Taylor Swift resumed The Eras tour in Tampa Bay last night, her first show since the rollout of the Joe Alwyn breakup news. As expected, her fans were deep-diving for eggs about the split and/or eggs about which of her past albums she’ll re-record and release next. Speak Now, apparently, is the one they’re anticipating and she did indeed sing “Speak Now” last night. 

 

What I found most interesting though is how glitchy her show was last night. And this is not a criticism, not at all, it’s an observation about how life works for everyone, even Taylor Swift. Even Taylor Swift is not immune to a glitchy day. That’s what I call it. You may have your own name for the kind of day where things just don’t quite run as smoothly as you want them to. Nothing catastrophic just… fumbly, which is what a friend of mine says when it happens to her. It happened to me earlier this week. I just missed the subway and the train I got on just happened to be the one that had to stop due to a passenger incident. And then when I finally got to work I couldn’t find my office key. And then the voiceover software was timing out and I couldn’t get my VOs done on time. And I spilled soup all over my desk. It was a series of glitches, and that seemed to be what Taylor was experiencing. 

 

Some of those glitches were wardrobe related: 

@gaygarbage7

tampa night 1, her garder broke and she handled it so well! #taylorswift #erastour #tstheerastour #erastourtampa #tstheerastourtampa #theerastourtampa #clothingmalfunction #garder #fyp

♬ original sound - ✨
 

Some had to do with the stage: 

And she thanked Gracie Abrams as the opening act when it was actually GAYLE who opened for her. It’s uncharacteristic for Taylor. She is known to be thoughtful and considerate and detail oriented. So this, I’m sure, was mortifying for her. But there’s no malice here. And there’s also no perfectionism – there can’t be. Life isn’t perfect and life is live. That’s why live shows are so compelling, because as much as you try, you can’t control everything. Not the costumes, not the set mechanics, and sometimes not your brain. 

 

That’s what Taylor blamed it on when she apologised later: 

She handled it. What else could she do but call herself out, publicly, and make sure that both GAYLE and Gracie knew that she knew she f-cked up, and then not beat herself up too much for it because there’s still a whole show to get through. And the whole point of a live show is that you keep it moving, through the glitches and the fumbles. Which is also how she seems to be approaching her love life – keep it moving.