Entertainment
Proposals, pop anthems and ‘póg mo thóin’: Taylor Swift stole the show in Dublin
About 150,000 Swifties attended the three shows at the Aviva stadium between Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Famous faces spotted at last night’s show included Julia Roberts, Stevie Nicks and Bridgerton actress Florence Hunt. The stars were spotted in the crowd mingling with fans and exchanging friendship bracelets.
Addressing the crowd at the start of the show, Swift said: “Night one and night two were only warm-up shows for tonight.”
On Friday, she performed a stripped-back medley of hoax and Sweet Nothing, where she mentions Co Wicklow, and proved that her power resides in her understanding of her audience.
“It’s been over five years since I’ve played a gig in Dublin and you know this already but nobody does it like you,” she told the crowd.
Several moments from the weekend will remain memorable, notably one of her dancers saying “póg mo thóin” during her performance of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.
As she rounded up her Lover era and moved into Fearless, unbeknownst to her, two of her fans, Aaron Hogan (25) and Alan Corley (26), were getting engaged.
“The minute I knelt down, everything went quiet and it was like this kind of static in the back of my head,” Mr Corley said.
“I’m very much an introvert, but for some reason I was never nervous about the idea of doing it in public at a Taylor Swift concert because I know the type of people that Swifties are.
“They’re just so supportive and full of love. I knew it was going to be just a really lovely moment and Aaron has always said that he hates the idea of public proposals except at Taylor Swift concerts.”
“He took what I told him and ran with it,” Mr Hogan added.
On Saturday night, Swift appeared to be caught off guard by the “actually crazy” reaction from Irish fans to her show, saying she would remember it for the rest of her life.
She was treated to fans chanting “olé, olé, olé” for a lengthy period during the show, and Swift seemed surprised by the reaction.
She told the audience: “Oh my god, here’s the thing, we’ve done, like, I dunno, we’ve done like 110 shows on this tour, something like that and like this… this is the first time like, I really don’t know what to say, my band and I are just looking at each other with our mouths hanging open.
“That was actually crazy, like we’re trying to be prepared, but we’re not prepared for the level that you’re on, Dublin.”
Saturday night’s surprise tracks were an acoustic mash-up of This Love and Ours paired with The Albatross and Dancing With Our Hands Tied.
She is heading to Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena for her next three shows, running from Thursday to Saturday.
Swift will then continue her tour as she play dates in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland and Austria before returning to the UK in August for five nights at Wembley Stadium in London.