FORGET champagne, white roses and silk sheets – Taylor Swift put in a mammoth Greggs order as she kicked off the first UK date of her Eras world tour in Edinburgh last night.
The pastry gurus catered for the Shake It Off singer’s team backstage at Murrayfield Stadium where they dished out hundreds of sausage rolls and steak bakes to her hungry crew.
A backstage insider told our team: “Taylor wanted to put on an electrifying show and she knows a sausage roll is good for the soul.
“You’d expect a superstar like her to be ordering champagne and caviar but Taylor is down to earth and she knows what her team needs.
"The mood backstage was incredible.”
And when the US superstar burst on to the stage from a cocoon of pastel- coloured flags in a tight glittering bodysuit to open the show with Miss Americana and Cruel Summer, it was obvious the hearty feast had done Taylor the world of good, too.
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“Look what you’ve done — you’ve made me feel so amazing,” Taylor told her thousands of fans, many of whom had queued for days in the rain to see her up close.
“Tonight I get to play a sold-out show in front of 73,000 people.”
The fans went bananas.
And I have no doubt their deafening screams and dance moves will end up registering on the Richter scale, just as her gig in Seattle did last year.
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Taylor added: “I was last here nearly ten years ago, and I was wondering, ‘What’s it going to be like as a crowd?’
"But tonight’s concert is the most highly attended show in Scottish history. Thank you Edinburgh.”
After finishing up I Knew You Were Trouble, Taylor said: “This tour has been the most fun I have ever had.
“I think the reason why is because I should have come to play in Scotland. I should have bought every tour here.”
Appearing overwhelmed by the crowd’s reaction, she added: “I love you, Scotland, I’m really beside myself.”
Singing 22 in a T-shirt which read: “This is not Taylor’s Version,” she went on to hand her trilby to an elated fan who looked like she’d won the Lottery.
Fan Laura Smith from Shrewsbury told me she’d hand-made her costume for the show, while others travelled thousands of miles to be there, including Cory Hanson from Minnesota and Rebecca Ormesher from Seattle.
Even Paramore’s Hayley Williams was overcome by it, despite supporting Taylor for every night on the tour.
'NEVER GETS OLD'
She said: “We watch this show as many times as we can and it never gets old.”
Over three glorious hours Taylor, covered most of the hits from her two-decade career, from 2008 track Love Story to her latest No1 Fortnight.
The crowd went wild for tracks like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and 22, creating special chants for the shows.
Insiders told me that Taylor is staying in the most expensive hotel in the city but fans clamouring to spot her will be left wanting, as her team will whisk her straight from the stage to her suite after each performance.
Next she is heading to Liverpool and Cardiff then London, and rumours are rife that Taylor will drop the re- recorded version of her 2017 album Reputation while she is in town.
Whether it materialises or not, Tay’s triumphant visit to our shores will go down in history with her fans.
Welcome back — you were incredible.
SET LIST
- Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince
- Cruel Summer
- The Man
- You Need To Calm Down
- Lover
- Fearless
- You Belong With Me
- Love Story
- 22
- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
- I Knew You Were Trouble
- All Too Well (10-Minute Version)
- Enchanted
- . . . Ready For It?
- Delicate
- Don’t Blame Me
- Look What You Made Me Do
- Cardigan
- Betty
- Champagne Problems
- August
- Illicit Affairs
- My Tears Ricochet
- Marjorie
- Willow
- Style
- Blank Space
- Shake It Off
- Wildest Dreams
- Bad Blood
- But Daddy I Love Him
- So High School
- Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?
- Down Bad
- Fortnight
- The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
- I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
- (Surprise song 1)
- (Surprise song 2)
- Lavender Haze
- Anti-Hero
- Midnight Rain
- Vigilante S**t
- Bejeweled
- Mastermind
- Karma
TELL TAYL
TAYLOR’S fans flocked from far and wide to catch her on tour, including nurse Ellie Peach, who flew 10,000 miles from Australia to watch the show.
Ellie, who paid £1,500 for her flights, told me: “It was all very last-minute, I made a video on TikTok on the off-chance I might be able to get a ticket.
"I didn’t expect anybody to get back to me but then I was offered a ticket.
“I asked my bosses for last-minute leave then booked the flight.
“I just need to see her perform this new album.”
LANA: TAYLOR IS IN HER PRIME NOW
TAYLOR’s best friend Lana Del Rey has opened up about why she thinks the singer has become such a global phenomenon.
Lana, who collaborated with Taylor on album track Snow On The Beach, says Taylor has a hunger and drive like no one else she knows in the industry.
Lana said: “She wants it.
"She’s told me so many times that she wants it more than anyone.
“And how amazing – she’s getting exactly what she wants.
"She’s driven, and I think it’s really paid off.
"She is a legacy artist and a legend in her prime right now.”
TELL TAYL
BACK in 2015 Tay revealed that she has Scottish ancestry.
Speaking on stage at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, the singer read out an e-mail from her father Scott explaining her Scottish heritage.
She said: “In the subject line it said, ‘Tell Scotland this’ and in the email he said our whole family is from Scotland and you have to tell them that.
" So I am one of you, and I’m proud because this crowd is amazing.”
In a sweet nod to her revelation, last night the stadium sponsorship signage had been changed from Scottish Gas to Scottish Lass.
Love it.
SAM'S PLAN TO SWOOP ON STAR
SAM HEUGHAN has set his sights on winning Taylor’s heart.
Scots actor, who plays Jamie Fraser in Prime TV series Outlander, hopes Taylor will fall for his steely looks while in the UK and swaps him for her gridiron star boyfriend Travis Kelce.
Sam said: “She obviously doesn’t know this, but when she comes to Scotland and sees me in the audience, she’s going to forget all about him and fall for a man in a ginger wig.
"How could she resist?
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“She’s gonna shake him off and take me out instead. I’m really excited!”
Erm, you might want to check 18st Travis isn’t about first, Sam.
Tell Tayl
THE Eras Tour has proved irresistible to fans, shifting a record 11million tickets across 152 shows.
It has surpassed Ed Sheeran’s Divide tour of 2017-19, which drew more than 8.8million fans across 260 shows.
The Eras, Taylor’s sixth tour, is also the world’s first to rake in $1billion in revenue.
It began in Arizona in March last year and closes in Vancouver, Canada, in December.
She began her three-night Edinburgh run yesterday and plays Liverpool, Cardiff and Wembley Stadium this month before hitting Wembley again in August.