As an added surprise, there was also a piano performance of “Holy Ground” at the Tokyo gig.
On February 7th, Taylor Swift played the first concert of her Asian “The Eras” tour in Tokyo. She performed the fan favorite “Dear Reader” from her album MIDNIGHTS on stage for the first time – you can see an excerpt from the live debut here.
First live performance with lyrics twist
The track was part of their “Surprise” portion of the show, where Swifties can regularly look forward to their rarely performed favorites. “Dear Reader” can also be placed in this category – the song was first released in May 2023 and has never been presented live since then. During the number, the concertgoers noticed – apart from this fact – another special feature. Taylor Swift changed the line “these desperate prayers of a cursed man” to “these restless tears of a cursed man”. She did not comment on why she made this change.
Taylor Swift’s “Dear Reader” live:
Also unexpectedly, she delivered a piano version of her piece “Holy Ground” from the 2012 record RED. A song that is not otherwise part of the regular setlist.
“Holy Ground” live on the piano in Tokyo:
New era, new nails
No Taylor Swift gig without an Easter egg: At the previous stops on her “The Eras” tour, the musician painted her fingernails to represent her albums – ten colors for ten works. In Tokyo she now appeared with plain white nail polish. The Swifties have put two and two together and attributed the painting to her new album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, which she announced at the 2024 Grammys. Their eleventh LP (excluding the re-recordings here) will be released on April 19th.