 "Photo: Alexandra D'Aluisio, The Setonian")
After a six-month, 63-city North American run, Taylor Swift's 2011 Speak Now Tour came to a close last week to a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
As the lights dimmed at the famous Garden, a sea of light up posters shone through the darkness. Taylor played hits from her previous three albums, and the country-crooner constantly reminded the audience that she couldn't have chosen a better place to end her tour.
The parents who, whether they'd admit it or not, were also discretely singing along to the extremely catchy tunes, seemed impressed by her grand stage designs featuring trapeze artists, numerous set changes, pyrotechnics, and of course, many sparkles.
The show ran incredibly smoothly, even at times where things could have gone wrong. Before singing one of her first singles, "Our Song"in front of a barn-like backdrop, Taylor was flung up from underneath the stage via what seemed to be an invisible trampoline to make a surprise entrance. Taylor has been quoted saying that she constantly thinks about not breaking her leg during the stunt, which, thankfully, did not happen.
With celebrities like Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield and Justin Bieber spotted discretely watching from the audience, it was no surprise when Taylor announced that she had a surprise guest, her best friend Selena Gomez, who then came out and joined her onstage for their first ever performance together of Gomez's hit "Who Says." The volume in the arena hit a new decibel as thousands of the mostly teenage girl audience became enthralled by their two idols on stage.
Just when the crowd thought their night couldn't get better, Taylor introduced the man whom she was named after, James Taylor, to join her onstage for another duet. It was clear that everyone, especially the older members of the audience, were in awe of the iconic singer who was suddenly on stage singing "Fire and Rain," moving many to tears. One woman in the audience was heard saying, "this is the best night of my life," which was, presumably, the general consensus as people slowly trickled out of The Garden as the show and the tour came to a close.
Alexandra D'Aluisio can be reached at alexandra.daluisio@student.shu.edu.
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