Watch Taylor Swift give ‘the 1’ its ‘Eras’ tour debut
Taylor Swift switched up the setlist on the latest stop of her current ‘Eras’ tour, including ‘the 1’ in the ‘folklore’ segment of the show for the first time.
Before kicking off the performance of the 2020 album’s opening track at a show in Arlington, Texas, Swift said: “You think you can come prepared? You think you can just scroll and know the setlist?” ‘the 1’ was played in place of ‘invisible string’, which had typically been played to start the ‘folklore’ segment of the three-and-a-quarter-hour show.
Until then, the only segment of the ‘Eras’ tour setlist that has regularly changed has been the ‘surprise song’ segment, where Swift plays a different acoustic song or two every night of the tour. At the first show in Arlington, the surprise songs were ‘Sad Beautiful Tragic’ from 2012’s ‘Red’ and ‘Ours’ from 2010’s ‘Speak Now’. The gig marked Swift’s first performance of ‘Sad Beautiful Tragic’ since 2013.
Check out footage of the performance of ‘the 1’ below:
Taylor Performing for the first time THE 1 at #TSTheErasTour ?pic.twitter.com/ad1L9B416C
— Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (@TSTheErasTour) April 1, 2023
Swift had a street re-named after her to celebrate her playing in the town’s AT&T Stadium. She is set to play two further shows tonight and tomorrow (April 1-2). “Taylor Swift Way” has temporarily replaced Random Mill Road and the city is set to light up its four story steel sculptures in front of city hall red until Sunday (April 2).
Swift has also been presented with a key to the city by Mayor Jim Ross.
The first Arlington show also marked MUNA’s first appearance on the tour as an opening act. “They’re a band I love so much,” said Swift during her set. “They’re honestly all over every playlist of mine and I’m so happy they joined us tonight because they’re fantastic and they absolutely killed it,” she continued before she asked the crowd to make “so much noise” for them.
The tour has already seen Swift responding to a letter from a seven-year-old fan in the audience, dedicating ‘Our Song’ to support act Beabadoobee, and giving a shout-out to Lana Del Rey before giving their collaboration ‘Snow On The Beach’ its live debut.
A couple even got married mid-show at the second gig in Glendale, Arizona while the singer-songwriter also quietly made “generous” donations to local food banks in the cities where she performed as part of her ‘Eras Tour’.
