The red guitar, not to mention those red "crazy emotions," took center stage at Taylor Swift's concert Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium. (Steve Hamm/Special Contributor )
ARLINGTON – Dorothy would have killed for Taylor Swift’s glittery red shoes. She’d go for the sparkling red guitar, too. And the red microphone, the red nail polish, the red dresses and the red elbow-length gloves.
There’s nothing subtle about Swift, especially when she’s onstage before a gargantuan crowd of 55,000, a number she kept trumping during her show Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium. Her current tour supports her latest multi-million selling album Red, so the color of crimson was in abundance on the platform, in the audience and naturally on Swift. “In my mind the crazy emotions are red,” Swift said about the inspiration for her newest batch of songs. By the time her two-hour performance was done, the Pennsylvania-born singer-songwriter had delivered a dozen tracks from Red.
Released last October, Red is without a doubt Swift’s most adult album. She embraced pop completely, eschewing what little country music sensibilities she had, and crafted melodies and lyrics that transcended her usually self-absorbed world of high profile relationships. Well, that’s with the exception of the snotty-awful “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which served as the bombastic finale of the concert.
Red, red and more red...Taylor Swift isn't subtle. (Steve Hamm/Special Contributor )
Swift was at her best during the opener “State of Grace,” with its transatlantic pop sound, the craftily catchy “22″ (although did we really need the year-by-year home movies?), the quirky fun “Stay Stay Stay,” the wistfully lovely “Begin Again,” which she performed on a smaller stage at the other end of the stadium, and the resplendent “All Too Well.” I also enjoyed “Everything Has Changed,” the duet with pal and opening act Ed Sheeran. Sheeran sported a Texas Rangers T-shirt when he climbed up onto the revolving platform with acoustic guitar in hand.
By now, with three mammoth tours in her arsenal of accomplishments, Swift is a natural before throngs of admirers. She’s calculated in the most warm, sweet-girl-across-the-street manner. It’s always all about Taylor, but she lets the fans inside her universe. They can pull up a chair, have some tea, engage in casual conversation. “I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting my songs be the soundtrack to your crazy emotions,” she said.
Every word of that is true. Swift speaks for a generation of tweens, teens and 20-somethings. Parents embrace her because her image remains tastefully PG. During “I Knew You Were Trouble,” with the bass blasting from the Cowboys Stadium sound system, she went from a gold-and-white ball gown to a vampy black halter-top and shorts ensemble complete with knee-high black boots. It was form-fitting for sure but everything was well covered.
That song’s a sign of the maturing Swift. It also underscored how paltry some of her older material can be. “Mean,” for all its anti-bullying connotation, is actually too wispy to ever take on any real heft. Similarly “Sparks Fly” is completely inconsequential; it’s total pop drivel. Both numbers come from 2010′s Speak Now, the worst of Swift’s albums. She was better off sticking to the Red repertoire. The dramatic “Treacherous” found her walking a levitated crane tightrope-style that hung over the crowd inside the semi-circle catwalk extending from the main stage. The song and her performance were both memorable.
Clearly red is Swift’s color. Dorothy would be proud.
Taylor Swift fans at Cowboys Stadium hollered their approval during her every move. (Steve Hamm/Special Contributor )
Photos: Taylor Swift’s wild night at Cowboys Stadium; fans, hair go bonkers