Band name: Taylor SwiftDate: Sunday, May 7, 2023 (3rd night)
Venue/location: Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Tour name: The Eras Tour
Recording type: Audience
Taper(s): Chickenwing
Media: lossless; 3 CDs
Source information: Digital Master
Lineage: Zoom H2N internal X-Y microphones (24 bit, 48 KHZ WAV) -> mastered in Goldwave -> 2.5 seconds in track 33 processed with Demucs to remove a scream in the crowd -> track splitting in Goldwave -> encoded to FLAC level 6 using Trader's Little Helper
Generation: Master
Total unning time: 3:25:43 (206 minutes)
Track listing:
01. Intro (contains elements of Fearless, End Game, Speak Now, gold rush, evermore, Red, Lavender Haze, Lover, and Bejeweled)
(Lover era)
02. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince
03. Cruel Summer
04. Banter
05. The Man
06. You Need to Calm Down
07. Banter
08. Lover
09. The Archer (with Paul Sidoti guitar solo)
(Fearless era)
10. Fearless
11. You Belong With Me
12. Love Story
Interlude (Evermore era)
13. 'tis the damn season
14. willow
15. marjorie
16. Banter
17. champagne problems
18. tolerate it (with Karina DePiano solo keyboard intro)
Interlude (Reputation era)
19. Ready for It?
20. Delicate
21. Don't Blame Me
22. Look What You Made Me Do
interlude (Speak Now era)
23. Enchanted
Interlude (Red era) (Contains elements of “State Of Grace,” “Holy Ground,” and “Red”)
24. 22
25. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
26. I Knew You Were Trouble
27. Banter
28. Nothing New (with Phoebe Bridgers)
29. All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
(Folklore era)
30. seven (Spoken word poem; contains elements of "Wildest Dreams" and various other songs)
31. the 1
32. Banter
33. betty
34. the last great american dynasty
35. august + illicit affairs
36. my tears ricochet
37. cardigan
Interlude (1989 era)
38. Style
39. Blank Space
40. Shake It Off
41. Wildest Dreams
42. Bad Blood
43. Banter
44. Would've, Could've, Should've (acoustic with Aaron Dessner on guitar) (Live debut)
45. Banter
46. Mine (acoustic) (Tour debut; on piano)
Interlude (Midnights)
47. Lavender Haze
48. Anti-Hero
49. Midnight Rain
50. Vigilante Shit
51. Bejeweled
52. Mastermind
53. Karma
Notes and comments:
Lineup: Taylor Swift (openers Gracie Abrams and Phoebe Bridgers' were canceled due to rain)
The band members are unknown.
Recorded from Section 236, in line with a PA stack.
By some stroke of voodoo, I made it through the Olympic game of acquiring Taylor Swift tickets. I signed up for the verified fan for several shows, including all three in Nashville and both in Cincinnati, but ended up with nothing. Luckily, my concert friend Larrissa managed to get her entire family to register for Nashville tickets and one of them got a code. I spent half an hour on the phone with her offering technical tips, frantically checking the seatmap, and performing Native American fertility rituals naked in the rain until we snatched three tickets in just about the worst seats of all time. We actually had decent seats in our first exchange, but like everyone else, Ticketmaster hung and we lost the more desirable tickets.
The months leading up to ShowTime were spent in radically different ways. Larrissa watched every concert of the Eras tour from the first night in Glendale through the second night in Nashville, made costumes for the three of us, studied the venue map, and made a plan of entry. My wife and I didn't even look at the weather. Thus, I was shocked the night before when Larrissa warned us of a rain show. I've never actually recorded in the rain, and my dumb ass didn't prepare or have enough time to buy a blimp setup to protect my Zoom from becoming a passive piece of plastic. I spent Sunday morning trying out different water coverings including a plastic ziplock bag, various fanny packs, and a clear waterproof phone case which I somehow managed to cram my Zoom into. I tested the sound of each, and hated them all. None the less, I packed the ziplock and the waterproof case, but mostly I just prayed for the rain to go away.
The drive down to Nashville was probably the worst of the weather. There were times when visibility was absolutely 0, but the playlist was 100% Taylor. I was the heathen heretic in the back seat who had songs stuck in my head by other artists... I just had to keep them to myself. We spent the time praying for the rain to pass, and my wife and I tried guessing which songs would be on the setlist since We intentionally kept ourselves in the dark to be surprised.
There were Swifties everywhere, from the getaway car license plate we saw on the interstate to the gas station bathrooms packed with costumed fans. Finding parking was easier than expected, which is good because we paid like $50 for parking. The rain had cleared up, so we packed up our nonsense and set off for the stadium entrance!
For the time being, it was sunny and warm in Nashville. I was almost regretting my jacket. A few fans stopped to give us friendship bracelets. I wish I knew how many people were trading bracelets on the tour, or I would have made some! I actually probably wouldn't have, but it's a nice thought.
We formed up at the shorter line, and the stadium doors opened about an hour early. As soon as they opened (at 3:45 PM) we practically flew inside. I've never seen such a rush for the entrances. We nearly sprinted through the automated security scanners, flashed our tickets at a nice but frazzled lady, and her "enjoy the show!" got lost in the wind behind us as we ran for our seats. Why the hurry? No fucking idea. It wasn't even 4:00!
We ran to three separate guest services desks in the hopes of a seat upgrade, and managed to score seats on the club level with almost perfect sound. We skipped through the merch line, picking up bracelets, batons, a shirt, and a tapestry before buying a couple of the Lavender Haze cocktails. They were apparently delicious, but at $22 each, I could have bought an overpriced $17 pizza for less. We all need to go on a fucking hunger strike at these venues, because every time I walk inside, the venders raise the prices!
Now that our hands were full of merch we figured it was time to check out our seats. The view was incredible, positioned directly in front of the diamond where Taylor spends most of her time. According to Larrissa's academic preparation, we would even be able to spot the cleaning cart Taylor rides in to reach the stage at the start of the show. It was 5:15 by now, and it was also starting to pour rain. We elected to chill inside since we were fortunate enough to be on the club level, and met more kind-hearted Swifties who had traveled in from all over the country for a Nashville show. We were concerned they wouldn't be getting anything, though, as the weather continued to get worse. Some insane people were excited for what might be the first rain show of the tour, but that rain came with lightning. At around 6:00, while we were still sitting on the floor inside, the stadium tweeted that severe weather was approaching and for everyone to take shelter, and that's what we did... for the next 3 hours.
The Swifties made the most of the delay. I recorded a few snippets of the preshow antics, though I regrettably missed a great one of a troop of fans parading through the club level singing classics from Taylor's career. We made a few new friends, and kept a firm eye on the Nissan Stadium Twitter account. I was suspicious there would be no show at all, but in the Taylor Nation updates, Taylor remained committed to playing the show. If she did play after all, I was convinced she would shorten the concert to accommodate the city ordinance, which usually mandate concerts end between 11 and 11:30. Nashville was evidently more generous, I heard their curfew was as midnight, but that optimistically only left us with a two hour show in our future when the other stops on the Eras tour were longer than three.
We got sick of the stuffy club level by 8:00, and walked out to the covered area near our seats. It was eerie hearing the stadium silent and empty. The equipment was covered in protective tarps, and the only sound was the production trucks in the distance. We kept an eye on the crew though, and at around 9:00 they pulled up in a golf cart and began prepping the stage. Both Gracie Abrams and Phoebe Bridgers' opening sets were canceled, but despite the downpour, Taylor would play. We weren't the only people outside on the 200 level, and everyone flipped their collective shit when the crew came out. From that point on, the energy in the stadium was infectious. From our covered view in someone else's seats in row U, we watched them test the lights, hydraulic lift on the stage, and finally, the PA. The crowd cheered with every success, and booed the lightning advisory coming over the stadium PA. The floor opened at around 9:45 and they cranked up the PA.
It had stopped raining by this point in the evening, and only light showers were predicted for the remainder of what would be show time. We got slammed with water off and on during the wait, but when the lights went down and Taylor's cleaning cart finally hit the stage at 10:10 PM, the air was dry and fresh. The crowd energy was unparalleled, and you can hear it in the recording. Taylor's set speaks for itself, but I will say that the setlist was reasonably different from what I predict will be in the Netflix documentary, and I heard from several fans that Taylor was even more talkative and engaged with the crowd than usual.
The rain kicked in midway through the Reputation era, and I had to put the Zoom under my poncho during tracks 24 and 25. Aside from a few pops of the raindrops hitting the poncho which I've done my best to filter out, This doesn't negatively impact the sound and I've done my best to minimize the transition in post-production. Taylor was legitimately having a blast in the rain, and it was indeed the first rain show of the Eras tour. All things considered, this was the toughest recording I've ever gotten, but so well worth it. Taylor played for nearly 3 and a half hours, and I think it may have been her longest show to date! The lights went up at 1:35 AM, and Taylor didn't drop a single song from the setlist.
We spent the drive home trying to stay awake. We eventually made it back by 5:30 AM, but the intervening hours were spent pondering things like the worst surprise song of the tour, and how Taylor will follow up the monolithic Eras trek. My theory is that she's going to tour with Cardi B next, not because I actually believe it will happen, but because I want to imagine the insane fights between Swifties and Cardi fans.
Mastering notes: I started by correcting any drastic channel shifts throughout the recording. There weren't many, but sometimes I had to switch hands because holding the Zoom in one hand for 3 and a half hours can be pretty uncomfortable. There is some minimal movement now, but it's been equalized. Speaking of, I eqed the show based on several points throughout, and I'm happy with the midpoint I found. There is some inevitable phasing from the gig being outdoors, but it isn't bad. Next I listened through the entire thing for tracking, and because I obviously wanted to relive the show. During that time, I also filtered out pops and clicks.
If you're interested in a trade, looking for a taper, or would like to contact me for any reason, I can be reached via the ID Chickenwing8 on most trading sites.
I would like to include a heartfelt thank you to the people over at Setlist.FM for constantly doing their best to update and accurately post setlists from every show possible. Everyone makes mistakes (and they're known for it) but they have helped me immensely in writing up track listings for my show, and lots of the information found accompanying my shows is thanks to them. Whether I have used Setlist.FM to collect information for this particular show or not, they deserve so many thanks for all the help they have given me in the past.
Finally, the confusion regarding the legality of recording concerts is because of those who sell them. I do not condone selling freely-shared live music, and blame those who sell concerts for the lack of people recording and sharing content, as well as for the bad reputation society places upon those of us who do. Let it also be noted that any who sell this recording deserve nothing more than to have their own collection confiscated and shared freely with the masses. Please only degrade audio quality for personal use. Also, I ask that you keep this info file intact.
Mastered by Chickenwing on May 9-23, 2023.
