Taylor Swift fans swooned as the US superstar kicked off three nights of her blockbuster Eras Tour in Dublin with high praise for Ireland and its culture.
Thousands filled the stadium, many donning friendship bracelets and cowboys boots, and making the south Dublin venue sparkle with their colourful, creative outfits.
Irish Swifties traded bracelets with new-found friends as the crowd bonded over their love for the American singer.
The Aviva stadium, which is usually home to rugby games, roared to life as Swift took to the stage.
She welcomed fans to the Dublin Eras Tour, remarking that it was five years since she had last visited Ireland.
“Nobody does it like you. You know that right?” she said, going on to call Irish people “unmatched storytellers”, adding they had the “best accents”.
During a rendition of her chart-topper We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, a dancer told the crowd “Póg mo thóin” (Kiss my ass).
The 34-year-old also placed her famous black hat on a young fan who was thrust on to the Dublin stage.
The billion-dollar Eras Tour, which sees the singer who first found fame in her teens, play hits across her discography, has travelled through the Americas, Asia and now hits Europe.
Around 50,000 fans descended on the Aviva Stadium for the first of three gigs in Dublin, with some travelling from abroad to see the pop spectacle.
It celebrates Swift’s entire musical career, with songs from all her studio albums representing her different ‘eras’ as she rose through the ranks of the musical industry after moving to Nashville when she was 14.
The Dublin show was filled with elaborate production, multiple costume changes and a setlist that spanned more than three hours and included dozens of songs.
The performances took fans on a chronological journey through her award-winning albums and delighted the crowd, with many Swifties dressing to match their favourite eras and album covers.
Fans sang along with every song, with the lyrics of All Too Well and Lovers reverberating around the Aviva Stadium and echoing out into the nearby streets of south Dublin.
Before the show, members of the audience spoke of their love for Swift’s song-writing and the connections she builds with her fanbase through her music.
Aine Feny, who is from Cork, said of Swift, “her nod to Ireland is amazing”, while Tara O’Keefe, a teacher from Cork, said there is a huge sense of camaraderie between the fans, who trade friendship bracelets during concerts.
Sarah Walsh, who travelled up from Killarney, Co Kerry, said she first saw Swift live in 2011 when she was 13 – adding that the singer’s favourite number is 13.
Swift has visited Ireland several times and also has some Irish heritage.
She has mentioned Ireland in her lyrics, with one song taking inspiration from a holiday she took to Co Wicklow in July 2021 with her former partner, British actor Joe Alwyn, who was filming Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends in Ireland that year.
She referred to their trip in Sweet Nothing on the 2022 Midnights album.
The romantic piece recalls a pebble she picked up from the beach and how she finds herself “running home to your sweet nothings”.
Earlier on Friday, Irish premier Simon Harris, who is from Wicklow, joked that he had a “bone to pick” with the singer over the lyrics: “I have a bone to pick with Taylor Swift, actually. We’re delighted to have her here in Ireland, but she did take a pebble from a beach in Greystones.
“She sings about it in Sweet Nothings, about Greystones – my home town.
“She does ponder in the song, does the pebble ever miss Wicklow and sure everyone would miss Wicklow, wouldn’t they?”
He then said Swift would be welcome back in Wicklow at any time, adding that he would be delighted to show her the locations of other pebble-strewn beaches.
The singer’s connection to Derry was also recently discovered.
The Irish Emigration Museum says this is through Susan Davis, a dressmaker, and Francis Gwynn, a weaver, who emigrated from the city in 1836 to the US where they married in Philadelphia.
One of their six children, Mary, was Swift’s great-great-grandmother, according to the museum.
Ahead of the concerts, businesses in Dublin got into the spirit with Taylor Swift-themed brunches, bracelet-making classes, quizzes, and spin classes featuring her music.
In the hours leading up to the opening concert, Irish Swifties queued up to buy jumpers, hoodies and T-shirts at Dublin’s 3Arena stadium, which was booked out just to sell her merchandise.
Swift’s blockbuster show is set to boost businesses in the cities she performs in, a phenomenon which also happened during Beyonce’s Renaissance tour as it pulls masses of tourists to regions.
The concert is one of several events taking place in Dublin this weekend, as well as Pride, Latitude Festival, Shania Twain and the All-Ireland Senior Football quarter-finals.
The magnitude of the Taylor Swift concerts means Gardaí declared the weekend an “extraordinary event” and has drafted in extra officers to help manage crowds.
Additional transport services have been put on for the three days to help with large crowds making their way to the Aviva and other parts of the city.
