There was almost some bad blood between Taylor Swift and stadium security at the singers show in Philadelphia on Saturday, as she took a pause in singing Bad Blood to repeatedly ask a guard or guards to lay off a fan as a confrontation developed.
As usual with anything at a Swift show, there were tens of thousands of cameras trained on her, and one 25-second clip of the singers interjections on Twitter had amassed more than 3 million views by Sunday morning. Video of what happened between the fan and security guard was harder to come by; attendees at the Lincoln Financial Field show offered reports saying alternately that the fan was being confronted for being too close to a barricade or was being pulled away for taking photos (which are not disallowed on the tour).
Swift is not known for breaking character to comment on whats going on with an audience mid-song on the Eras Tour, so the interchange stood out and quickly picked up steam among international Swifties.
Shes fine, Swift is first seen telling security during the number. Then: She wasnt doing anything. The singer shouts: Hey! Stop! And then again, after the next scheduled use of the word hey! in the lyrics, she once again orders security to stop, before resuming her singing and choreography.
Not sure what happened during Bad Blood but it was enough Taylor needed to get involved… #erastour #taylorswift #tserastourphilly pic.twitter.com/JcJMmi0dOJ
Nicolle Bradford (@NicolleBradford) May 14, 2023 Swift reps could not immediately be reached for comment on what was transpiring that drew the singers attention.
Reaction on social media was enormously supportive of the singer, for being attentive to what was happening in the audience during her performance. The news also drew the attention of a far smaller number of commenters chiming in to say a performer should not be second-guessing security during a show.
The performance otherwise proceeded without incident at what Swift has called her hometown shows on the tour. (She grew up in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania before moving with her family to Tennessee when she was in her early teens.)
The surprise songs at Saturdays show, played for the first and possibly only time on the tour, were Forever Always, which she said was a Lena Dunham request, and This Love, the former song played acoustically on guitar, the latter on piano. The previous night, at her Philadelphia opening, the surprises were Gold Rush and Come Back Be Here. The former song had never been performed before live, and the latter was getting only its second concert appearance, after having been played once in Toronto in 2018.
Her three-night stand in Philly continues Sunday with a closing night at Financial Field. The Eras tour began March 17 in Glendale, Arizona and will wrap up in the U.S. with the last night of a five-night stand at L.A.s SoFi Stadium on Aug. 9.