Taylor Swift RED Tour sweeps the East Coast

April 8, 2013
Filed under Entertainment, Music

by ANDREA FRENCH
Section Editor

Taylor Swift is taking over the East Coast on her RED Album Tour for the next couple of months. She is accompanied by the popular singer Ed Sheeran, who is also featured on her album.

Swift and Sheeran started this RED tour in the beginning of February 2013, and will be traveling the country singing until about September.

I was fortunate enough to see this fabulous duo in concert at the Prudential Center on March 28, 2013. The only word I have to say is ‘wow.’ Going into this concert, I knew that people used to say that she was not a great performer and that she was not as good at singing live, but overall I thought she was spectacular.

The Prudential Center was flooded with boys and girls, mainly girls, dressed in mostly red attire because of the RED Tour. Rumors had been floating around that the people with the most outrageous or creative outfits are able to meet with Swift after the concert in a meet-and-greet referred to as the ‘Tea Party’ or now the ‘Red Club’.

“When we were leaving the concert, I saw a group of girls covered in Christmas tree lights, and holding life sized cut outs of Taylor Swift. They were telling us about how Taylor’s mom, Andrea, found them in the crowd and invited them to the Tea Party at the end,” says an anonymous source.

Other than the attire of the screaming fans, the tour was absolutely mesmerizing. Sheeran may have been one of the best performers I have ever seen in concert. He knew that the fans were all there for Swift more than himself; therefore, they would not know as many of his songs.

Instead of singing for his entire opening act, he would sing a verse to the crowd and ask us to repeat it. Later in the show, he would call on us to repeat this verse back. It was so extremely entertaining where any fan, not just a Sheeran fan, could have a good time.

When Swift finally came out, we all knew it was going to be in a big way. The crowd screamed louder than anyone thought was possible, and the look of sheer awe on her face was priceless. Just like Sheeran, Swift did a good amount of talking to the crowd instead of solely singing songs for the heck of it.

Everyone knew they were coming to a Swift and Sheeran concert, but Swift did have a few tricks up her sleeve. The opening act for Sheeran turned out to be the popular country group Florida Georgia Ride. They sang maybe three songs and the crowd absolutely loved them.

Keep in mind, I attended this concert on the second day out of the three days she spent in Newark. About mid-way through the concert and in between two songs, Swift talked to the crazed Newark crowd as if we have been friends forever. She mentioned that previous night’s crowd of fans was ridiculously awesome and that tonight she wanted to, in a way, ‘reward’ us for being such a great crowd.

Next thing I know, the lead singer for Neon Trees, Tyler Glenn, comes running out on stage and sings his popular song “Everybody Talks” with Swift! Everyone was going crazy and it really was a party.  I heard the next night, the lead singer of the group Train, Patrick Monahan, was there!

“She put on a spectacular performance that showed her bubbly, modes, and true talent! I would love to go to another one of her shows! Not only that but her headliners and surprise guest (Lead singer of Train) were just so fantastic! Overall it was a great show,” says freshman Gina Giudice.