“I love you Atlanta,” Taylor Swift repeated during her concert, and for good reason since her “Reputation” tour brought together more than 116,000 people on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11 at Mercedes- Benz Stadium.
She was the first artist to perform two nights in a row, and the biggest artist to come to the year-old stadium. “What a nice, new stadium this is; it’s so cool to play in here,” said Swift. However, this is a well-known territory for Swift because, according to her, she has played in Atlanta 13 times over the years. (Her lucky number is 13, so maybe that’s what made this concert so special.)
The concert was filled with people of all ages. Many kids around me came with their mothers, and they knew every word to Taylor’s songs. A few rows down were a group of guys, and next to me, two ladies in their 30s, one of which was crying during the slower songs. There was something for everyone in the show.
The “Reputation” tour opened with British singer Charli XCX. She warmed up the coming crowd with a very energetic performance dressed in a funky, see-through outfit. She sang her biggest hits, including party anthems like “Boom Clap,” “Break the Rules,” and “Fancy.”
The next performer  was Cuban singer Camila Cabello. She got the crowd excited when she came on stage wearing an Atlanta Falcons jersey. Camila Cabello, a former member of Fifth Harmony, performed  “Never Be the Same,” “She Loves Control,” “In the Dark,” and a few covers of her favorite songs, all of which showcased her incredible vocals.
She also included some impressive dance breaks in her performance. The crowd went crazy, though when she sang “Havana,” her most famous song, which mentions East Atlanta in the chorus.
A few hours later when the stadium was fully packed, Taylor Swift finally opened with “…Ready for It,” and continued with songs from her latest album “Reputation,” and some old but gold hits. The concert was divided into six parts.
In the first she sang, “I Did Something Bad,” “Gorgeous,” and her older songs “Style” / “Love Story” / “You Belong With Me.” Her second set was spectacular, she performed “Look at What You Made Me Do,” in front of a giant prop of a snake that moved around.
In the past few years, her life has been under constant media scrutiny and her feud with Kanye West has added a lot of fuel to her burning image. Taylor made sure people knew that because of the drama she had many hard days, and that at the end of the day, she had to stand up for herself.
She dissed Kanye during her performance when she sang the song on a tilted throne, symbolic, because at his show, Kanye performed on a tilted stage during his “Saint Pablo” tour. The act continued with “End Game,” and “King of My Heart.”
During the concert, Swift also talked about how important it is for her to be connected to her fans. She also talked about how she writes music, and that the feeling of seeing that other people relate to her emotions is very soothing.
Because she can’t see everyone in the stadium, she came up with the idea of glowing bracelets. The technology allowed thousands of wristbands to be controlled remotely through infrared transmitters. Everyone got one when they walked in the venue. The silicone bracelet was fitted with LED lights that lit up and changed color in time to the music, in sometimes surreal ways. Its made you feel like you were part of the show, and the story.
Although there were no celebrity surprises during the first night of the concerts, during the third act of Swift’s concert, she brought Charli XCX and Cabello back onstage to sing one of her most famous songs, “Shake It Off.” Then “Delicate,” which she sang in the air, “Dancing With Our Hands Tied.” Taylor sang “This Love” acoustic for the first time, throwing out feelings of an older Taylor Swift style to the ecstatic crowd, for a few minutes it was just Taylor, her guitar, and the fans.
The concert was very 3-D. The main stage was shaped like and X, symbolic in her song “Getaway Car,” in which she sings “X marks the spot, where we fell apart.” There were two smaller stages further in the crowd. First, she few to one of them, singing”Delicate.” Then she walked over to the other, which took about 10 minutes because she was greeting all her fans on the way.
She returned to the main stage by flying back in a prop that looked like the skeleton of a snake. The main stage had big screens, which followed her and projected her, and showed videos that really enhanced the feeling of the whole performance. There were even flames that set waves of heat on top of the already energetic crowd.
In Act 4, Taylor during sang and danced to “Blank Space,” “Dress,” “Bad Blood” / Should’ve Said No.” Act 5 included “Don’t Blame Me,” and “Long Live” / “New Year’s,” which got a few people emotional. In the 6th and final Act, Taylor performed, “Getaway Car,” “Call It What You Want,” and after two hours, the show closed with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.”
Many critics are quick to say that Taylor changed because of her new image, but throughout the concert you could see the old Taylor. She showed videos of her fans and had many moments, where through the cracks of her tough ready for war face, you could see the old Taylor was still there.
With this album, Taylor went into deeper and darker places. It’s incredible that a performer can bring that many people together in one city and have such an impact. The show set high standards for all performers. Even if you’re not her biggest or craziest fan, by the end of the show, you feel a little closer to her.