Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour dazzles on night one in Denver

Taylor Swift called, and they answered.

Sparkling from head to toe, clutching their phones at all times, and belting out well-memorized lyrics, more than 70,000 of her fans showed up Friday for Swift’s Eras Tour. The July 14 concert — the first of two dates at Empower Field at Mile High — prompted rapture from the opening moments.

See more photos of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show, night one.

With spectacle and emotion tightly braided, Swift megadosed the faithful at the sold-out show with songs from across her catalog while gracefully navigating costume and set changes against a massive LED screen. It was a feat on par with her “Reputation”-era tour stop at Empower Field more than five years ago. Granted, that was a necessarily more focused and (relatively) edgy concert, but both found an ideal balance of ferocity and all-ages, rainbow-hued smiles that spoke directly to the mostly female, mostly young crowd.

After opening sets from Gracie Abrams and MUNA, Swift’s dancers strutted onto the stage from behind the video wall raising tall, colorful plumage as Swift rose on a platform to sing “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince.” That kicked off the “Lovers”-era portion, with Swift rocking a glammed-out leotard and glittering boots as she vigorously worked through “Cruel Summer,” “The Man” and an ebullient, pro-LGBTQ “You Need to Calm Down.” Her clear, bright vocals lost some nuance in the windy air, assuming you could hear them over the oft-deafening screams from the crowd.

Each of her studio releases was afforded anywhere from two to seven songs, all of which arrived with their own tonal and visual elements. Fetching looks abounded, from flowy, Old Hollywood glamour to Stevie Nicks witchcraft and cheeky cabaret. The albums with the most representation were her newest; “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Midnights,” which were released during a prolific pandemic era (2020-2022) that also saw her issuing re-recorded versions of “Speak Now” and “Red.”

She addressed it all from the stage, talking about her forced introspection, her new recordings, and her time away from touring, but also her desire to innovate her “excruciatingly autobiographical” writing style.

That new tack has birthed songs like the modest, character-driven “Betty,” which contrasted sharply with sizzling dance classics such as “Shake It Off” or the upbeat “You Belong With Me.” As Swift noted, sentimentality was the point of the night, so why hold back? Few if any gatherings of this size can claim so much vulnerability, positivity and heart.