We took the girls to see Taylor Swift at Madison Square Garden last week, last stop on the North American leg of her Speak Now Tour. Tweeted some Instagram photos from the venue, figured I’d post them here as well. Best live performance we’ve ever experienced as a family, and I’m including Dora Live and The Wiggles in that assessment.
She’s a talented artist who puts on a great show, and layered on top of everything - or maybe underneath everything - are her formidable abilities as a songwriter, and the realization that every note, every word, every concept came out of her head, now all of 21.
Happy to note that our girls (8 and 10) seemed to get this, and spent the days after the show wandering around the house with notebooks trying to “write songs,” as opposed to obsessing over a tour picture book or watching videos. Swift writes about young love and relationships, but with a sophistication and awareness that is right up there with the great songwriters of our time, pick a name.
Consider these lyrics from Enchanted:
There I was again tonight
Forcing laughter, faking smiles
Same old tired, lonely place
Walls of insincerity
Shifting eyes and vacancy
Vanished when I saw your face
And these, from her current single, Ours:
Elevator buttons and morning air
Strangers’ silence makes me want to take the stairs
If you were here we’d laugh about their vacant stares
But right now my time is theirs
Seems like there’s always someone who disapproves
They’ll judge it like they know about me and you
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do
The jury’s out, my choice is you
So don’t you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water’s rough
But this love is ours
She’s the real deal, she’s doing everything right (the show was interactive and entirely age-appropriate for her young fans) and she’s going to be selling records and selling out tours for a very long time. She’s also going to have to retire the “Who, me!?” routine by the time the next awards show cycle rolls around, but I’m sure her people have already provided that note. Time to pivot to something equally endearing and humble, but more organic and appropriate for the unstoppable force she’s become.
