Taylor Swift Liverpool: I went to the first Eras Tour gig at Anfield and here’s what every fan should know

I went to Taylor Swift’s first concert at Anfield - the 100th show of her Eras Tour - on Thursday evening and, long story short, I had The Best Day. Prior to the gig, I was a little worried about traffic, queues, the toilet situation and what food would be available, so here is everything I learned from night one of her three Liverpool shows.

We set off from Toxteth at 3.30pm preparing to be stuck in traffic for an hour, but we actually made it to the stadium by 4.00pm. Getting dropped off just down the road from Homebaked, we put our ponchos on and headed to the Stanley Park entrance. While it was busy outside, we actually only queued for ten minutes to get inside and the stewards were so kind and helpful.

Once inside, we headed to the toilets - which had next to no queues - before going to the bar to grab some food and drinks. We were very happy to find that the veggie hot dogs were vegan friendly, and ordered two vegan ones, two normal ones, a bottle of water, a diet coke, a fruit juice and two San Miguels which came to around £50. Honestly, while that’s not cheap, it wasn’t as bad as we thought and the hot dogs were huge.

Our seats were in the Kenny Dalglish stand and we were sat down by 5.15pm, after eating our food near the bar. The stadium was pretty quiet around this time - other than the standing area which was packed. Paramore came on after 6.30pm - later than expected - and the seats still weren’t filled. As Paramore fans, we were absolutely buzzing with their performance but disappointed that our setlist didn’t include That’s What You Get or Brick by Boring Brick.

We decided to run to the toilet after their set and there were more queues than earlier but it wasn’t too bad, with most women using the men’s toilets too. Hearing the Lady Gaga song that is played before Taylor arrives on stage, we ran back to our seats just as a two-minute timer appeared on the screen.

Kicking off with Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, I don’t think I can put into words just how great of a performer Taylor is. Every song seamlessly transitioned into the next and she performed for around three and a half hours with no more than a couple of minutes’ break. Each and every Era was stunning, with beautiful outfits, incredible dancers and truly astounding stage design. It was everything I thought it would be and more.

Talking to the crowds, Taylor said: “This is my very first time getting to play a show in Liverpool and I'm so excited. What you have already done here is crazy because it's been raining all day, you have braved the rain, you came here ready, draped yourself in plastic, you've been standing here, you've been ready for the show.”

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While fans had been speculating that Swift would bring out special guests, no famous faces arrived on stage. However, she did pay tribute to just how friendly Liverpool is, noting that it’s true what they say about us. During her Red set, she discussed her 100th show, stating it ‘absolutely blows my mind’, and later announced that we were Anfield’s biggest ever crowd.

Ahead of her four surprise songs, Swift told the crowd: "Last time I was in Liverpool, I was shooting a music video." Of course, we all knew what was coming and were thrilled to hear I Can See You. But, what we weren’t expecting was for the song to be a mash-up with Mine - one of my all time favourite songs. The surprises just kept getting better too, with Cornelia Street fading into Maroon. I honestly think we got the best surprise songs, I would’ve loved to hear The Outside too though!

The gig ended with Karma at just after 11.00pm and we quickly got up out of our seats in a bid to get out of the stadium before the crowds formed. While we made our way out of the building fairly quickly, it was getting out of the surrounding area that was the biggest issue with huge crowds and people pushing. We got picked up near the opposite side of Stanley Park and I think it took us about 25 minutes to walk there - usually it would be around five. The traffic surprisingly wasn’t too bad though and we made it home in good time, still absolutely buzzing from the show.

If you’re heading to the Eras Tour, my biggest piece of advice would be not to stress too much over queues as we were so prepared for chaos and it was genuinely fine. The longest queues you’ll face will probably be fifteen minutes for a drink but there are so many toilets around that even a loo break is fine. Definitely bring a poncho and make sure you head to the correct turnstile on your ticket. Unless you’re standing, I also don’t think there is any need at all to arrive too early, arrive between 4.00pm and 4.30pm and I don’t think you’ll be waiting too long.

And, the final thing to mention is just how friendly Swifties are. I arrived with no friendship bracelets and left with several, with many kind people offering to share theirs. My niece definitely bagged the most as people couldn’t help but chat to her in her ‘Little Swifite’ t-shirt and heart-shaped glasses.

Taylor Swift Eras Tour at Anfield set list (June 13)

Paramore

• Hard Times (Extended intro; with snippet of "Heart of Glass" by Blondie)
• Burning Down the House (Talking Heads cover)
• Still Into You
• Forgiveness
• Rose-Colored Boy(with snippet of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston)
• The Only Exception
• Misery Business
• Ain't It Fun
• This Is Why

Taylor Swift

Lover

• Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince
• Cruel Summer
• The Man
• You Need to Calm Down
• Lover

Fearless

• Fearless
• You Belong With Me
• Love Story

Red

• Red - Intro
• 22
• We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
• I Knew You Were Trouble
• All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

Speak Now

• Speak Now - Intro
• Enchanted

reputation

• ...Ready for It?
• Delicate
• Don't Blame Me
• Look What You Made Me Do

folklore / evermore

• cardigan
• betty
• champagne problems
• august
• illicit affairs
• my tears ricochet
• marjorie
• willow

1989

• Style
• Blank Space
• Shake It Off
• Wildest Dreams
• Bad Blood

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

• Female Rage: The Musical (contains elements of "MBOBHFT", "WAOLOM", "loml", "So Long, London" and "BDILM")
• But Daddy I Love Him/So High School
• Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?
• Down Bad
• Fortnight
• The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
• I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

• I Can See You/Mine
• Cornelia Street/Maroon

• Lavender Haze
• Anti‐Hero
• Midnight Rain
• Vigilante Shit
• Bejeweled
• Mastermind
• Karma