Red Tour Concert Review

OK, I have finally had a chance to get down on paper all my thoughts about the RED concert experience. It's on the long side, which is part of the reason it took so long to prepare, and I'm afraid there is going to be a bit of ranting about the process of getting to and from the concert venue but I can assure you that I only have positive things to say about performers Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.

The first rant is about the poor infrastructure particularly of I-5. I asked my dad if that is the state or city's responsibility and he said to blame San Diego and I can assure you that I do. Because of the poor maintenance and design, we ended up missing the first opening act, Casey James. Now I don't really care but I did care that we...

Ed got a haircut recently-it looks good ;)

...got there late just as Ed began his set with "Give Me Love," a song that I initially didn't like much but now I'm kind of obsessed. Have you seen the music video about Cupid distraught over her inability to fall in love? Anyway I totally adore this song now. He continued with "Grade 8", "You Need Me, I Don't Need You," "Lego House" (among some covers) before ending with "The A-Team." He was amazing and I'm glad that we at least got to see most of his set. The above picture was taken by my sister on her iPhone from one of the large screens. I think Ed looks *very* good, presumably because of his hair cut (I always think guys look super cute after a hair cut.)

Ed finished about 8, leaving us half an hour to wait for Taylor. We dressed for the occasion in red with Keds and the rest of the audience did too. I think the only people not in red were the security people. There were also loads of light up songs (I admire the ingenuity of the people who had "ED" signs and then needed to only add an "R" when Taylor appeared.) Though this could have been dull, it was not for the screens promoted her various commercial ventures like Keds and her perfumes (not a fan of the Taylor one btw and my dad agreed that it smelled horrible; haven't tried Enchanted or Wonderstruck) as well as some random things like trivia and that great a capella version of "I Knew You Were Trouble" until the sound on the screens was interrupted by Icona Pop's (uncensored) "I Love It" followed by Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" and then the show really started.

The anticipation builds as the music plays until finally Taylor makes her entrance with "State of Grace." If you read my album review, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of this song but it does seem to have been written to open the show so I appreciated it in that context. She had an introduction speech talking about how thrilled she was to see us and how much she loves San Diego before going smoothly into "Holy Ground" which features some inspired drumming. Next up was, to my opinion, an extremely long speech about color and how one particular color runs through the whole show. The next song was of course "Red."

This led to the first outfit change (keeping in mind that all of her outfits have red with some touches of white and/or black) and "You Belong With Me"-I loved her glitter here as well as the gloves (why don't women wear gloves more? I only wear them to keep my hands warm but I'd love to wear an elegant pair and pretend I was Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn.)

One more costume change covered by a video introduction to "The Lucky One" which seems taylor-made (haha) for a story to accompany the song. My sister said the video reminded her of Britney's (fabulous-my comment) "Lucky" and I cannot disagree with that. Then another little speech, this time about bullies and basically how you will never be able to escape them, launching us into "Mean" which yes, Taylor still performs with a banjo. Now some early stops got "Stay, Stay, Stay/Ho Hey" but San Diego did not, to my disappointment (I highly recommend you search this out, especially because she gives a great introduction.) So our next song was actually "22" and this is where she left the main stage for a smaller stage closer to the cheap seats, allowing more people to see her up close. Before that though, we saw clips of Taylor going from birth up to now (please note that she is 23 now!)

Her first song on the small stage is a "secret" song. I had been hoping for "Starlight" after seeing one playlist but since we were nearing back to school time, she went with "Fifteen." I love Taylor but "Fifteen" is my second-least favorite song of hers so I sat kind of bored. Let's go back to "Starlight": I was singing a lyric in the first verse as "I'm a Barbie on the boardwalk" but my sister corrected me that it's actually "I met Bobby on the boardwalk." This makes so much more sense:
1. Referencing Barbie would be anachronistic
2. It would also just kind of be a random thing to say, eh?
3. This brings in the guy and explains their conversation throughout the song, really setting the stage

Now back to the show and her lovely duet with Ed, "Everything Has Changed." I think I like it more live than I do in the studio so that's definitely another one to check out. The quieter more contemplative mood continues with "Begin Again" and while all this is happening, the stage has been spinning the whole time, allowing her to face the entire arena. Then she switches out guitars with a perfectly strummy one to begin "Sparks Fly" before flying over the audience to return to the main stage.

Another costume change for "I Knew You Were Trouble," beginning in a big white dress before it's ripped off to show a tighter black number (very similar staging to her AMAs performance, which my sister and I were fortunate enough to see last November). Then we get "All Too Well," which is definitely one of my favorite songs and was my favorite part of the show. She spoke about the process of writing it, how she gets some of her best writing done between 2 and 4 in the morning, and how she remembered the relationship upon which this is based all too well. In my opinion, this was the real showstopper and I was just in awe.

Taylor when she sits at the piano during tour de force "All Too Well"

After that, it's a quick jaunt through "Love Story" in a white dress with one of her dancers hilariously overacting as Romeo, another costume change for "Treacherous" with part of the stage lifting her up and down in what could be deemed a treacherous way, and concert closer "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" as a circus. I admit I would have loved for her to do the speaking part like she did at the Grammys, to say something like "Sorry but I'm performing for a sold out show in San Diego" but she just did it as on the CD.

Overall it was an amazing experience and I'm so glad I trekked out there to see her. One of my qualms had been her pitch problems, which I had heard before but I didn't notice anything egregious during this concert. Taylor seemed made to perform on stage as she loved our adoration and accepted it graciously.

Lastly is another little complaint, which is that our seats were on the opposite side of where we parked. No problem, we'll just walk around through that shortcut, right? Except that Taylor's many trucks were blocking and security would not let us cut through. A bit of a downer on what was otherwise a fantastic night.

Oh, and souvenirs? But of course! My sister and both got the below shirt, which also has the tour dates on the back :) And is currently available for purchase online along with loads of other merchandise. I am hopeful that Taylor will release another CD/DVD like she did for her "Speak Now" tour because I definitely want to own that!

One really cool thing was that I got an email the next day with a little "thank you" note-not sure if it's because I preordered tickets with a special code or just that my address is local but it was a nice touch and I'm not sure anyone else would do that.

So that's my experience. This ended up being super long so thank you very much if you made it to the end (almost 1500 words, yes I checked). Is there anything I didn't touch on that is a lingering question for you?

Taylor Swift's Red: A Review

Ready for another long post? Here's my review of Taylor Swift's new album "Red." I do have a request for you; if you find it helpful, would you give me a yes vote on Amazon? The link's here if you're able.

I wanted to start by listing my biases going into this album.
a. I was a little late to the Taylor Swift party, getting her first album for Christmas 2007 and falling super hard for "Love Story" the next year. Then I have continued to follow her career and her life. We're about the same age and I have a deep fondness for the girl.
b. When listening to music, I tend to prefer short, fast songs, which made Speak Now a bit of a trial since there were several songs over 5 minutes long.
c. I also tend to focus on lyrics rather than music or vocal performance. I'll be sharing some of my favorite lines below.
d. I LOVE pop music-Max Martin is a genius to me so I figured I would really enjoy those elements on this album
e. My top 5 most played Taylor songs (so far) are: "Love Story," "Sparks Fly," "You Belong With Me," "Ours," and "Our Song."

1. State of Grace: I'm not saying this is a full-on rock song but I have seen critics classify it as in the rock genre. Although there might be rock enthusiasts who will say it's not rock, I found it to be too much for my poppish sensibilities. So the album didn't open strong to me...plus it's soooo long.

2. Red: Much more to my taste; I love the idea of these colors punctuating the moments of their relationship although I wish there had been more than three colors mentioned (just red, blue, and dark gray). I also really love the repeating r-r-r-r-red and the way the music moves during the third chorus (I do not have the vocabulary to describe it properly).

3. Treacherous: Although this is a slower song, I actually really like this one. It seems a bit more adult for Taylor ("I'll do anything you say if you say it with your hands") and I really like the percussive elements.

4. I Knew You Were Trouble.: This was my favorite song of the five that were released early. It's fast, catchy, and I love the light dubstep influences.

5. All Too Well: A slow 5 min+ song sounds like one I'd hate but this one is another winner for me. All the details that paint a beautiful picture to my word-loving brain. It's so pretty and it also satisfies my gossipy side (this is totally about Jake, right? I mean, maple lattes!) I want to share a few lines too:
"You tell me about your past, thinking your future was me"
"And maybe we got lost in translation/Maybe I asked for too much/But maybe this thing was a masterpiece/Til you tore it all up"
"So casually cruel in the name of being honest"
"But you keep my old scarf from that very first week/Cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me"

6. 22: I'm just about the same age as Taylor and am happy to dance to this song until we turn 23 and then I'll be bitter that she didn't release this earlier. The very beginning makes me think of Pink's "Raise Your Glass."

7. I Almost Do: This is another slower song and it's not that I don't like it but after "Treacherous" and "All Too Well," it doesn't stand out enough for me.

8. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: I am of two minds about this song. On the one hand, it sounds very high school and no way do I ever want to go back to that time but on the other hand, it's so dang catchy and fun! I easily memorized all the lyrics and love to dance to it.

9. Stay Stay Stay: This reminds me of "Ours" except a bit more upbeat so it's no surprise that I loved this one especially due to the image of the boy in the football helmet.

10. The Last Time: A duet with Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol, a band I'm not familiar with (they don't sing pop do they?) It's a great song and very pretty. I feel that it fits well in Swift's oeuvre.

11. Holy Ground: I don't have much to say about this song; I don't hate it but it's not a standout to me. It is quite catchy as I realized I was singing it to myself during my lunch break.

12. Sad Beautiful Tragic: My least favorite offering on this CD-it's long, slow, and reminds me of my least favorite parts of the album Speak Now. I do really like the line "And you've got your demons and darling they all look like me."

13. The Lucky One: Another song that left me cold. Perhaps better for Joni Mitchell fans? I also bristle at Taylor telling her she's the lucky one; I think she knows!

14. Everything Has Changed: I'm going to steal from my sister since she doesn't follow my online activity: "It is too perfect." I checked out Ed Sheeran's music after hearing that Taylor had tweeted about writing with him and I liked it a lot. If you're a fan of him, you'll probably like this song.

15. Starlight: The lyric message on this song is "For Ethel" which immediately brings to mind the Kennedys and Taylor's whole thing with that kid, which is just so weird. If I were always able to separate her life from her music, I would love this song because it's so danceable.

16. Begin Again: I like the hopefulness but something about the line "And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid" doesn't work for me. The rest of the song is great though.

 After "Ours," "If This Was a Moment," and "Superman" were hits for me, I had to make sure to get the deluxe version again hoping for three more winners (I'm ignoring the two demos and acoustic version). This time though, well, two out of three ain't bad.

17. The Moment I Knew: This is one of my fave slow songs from Taylor ever. It actually reminds me of the OC New Year's Eve episode-does anyone remember that show? Of course, there Ryan does show up to kiss Marissa while here the guy never shows leaving Taylor to cry in a beautiful song for us even if it's emotionally draining to her.

18. Come Back...Be Here: It would be too personal to share the main reason I love this song but love it I do. I love everything but especially the music and lyric at "New York...be here/But you're in...London/And I break down,/Cause it's not fair that you're not around." This occurs about a minute from the end and I keep repeating it over and over again.

19. Girl At Home: Although ostensibly against cheating, this line gave me pause: "And yeah I might go with it,/If I hadn't once been just like her." It sounds like she's only anti-cheating because she's been cheated on-that is not good girl code. But even though this song is short and catchy, it's really repetitive and I find it a bit boring.

Cover: One last thing to mention-I saw another reviewer pan the cover and I kind of agree. Fearless and Speak Now were gorgeous covers but this one is very meh to me.

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading! Did you get this album? What songs do you like?