Grammy winner sing about looking at love from an outside perspective. Between singing her major hits like “Shake It Off”, “Blank Space”, and “Style”, she had about 9 costume changes. Swift also included wristbands on each seat of the arena that light up to the beat of each song.
Swift opened the show with “Welcome To New York” with a mocked NYC stage featuring her male dancers. For the rest of the tour, she sang many other hits from 1989 and a few older songs. Those songs included “I Knew You Were Trouble”, a keyboard/synth pop version of “Love Story”, and a rock version of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”.
“When I see her at MetLife Stadium in July, I’m excited to see what old songs she performs apart from the songs on 1989 and her costume changes,” junior Jenna Kahn said.
She also included her classic monologues between and before performing songs. Her first monologue came before performing “I Wish You Would,” talking about plots of basic 80’s movies where two lovers are driven apart. She says, “And then at the end of the movie, the person shows up and says what the other person wants to hear at 2 am.” She continues to perform these monologues for songs like “Clean” and her mashup of “Enchanted” and “Wildest Dreams.”
Like always, Swift performed acoustic numbers as a way to connect with the audience. She brought her guitar out on a moving catwalk to sing “You Are In Love” and “Clean.”
For the finale, she sang her first hit off of 1989, “Shake it Off.” Still on the moving catwalk, she brings out her male dancers to have a fun time dancing with her audience one last time for the night. Confetti then rained through the audience, ending the nearly two-hour performance.
“Although I’m not seeing her, I would love to see her costume changes on tour. I love how she dresses,” sixth grader Athina Halkiadakis said.
Even though Swift opened her tour half way across the world, that doesn’t mean she’s focused on performing there. Her next stop is CenturyLink Center in Bossier, Los Angeles. She’s also planned to perform all across America and Australia later in the tour. This is just the beginning for already thrilling 1989 World Tour.