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Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content RATING: **** out of four The Swifties were more than ready for it as Taylor Swift kicked off two sold-out nights at Rogers Centre this weekend. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Concert review: Taylor Swift's Reputation tour in Toronto one of the year's best shows Back to video The Grammy-winning singer’s Reputation Stadium tour had everything, including snakes (some of them inflated to the size of a small building), girl power (thanks to her fabulous backing singers and openers Charlie XCX and Camila Cabello), fireworks, a fountain (yes, a fountain), gigantic screens, stage balloons, a seesaw, a throne, pyro and confetti. Lots of confetti. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Like all the great artists that have come before her, Swift has demonstrated she’s not just going to repeat herself. So everything here was bigger, better, bolder and yet more intimate. She worked hard to convey a feeling that even though there was 50,000 people in the building, she wanted to forge a connection with the person in the very last row. There have been plenty of stadium shows that have come through Toronto already this year, but this was a redefinition of that that experience can — and should — be. It was a wild extravaganza built around great music and it was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in 2018. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The theme of the show, particularly owing to the repeated use of snakes, also addressed Swift’s attempt on Reputation to reconcile her private life and public persona. “You definitely see the ups and downs that I’ve gone through,” she remarked during one of the several instances she broke from the song and dance to really connect with the audience. Swift has been playing stadiums in Toronto since her 2013 tour behind Red, but as she told the crowd this is her first full stadium tour. She also reminded fans that Friday night was her 10th time playing in the city. “We’re now into double digits.” Leaning heavily on last year’s Reputation LP (her sixth), and coming on to the stage to the sounds of Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation, Swift’s 19-song set list covered a musical career that’s seen her go from country wunderkind to pop princess. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Starting with a splashy bang of …Ready for It? and I Did Something Bad, she segued into a medley that included Gorgeous, Style and two of her deeper cuts, 2008’s Love Story and You Belong With Me. There was a funny cameo from Tiffany Haddish, appearing onscreen to to advise fans the Old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now (“Because she’s dead!”) before she launched into a glitzy, over-the-top rendition of Look What You Made Me Do. Big reputation, big reputation. Ooh you and me we got big reputations... #taylorswift #reputationstadiumtour #swiftie #livemusic #toronto #girlcrush A post shared by Elizabeth Daniell (@e.karpowicz) on Aug 3, 2018 at 8:27pm PDT Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content But the real highlight came partway through the show. After a fun-filled rendition of Shake It Off, accompanied by Charlie XCX and Camila Cabello on a side stage in the middle of the crowd, Swift stood with just her acoustic guitar and recounted how people tried to steer her away from shifting genres as she started to transition her sound on Red and then 2014’s 1989. People wouldn’t understand it, she said. “I remember saying, ‘I think (my fans) are like me’… so because of you, I’ve been able to play around.” She then reimagined two of her more heavily produced songs — Dancing With Our Hands Tied and Out of the Woods — by herself and proved that she has one of the best voices in modern music. It actually left me thinking that she she should do an entire solo acoustic tour. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Running through the crowd, she moved over to another side stage where she played Blank Space and Dress before a serpent contraption whisked her back to the main stage as she sang a blistering version of Bad Blood that featured her dancers suspended in mid-air. Plunking herself in front of a piano, Swift made one of the night’s strongest connections as she drew a line between herself and her fans before playing a medley of Long Live and Reputation’s closing track New Year’s Day. “I understand how time works. I understand calendars. I understand people get older… Over the years, I’ve gotten to see people go through the phases of their lives… but it’s a pretty public life that I’ve got going on, so you’ve definitely seen ups and downs I’ve gone through and yet, here we are in this stadium all singing together and it makes me feel so, so… supported.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Ending the concert there would have provided a nice emotional coda, but this tour is all about partying and having fun. Desert scenery breezed by during a closing run of runes that kicked off with Getaway Car. Then on Call It What You Want and the show closers We Are Never Getting Back Together and This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Swift and her dancers frolicked around a fountain while images of a Gatsby-like mansion were projected on the screen and fireworks blazed off the side of the stage. .@taylorswift13 was outstanding tonight. The #repTourToronto was big, bold, over the top and heaps of fun. There was great musicality, great visuals... great everything. pic.twitter.com/otY5ZLjroh — Mark Daniell (@markhdaniell) August 4, 2018 Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content It was opulent and a fitting end to such an extravagant stage production. The show ended — no encore — with the words “And in the death of her reputation, she felt truly alive” emblazoned on the screen. It was again a reminder of how Swift used Reputation to reconcile her public image. But now, the only reputation she has to worry about is being one of the best live acts playing today. I can’t wait to see what she does next. Twitter: @markhdaniell mdaniell@postmedia.com We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Toronto Sun Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Toronto SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of The Toronto Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again Trending<doc-sep>Taylor Swift performed “one of my favorite songs ever written,” Bryan Adams‘ “Summer of ’69,” with help from the Canadian rocker during Swift’s Reputation Tour stop Saturday in Toronto. After proclaiming her love for the 1984 hit, Swift delivered a solo rendition of the song’s first verse before the Ontario-born Adams arose unannounced on the stage’s lift. The two singers then combined for a spirited take on the single that featured an extended outro where Adams and Swift traded improvised vocals. Swift previously performed an acoustic “Summer of ’69” on a few dates of her Speak Now Tour in September 2011. Like Swift’s 1989 trek, the acclaimed Reputation Tour has frequently welcomed surprise guests onstage: During Swift’s London concerts in June, Swift brought out Niall Horan (“Slow Hands”) and Robbie Williams (“Angels”), while her North American leg included guests like Shawn Mendes, Troye Sivan, Selena Gomez, Hayley Kiyoko and, at nearly every show, openers Charli XCX and Camila Cabello on “Shake It Off.”<doc-sep>
A video of Taylor Swift's concert in Toronto Saturday night shows her joined by Canadian rocker Bryan Adams for a surprise "Summer of '69" duet Taylor Swift and Bryan Adams are ending the summer of 2018 right! During Swift’s final show in Toronto on Saturday night, she brought the Canadian rock star onstage to perform his biggest hit — and “one of [her] favorite songs ever written” — “Summer of ’69.” Swift, 28, begins her rendition by calling out to the crowd at the Rogers Centre, “You guys have been singing so loud all night, but I really wanted to see how loud it could be … This is the moment.” She then sings the first verse by herself before Adams, 58, rises from an elevator in the stage and joins her for the rest. After a bit of head banging, Swift asks the crowd “to tell Bryan Adams how you feel that he decided to come and surprise you!” Then they wind things up with a guitar battle and a hug. Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour Taylor Swift and Bryan Adams perform on Aug. 4, 2018 in Toronto. | Credit: Jason Kempin/TAS18/Getty Swift shared her excitement over the surprise duet on her Instagram. First she posted a selfie with Adams, captioning it: “Behind the scenes of our secret rehearsal today before @bryanadams surprised Toronto with ‘Summer of 69’!!!! 🇨🇦😁🎸 SO MUCH FUN TONIGHT TORONTO! !” Next, she shared a clip where she revealed the backstory of how the collaboration came to be. “I didn’t even know Bryan was gonna be in town until last night and I asked him completely last minute if he wanted to come sing! !” She added, “Pretty evident from the videos (um yes I’m posting another one) that I’m FULLY LOSING IT with excitement, and I can’t thank @bryanadams enough.” And she closed out with a clip of her and Adams reaching for each other’s hands during the famous line, “Oh, and when you held my hand, I knew that it was now or never. Those were the best days of my life.” Adams also shared a few posts on his Instagram account of some silly antics with the pop star during their rehearsal. In the first post, Swift is holding the camera and pans around the arena saying “We’ve lost Bryan!” while Adams subtly waves from the trap door in the stage. Next, he shared a closer video of himself learning how the elevator lift works. Off-camera, Swift says, “Bryan has never done an elevator lift entrance. We’re just gonna keep you down there.” According to Billboard, Swift also performed “Summer of 69” during a concert in Adams’ hometown of Vancouver in 2011 on her Speak Now tour.