Taylor Swift proved that nothing is more important than her fans when she refused to continue her most recent Eras Tour show until someone in the crowd received assistance.
During night one of Swift’s concerts in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Friday, June 7, the pop star, 34, paused her surprise song set — where she was performing a mashup of “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” and “I Know Places” — in order to signal that an audience member required help. According to social media footage found online, whhen the fan was not immediately attended to, Swift made it clear that the show would not continue until they were noticed.
“She’s right there. I’m just gonna keep playing until somebody helps them, I’m gonna be singing this song,” Swift sang as she strummed her guitar, adding that someone would eventually listen to her because she was “going to keep talking” about the issue until someone responded to her request.
“Just let me know. I can do this all night,” she said, getting increasingly frustrated. When someone finally found the fan in need, she yelled, “We’re good? Awesome!” before jumping right back into her performance.
Swift has made it her mission to remain alert to fans in trouble throughout the tour, which sold an estimated 4.35 million tickets across her 60 concerts in North America, Argentina and Brazil before she even embarked on the international leg of her tour.
The “Anti-Hero” singer has shown she has no problem shutting down the show until she can ensure safety. In May 2023, she interrupted her song “Bad Blood” during the 1989 set in order to yell at a security guard who was harassing a concertgoer. Six months later in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she was focused on making sure fans remained hydrated during an intense heat wave. (One fan, Ana Clara Benavides, tragically died from heat exhaustion before one of the shows.)
“There’s people that need water right here, maybe 30, 35, 40 feet back,” she said on stage during the Evermore set, pointing to a floor section of the crowd. “So, whoever is in charge of giving them that, just make sure that happens. Can I get a signal that you know where they are?”
After Benavides’ death, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Swift was “beside herself” over the loss, noting that the singer’s team has “reached out” to the fan’s family. The insider added that Swift was “grateful” to have her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, there for her at the time, calling him a “huge support system” after she was left reeling from the tragedy.
Ensuring safety goes back farther than the Eras Tour for Swift, who was deeply impacted after 22 people were killed as a result of a bombing during Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester in 2018. She embarked on her Reputation stadium tour just months later.
“I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months,” she told Elle in 2019. “There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe. My fear of violence has continued into my personal life.”
