Taylor Swift and Fans Endure the ‘Midnight Rain’ for Nashville Concert

Taylor Swift took “meet me in the pouring rain” literally last Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. On the 20th stop of her record-breaking “Eras Tour,” it seemed the three-hour show wouldn’t happen after the stadium issued a “Shelter in Place” warning.

The original tweet was put out by the stadium at 5:40 p.m. 

At 5:54 p.m., Swift tweeted “I’m ready to play, see you sooon!!” to the crowd.

However, the weather was not clearing up. 

In previous performances, Eras openers usually hit the stage by 6:30 p.m. At that time, the advisory was still in place, with the stadium posting another update at 6:31 p.m., telling concertgoers to stay in sheltered areas. 

For the next three hours, the stadium kept upheld the shelter in place, with the sold-out crowd of around 70,000 huddled in the halls of the stadium.

Finally, at 9:25 p.m., the moment they had all been waiting for came: Swift would be taking the stage. 

At around 10:13 p.m. — over two hours later than Swift usually takes the stage — the award-winning popstar “enchanted” the audience with the concert-opening song, “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince.”

Although fans of scheduled openers Phoebe Bridgers and Gracie Abrams were disappointed as their sets got cut, Swift — the star of the show — put on the performance of a lifetime. 

As numerous TikTok videos show, Swift and her dancers still went full out in the rain, even when they were visibly soaked. Those same videos similarly show the audience — decked out in their “Eras” costumes dripping in plastic ponchos. Still, so-called “rain shows” have been a long-standing fan-favorite tradition for Swifties, with many Twitter users tweeting about their jealousy for those in attendance.

Swift’s songs have long used the motif of rain, as the playlist below shows.

Swift went on to play the entirety of her 45-song set, including two surprise songs: “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” and “Mine.” 

At each concert, Swift chooses two songs not on the permanent setlist to play for the crowd. See all the surprise songs played thus far here:

While most “Eras Tour” stops ended at 11:00 p.m., Swift and the crowd partied through the night, with Swift taking her final bow around 1:30 p.m.

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Kimberly Aguirre Author

I’m a journalist based in the Bay Area with a passion for writing about art, comedy and music.

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Kimberly Aguirre Author

I’m a journalist based in the Bay Area with a passion for writing about art, comedy and music.