Late Night With Taylor Swift: Rainy Nashville Show Ends After 1:30 AM – Variety

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Many fans looked even more excited after being held in the stadium yards for several hours, and after it rained — on the crowd and Swift alike — the final two-thirds of the epic late-night concert.

Taylor Swift’s latest single “Midnight Rain” lived up to its name when it was performed Sunday night at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, except it was actually after 1 a.m. local time when it finally made it to the set list. The final show of Three Nights in Her Hometown was pushed back hours from its scheduled start time due to lightning strikes near the downtown area; Once it finally started after 10 p.m., the second half of the three-and-a-half-hour set featured a steady downpour, hitting Swift just as hard as the crowd at the roofless venue, before finally showing up after 1:35 a.m.

The general mood of the crowd in that hilarious first hour: delirium. (Except for the small minority of fans who gave up and went home before the show even started.)

“It’s officially a rain show,” Swift told the crowd of 70,000, when the long-threatening rain finally arrived halfway through “Delicate,” the 16th issue of a 45-song show that would go down in legend as “Late Night.” With Taylor Swift.

Later, as it hasn’t stopped raining, during the “red” part of the show, she says, “This is something we all do together. It’s like a bonding experience. We’re all going to leave here tonight like we just went through five car washes… People are going to be like , “Where were you? several wars? And you’re like, “No, I just went to the IRAs tour.” decent.'”

As 1 a.m. ticked away, Swift kicked off the penultimate “surprise songs” segment of the show, where she was joined by special guest, co-writer and co-producer on her last three albums, Aaron Dessner of The National, to play second guitar on “Midnights.” The extra “could have been, should have been, should have been.” Taking the long walk from the main stage to Stage B in the middle of the stadium, Dessner quickly looked waterlogged.

“You’ve been through a lot tonight,” she told the crowd. “We all look like we were sprayed with a garden hose. We all look like river otters.” Of Dessner, she added, “He was warned about the rain and accepted the challenge anyway. Don’t worry about us, we talked about this. We knew this was a possibility. Your hair will soon be looking as good as mine.”

Dessner was ready for the memorable occasion. “I was lucky to see other shows on this tour, but in the rain it’s even better,” he said.

The show was scheduled to start at 6:30 pm, as it did at every other stop on the tour, with two opening performances preceding Swift’s set usually lasting from about 7:50 until about 11:15. On Nashville Sunday, though, the show was about an hour away from starting when advertisements appeared on the big screens and on social media warning attendees to take cover in the venue halls, or to stay in their cars if they hadn’t gone inside yet. This warning remained in effect from about 5:30 until about 9:45, at which point the lightning left the area—for the time being—and fans were told they must finally take their seats, resulting in a traffic jam through the stadium entrances. By then, some exhausted families with younger children had already taken their leave.

The “Rain Shows” are actually well remembered and appreciated among some fans who’ve seen them on outdoor courts before, so wet spirits weren’t much of a problem among those who made it through the marathon waiting for the show. Finally the opening acts started around 10:10 p.m. Where Phoebe Bridgers and Gracie Abrams had long bumped off the bill was, not surprisingly, with Swift’s collection, which averaged about 220 minutes.

The sight of Swift with a wet head isn’t uncommon (some past tours have ended with her either standing in a waterfall or strolling with her dancers in a fountain), but the length and extent she’s been outside in the pouring rain alongside cheerleaders may be unprecedented in her touring career. The singer made a point when she wrapped things up at 1:37 a.m. to ask the audience to “make some noise for my awesome dancers who danced in the rain all night. … The fact that you stayed with us, that you gave us everything you had — we love you so much, Nashville. It won’t.” We will never forget this night.”

Lightning returned to the surrounding area before Swift’s show ended, as fan photos and videos showed the sky lighting up in the distance around midnight, but the show didn’t stop after it started. Although fans have wondered if curfews or fines might cause the Swift group to ramp up, Nissan Stadium is owned by the city and is said to not be subject to the restrictions that might affect other venues – especially when unleashing 70,000 furious Swifties into the wild is a possibility.