Taylor Swift performs onstage at La Defense on May 10, 2024 in Paris, France. Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Taylor Swift fans have made a sport out of guessing which surprise songs she will perform during her Eras Tour concerts, but her acoustic set at her London shows might be her most anticipated yet.
The singer, 34, has three concerts at Wembley Stadium in London on Friday, June 21, Saturday, June 22, and Sunday, June 23. She will later return to the venue for another five shows in August, which will serve as the conclusion of the European leg of the tour.
London holds special significance for Swift as she has centered multiple songs around the city where she lived during her relationship with Joe Alwyn, whom she dated from 2016 to 2023. On her 2019 album, Lover, she sang of all of her favorite spots in England’s capital in “London Boy,” which was believed to be an ode to Alwyn, 33.
Swift subsequently put a heartbreaking spin on her love for the city in “So Long, London” from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. In the song, she seemingly detailed the breakdown of her romance with Alwyn, singing, “I’m just mad as hell ‘cause I loved this place for / So long, London.”
Swift also referenced a local London pub on her 11th album, naming her song “The Black Dog” after the establishment. Unlike her other tracks, though, it may be a nod to her short-lived relationship with ex Matty Healy rather than Alwyn.
Taylor Swift performs at Friends Arena on May 17, 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden. Michael Campanella/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Swift’s mentions of London in her music predate her romances with Alwyn and Healy. She also name-dropped the city in two songs from Red: “Come Back…Be Here” and the vault track “Message in a Bottle.”
Prior to Swift’s London concerts, Alwyn broke his silence on their split, telling The Sunday Times in a June 15 profile that he “would hope that anyone and everyone can empathize and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years.”
Keep scrolling for a guide to every surprise song Swift performed at her Eras Tour shows in London:
‘Hits Different’ x ‘Death By a Thousand Cuts’ / ‘The Black Dog’ x ‘Come Back Be Here’
Swift delivered some of her most iconic bridges on night one, doing a mashup of Midnights’ “Hits Different” and Lover’s “Death By a Thousand Cuts” on guitar. Keeping with the theme of breakup songs, she then moved to piano for her first live performance of “The Black Dog” off The Tortured Poets Department before transitioning into Red’s “Come Back, Be Here” and finally Midnights’ “Maroon.”
‘thanK you aIMee’ x ‘Mean’ / ‘Castles Crumbling’
Swift mixed the old and new on night 2 with her mashup of “thanK you aIMee,” an apparent Kim Kardashian diss track from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, and her Speak Now hit “Mean.” Taylor thanked the audience for their support before playing the tracks.
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“[The support] blows me away. I’ll spend forever trying to thank you for that,” she said. “On the other hand, it really makes me think about how every time someone talks s—t, it just makes me work even harder and it makes me even tougher. So, it also makes me incredibly thankful for those people. I’ve never played this one before — wish me luck.”
While singing “Mean,” Swift tweaked her lyrics from “Someday, I’ll be livin’ in a big, ole city” to “Someday, I’ll be singing this song in Wembley.”
After the mashup, she welcomed Hayley Williams (who opened for Swift with Paramore as special guests) to the stage. Williams wore a purple dress as an ode to Swift’s iconic Speak Now era look as they sang “Castles Crumbling” from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
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