Sparks fly as Taylor Swift dazzles Denver in sold-out concert at Empower Field Friday night

By Kyla Pearce July 14, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

“It’s an honor and a privilege to say to you … Denver, Colorado, welcome to the Eras Tour,” Taylor Swift said Friday to a sold-out crowd of about 70,000 fans at Empower Field at Mile High.

Swift brought Mile High energy to the Mile High City Friday, dazzling a screaming crowd of “Swifties” dressed to the nines with her billowy dresses, scream-sing-able lyrics and elaborate

The roar of the crowd was barely overpowered by the sound of Swift’s intro, a fluid compilation of her songs across eras, as dancers toting huge, peacock-like costumes moved down the stage through the floor crowd.

As the music built, so did the stadium’s anticipation. The dull roar erupted into screams and cheers when the megastar appeared on stage, glittering in a rhinestone bodysuit for her first song “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.”

“It’s been a long time coming, but …”

It’s been a long time coming since Swift’s last appearance on her Reputation stadium tour in 2018 — and the pent-up energy showed.

“Hi Denver, we’re sparkling!” Swift said, pointing in the crowd, herself, then the crowd in shock. “Denver Colorado, you’re making me feel extraordinary right now.”

The audience of fans in sparkly attire, who waited five years and went to great lengths to get their hands on tickets, went nuts for the following three hours of the show, screaming along to every lyric word-for-word and dancing their hearts out.

Swift’s setlist is broken into 10 “acts,” or sets of songs from each album, or “era.” Each new song came with a new outfit change, taking the fans on a visual journey representative of Taylor’s musical career.

In the crowd, coordinated light-up bracelets made shapes, with hearts and waves of light rippling across the stadium.

Andre’a Arnold of Denver called herself a “mom by Swiftie,” originally getting into Swift’s music through her daughter, Penelope Arnold, 27 — a Swfitie for about 13 years.

The family came to the concert with three generations of Arnold women, all of whom have found ways to connect with Swift’s music and shows.

“Where else do you get to go and see a community that is literally just taking care of each other,” Andre’a said.

Penelope loves Swift because the artist has written a song for everything, she said.

“It’s every breakup song, every ‘I hate boys song,’ every ‘oh shoot I failed my chemistry exam and I really need to get over this’ song,” Penelope said. “There’s a song for everything you’re feeling.”

Kaiya Rimel, 12, from Edward, attended her first concert Friday, toting wrists full of friendship bracelets and an excited smile.

Rimel loves Swift’s music and how she treats her fans.

“She’s really nice to her fans,” Rimel said. “She stands up for people and I think it’s so cool how she’s grown from starting in high school to being really such a cool superstar.”

Taylor Swift performs during the first of two shows at Empower Field at Mile High for The Eras Tour on Friday, July 14, 2023, in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)