17 May 2020 (gig)
18 May 2020
Taylor Swift impresses during the all too short City of Lover concert special.
Much to the devastation of Swifties around the world, the coronavirus put pay to the American’s 2020 tour along with the rest of the live music scene. Fortunately, a taste of the live Lover experience lives on in the form of footage recorded in Paris just after the name sake album’s release.
Filmed at L’Olympia Bruno Coquatrix in Paris, the show has been cut and crammed into 40 minutes. First for American television and then for streaming services Disney+ and Hulu.
The special opens with the joyously cheesy ‘ME!’, With Swift confidently strutting onto the stage. ‘The Archer’ soon follows and sets the tone while showcasing its artist on the top of her game.
The synth driven track details a lover desperate to ensure her relationship stays on the tracks, and fearful that she might be the cause of its destruction. The song, prods, probes and questions its storyteller.
Proceedings quickly shift as the piano is wheeled on and the viewer is treated to a mini acoustic set. With stripped back versions of, ‘The Man’, 'Cornelia Street', and ‘Daylight’ the 30-year-old not only shows off a strong vocal performance but engaging immersive lyricism to boot.
‘Daylight’ stands out particularly in this vein as it appears to take the listener on a vivid journey of, low points, cynicism, before achieving the cleansing feeling of true love and happiness.
The concert is an appetizing morsel of what the Lover tour could have been, but the night’s festivities were cut far too short. Whether because of TV time constraints or possible contractual restrictions placed upon the star by her former record label, the back catalog is noticeably absent from the program's edit.
According to the website Setlist fm, home viewers missed out on crowd-pleasers like, ‘Style’ ‘Shake It off’, ‘Blank Space’ and most egregiously beloved fan favourite ‘All Too Well’.
The broadcast sees Taylor Swift on good form as both a performer and a lyricist. Unfortunately, at just over 40 minutes, streamers are left out a potentially great moments.
