Real as it gets: A backstage encounter with Taylor Swift
A long time ago, way back in the Stone Age, I went backstage and met Keith Richards, but I can’t remember doing that all that often with big stars.
When you’re there to review a show, you really prefer not to do that, and I think the artists feel the same way.
So I never make that effort, but the day before Taylor Swift’s reputation tour hit Heinz Field, her publicist reached out and invited me to meet her backstage. The only contact I ever had with the star was interviewing her on the phone in 2010 on the Speak Now Tour. I wanted to see what the machine looked like from the inside.
Like everything else about the tour, it was impressive. First off, her publicist was much more friendly and less frazzled than publicists usually are in that situation. When she greeted me by name, I said, “How did you know it was me?” She laughed and said, “I do my research.”
We went to a quiet, darkly lit waiting room that was decorated with black leather couches, the tour’s snake motif and small version of the throne from the “Look What You Made Me Do” video. It was a little like walking into Daenerys’ Dothraki tent on “Game of Thrones,” with a buffet table and TV.
There was another critic there and a few other people waiting. Swift was standing behind a black curtain, in a smaller room, meeting people in small groups. When I walked in, she greeted me like we were old friends, reaching for a hug, not a handshake. No surprise, she looked beautiful — her hair down, minimal makeup.
“Hi,” I said. “I think I’m your oldest critic.”
She laughed and said something like “No, you’re not!”
I asked her how it felt being back at Heinz Field. She said she was excited to be back in Pittsburgh, at Heinz Field, and talked about singing the national anthem for the Steelers when she was 15 — how nervous and excited she was. When you talk to her, you get her full attention. She didn’t seem hurried or distracted at all, like most normal people would be when they’re about to go on stage for 56,000 people.
I asked her about performing with Bryan Adams in Toronto a couple nights ago, and she was thrilled to talk about that. She said she’d never seen him perform live before and was amazed how high he can still sing. I told her I interviewed him a couple years ago and asked him if people ever call out for RYAN Adams songs at his shows (you know, Ryan Adams fans have that history of calling for BRYAN Adams songs and Ryan gets mad — also, she knows Ryan, too). She thought that was funny.
Before I went in, I told the publicist, who had a camera, that I didn’t need a photo. But she was like, “Oh, come on, you’ll want to have a photo.” Taylor’s really tall, plus the heels. I’m not. She said, “Oh, I know just how to deal with this” and she crouched down for the photo.
If she’s not totally cool and down to earth, just like she is with her fans, she’s exceptionally good at faking it.
As for reviewing, I’m less good at faking it, so if the concert wasn’t good, I would have said so. But what’s the chance of a Taylor Swift concert not being good? Just about nil. Because she’s good. Great, actually. And real. And she doesn’t spare any expense in the production.
Obviously, it’s on massive scale, but just one of the little details I noticed outside Heinz Field is that for the fans waiting in line during the afternoon to get in, there were TV screens set up with video packages of her to keep them entertained.
From the stage, she talks to them like friends, and doesn’t repeat the same banter every night. In 2010, when she was 20, I remember being amazed when she crossed the entire arena floor, taking her time, stopping to hug and shake hands with her fans. Eight years later, playing these giant stadiums, as one of the biggest stars on the planet, she still does it.
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