Taylor Swift at Rogers Centre – June 15, 2013

Red is what it’s all about. When Taylor Swift took centre stage at the fully-packed Rogers Centre in Toronto on Saturday, her fans stood in a red sea of smiles, dancing, emotion, laughter and fun.

Confident as ever, Swift brought the highly acclaimed “Red Tour” right to her Canadian fans. Yes, confidence was key here as she showed intense yet elegant stage presence and hit every note of her songs. The spectacle included some very elaborate wardrobe and set changes. This was highly effective as it kept the entire show fresh and gave each song its own vibe. The show involved many other extra crew such as the awesome drummers, flag dancers, clowns and fireworks (red of course). The venue setup featured two pits for her most die-hard fans to stand along-side the 23-year old icon. I for one thought her team made excellent use of Rogers Centre and the constant changing of pace really did keep the show at top-notch entertainment. Again this pre-mid-twenty girl is headlining one of Canada’s largest venues, which has been sold-out by legends such as U2, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters.

Photographing Swift was a little crazy as all of the accredited media were put into the pit just left of the main stage with all of her most adrenaline-fueled fans. Trying to take an exceptional photo while avoiding all of the glittered waving hands and signs was tricky yet fun as I could really see how much these people loved her. We were allowed to photograph her during “Holy Ground” and “Red”. In the first song, Swift was sprinting spontaneously around the stage and onto the narrow bridges bringing her even closer to the crowd. She picked up her sparkling red guitar for the feature song “Red” and hair-rocked out with it while working her charm on with everyone holding a camera. She is incredibly photogenic I must say.

Swift was excellent at interacting with the crowd and genuinely appreciates her fans as they do her. One of the unique aspects of the show feature Swift narrating to the crowd about her obsession with the color red. Swift reveals that red has a signifiant meaning to her as it is the color of various emotions such as great love and deep anger.

The Red Tour is the result of Swift’s top selling album of the same name last October. While Red is primarily a pop album at its core, Swift did satisfy her long-time fans with some of her original country-esq songs. Many call this her most adult/mature/grown-up album of her career. While I’m not going against these claims, the performance definitely emerged from a long evolution of her experiences musically and emotionally. Despite all of the negatively some critics place on Swift, it is evident that she pushes them away as she fully connects with her loyal fans during live performances. Expect to see and hear a lot more from this musically gifted star for many years to come.