2024-07-24 16:50:55
The biggest pop star in the world is coming to Hamburg. And the Hanseatic city welcomes Taylor Swift with rain, true to her reputation. The weather is not right for the show. But that hardly bothers anyone.
It rarely gets this loud in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. Taylor Swift rocked the home of HSV that evening and made 50,000 fans happy. They cheered the megastar frenetically, clapped and danced enthusiastically. On a huge stage with a boom almost across the entire pitch, Swift showed herself as close to her fans as possible. “Hamburg, good evening,” Taylor greeted the fans in German.
Some had been waiting in front of the stadium since the early hours of the morning, in the dark, hoping to get a seat close to the stage. And then what has to happen in Hamburg happened. Right at the start of the three-and-a-half-hour concert, the rain poured down on Taylor and the fans. But that didn’t spoil the good mood. “This is officially a rain show,” Taylor shouted. And the “Eras Tour” team loves rain shows, the 34-year-old shouted to the crowd with dripping wet hair. With that, she must have won the hearts of the Hamburg fans.
Taylor Swift does her best to make the Volksparkstadion shake with a bombastic show despite the initial adverse weather. The fans – mostly young women and girls, and occasionally a Swift dad or boyfriend or husband – know every song. Especially during the more lively songs like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “Look What You Made Me Do” or “Shake It Off” no one stays still. Everyone is bobbing, dancing and waving their arms. And a choir of a thousand voices sings along to almost every song. The fans know all the lyrics and feel them.
The show is a perfect mix of stage and video effects. During “Cardigan,” for example, trees grow on the stage and Taylor suddenly finds herself sitting on the roof of a wooden house covered in grass. After “Champagne Problems,” the traditional minutes-long deafening cheering follows.
Even before the show, the fans were in a good mood. 18-year-old Isi from Hamburg had been waiting in line with her friends since 5 a.m. in the hope of getting a seat right next to the stage – and she managed it. One of the few committed male Swifties also stood in line for a long time: “I couldn’t sleep for a week, I had nightmares that I was standing at the back,” says Daniel. Among the audience were many fans from other countries, such as Scandinavia and the USA. Adam and Lindsay from Boston planned their European trip with their four daughters especially for the concert. Tickets in Hamburg are half as expensive as in the USA, says Adam.
The University of Hamburg also wants to test what kind of strong impression Taylor leaves in Hamburg. Researchers will be studying the vibrations that Taylor Swift’s concerts in the Hanseatic city trigger on both concert evenings. This will show whether Taylor Swift not only makes her fans’ hearts tremble, but also the earth.
The “Eras Tour” is considered the most successful in music history. In Germany, Taylor Swift has already been to Gelsenkirchen and put the city on the international map with three concerts. A second concert will follow on Wednesday in Hamburg, then it will continue to Münchenwhere she will perform twice on the weekend – and that’s it in Germany.