Taylor Swift Plays The Tortured Poets Department Songs Live for the First Time at Paris

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Eras Tour attendees, welcome to “The Tortured Poets Department.”

At Taylor Swift‘s Paris concert on Thursday night — the European kickoff of the record-breaking tour and her first show since the album’s release — the pop icon debuted several of the new songs live at La Défense Arena, starting with “But Daddy I Love Him.” She then sang “So High School” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” standing atop a glass-plated block that moved around the stage. “Down Bad,” “Fortnight” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” followed, with “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” marking the finale of the segment.

Swift kicked off the show with her usual opener, “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” playing songs from both her “Lover” and “Fearless” eras. Then she switched up the set order, performing tracks from “Red,” “Speak Now” and “Reputation,” instead of transitioning to “Evermore,” as she had during the previous leg of the tour. “Folklore” followed “Reputation,” accompanied by new visuals featuring a snake slithering through the grass.

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The singer announced that she has always seen “Folklore” and “Evermore” as sister albums and would be combining them into “one chapter” at the show, stating, “We have now reunited the sisters.” She then performed songs from both albums before segueing into “1989.”

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After “1989,” new visuals incorporating clock imagery then signaled a transition into “The Tortured Poets Department.” Swift reemerged on-stage wearing a white dress with writing on it.

Taylor Swift performs "But Daddy I Love Him" at the Paris Eras Tour show. pic.twitter.com/wE6hdb4Tnm

— Variety (@Variety) May 9, 2024

Taylor Swift performs "So High School" at her Paris Eras Tour show. pic.twitter.com/iOyXlGVUeA

— Variety (@Variety) May 9, 2024

Taylor Swift performs "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" at the Paris Eras Tour show. pic.twitter.com/AH1MP0kRPz

— Variety (@Variety) May 9, 2024

Following “The Tortured Poets Department” era, Swift performed “Paris” and “loml” as surprise songs during her acoustic set before concluding the show with her “Midnights” segment.

Ever since Swift announced that she’d be dropping a brand-new album in the middle of the Eras Tour, fans have been speculating as to how she would include it in the setlist. Some predicted the record would mark an entirely new era, while others thought she might just represent it within the surprise songs portion of the show.

“The Tortured Poets Department” released on April 19, and Swift surprised fans with a double album consisting of 31 songs. It debuted with 2.61 million units, marking the best one-week figure for any album in nine years. The album also took up the first 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Swift the first artist to do so. “Fortnight,” her duet with Post Malone, took the No. 1 spot.

“The Tortured Poets Department” earned critical praise as well, with Variety‘s Chris Willman calling it “audacious” and “transfixing.” He wrote that the album “gives everyone a full dose of the never-getting-over-it Taylor that no one really wanted to get over. As breakup albums go, it’s a doozy, as they would have said back in Clara Bow’s day — an unapologetically dramatic (if often witty) record that will be soundtracking untold millions of tragic rifts to come.”

After three more dates in Paris, Swift continues the European leg of the Eras Tour in Stockholm, Sweden, before finishing with five dates in London in August.

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