Swifties in Vancouver have been treated to a number of Taylor Swift concerts in Vancouver through the years.
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When Taylor Swift rolls into B.C. Place for a trio of shows this week, it will be the singer’s fourth appearance in Vancouver.
The Fearless Tour in 2009 never made it closer to town than a May 15 Key Arena show in Seattle on May 15. Her first headlining tour touched down in Cavendish, P.E.I., and Craven, Sask., but didn’t make it here.
At the time, Vancouver wasn’t a strong market for country artists and Swift was still classified as being in the genre. She was already big enough to pass that ticket sales litmus test.
Hockey season wasn’t the reason for the lack of a local appearance. Rumours that the packed Fleetwood Mac show at the then-named GM Place on May 15 was to blame were also untrue.
Swift’s scheduling just didn’t have a date for us.
Fans were gifted with a pair of performances two years later on the Speak Now Tour. Swift filled Rogers Arena on Sept. 10 and 11, 2011, playing to an estimated crowd of 26,030 per night who all lost their minds once the opening notes of Sparks Fly filled the stadium.
“Taylor Swift wows Rogers Arena: Sold-out crowd goes crazy for clean-cut star” heralded the review by late Province music critic Tom Harrison. At the time, Harrison noted that Swift was “country — sort of — which has brought her a broad loyal audience.”
The 19-song set list included a rousing cover of local boy Bryan Adams’ megahit Summer of ’69 and a duet with another rising local star, singer Tal Bachman. Bachman and Swift would duet on his single She’s So High on the Sept. 10 show. Swift dropped Alan Jackson’s Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning?) on the 9/11 date.
Little did any local critics know of the global phenomenon to come.
Apparently, no one had really listened to the album packed with charting crossover EDM bangers such as Trouble. The Swifties certainly had. They descended upon the venue with a clear agenda: Paint the City Red.
The Jan. 29, 2013, show at B.C. Place was a sellout with 41,142 fans reported and revenue of almost $6 million. The question of to be or not to be at the Red Tour was answered in the pages of The Vancouver Sun by skipping a review of the Red Tour and running a photograph and caption next to a full-page feature review of the Bard on the Beach production of Hamlet.
Writing in the pages of The Province, this critic’s full-page review the next day noted that “Taylor Swift’s slick show demonstrates why she’s the youngest Grammy Album-of-the-Year winner.” It was a stand-all-night experience from the opener State of Grace to the closing crowd chant to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.
Opening the night was an up-and-coming solo artist named Ed Sheeran who duetted with Swift on Everything Has Changed.
Swift brought her 1989 World Tour to B.C. Place on Aug. 1, 2015.
The Reputation Tour in 2018 would dwarf that number and the Eras Tour will surpass both.
“Taylor Swift delivers spectacle, intimacy in Vancouver concert,” read The Sun review, noting that “downtown was flooded with cheerleaders.” These would be the over 44,000 Swifties who took in the gig.
Reviewer Erika Thorkelson hit the nail on the head as to how Swift’s songs become earworms:
“The cheerleader is the perfect symbol for the 25-year-old country turned pop star, who is as well-known for her enthusiasm as she is for her commanding stage presence. She’s not the kind of pop star who wallows, preferring instead to turn heartbreak and hardship into infectious pop anthems with just enough repetition to stick in the brain of even the most casual listener.”
This time around, the 25-year-old was referred to as a “country turned pop star.” She has probably been that since the second arena tour all those years ago.
Three years later, the Reputation Tour didn’t include a local date. The 53-show tour won the American Music Awards Tour-of-the-Year and scooped up many other major awards. The only two Canadian dates were in Toronto in August. The Aug. 3 and 4 performances both sold out Rogers Centre, and arena acts Camila Cabello and Charli XCX opened.
All of which brings us to the trio of B.C. Place sellouts this week as the Eras Tour winds down forever.
Based on ticket demand and resale prices, Swifties should start saving now for the next tour.
With research from Postmedia News librarian Carolyn Soltau