'Fearless' Taylor Swift Storms Verizon Arena with Sold-out Show

Douglas Boultinghouse
Arts & Entertainment Editor

Photo by Douglas Boultinghouse

Fearless - Country music superstar Taylor Swift performs at the Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. The "Fearless Tour" marks Swift's first headlining tour.

   Fresh off the heels of her nomination for “Entertainer of the Year” at the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards and a controversial win and interruption by Kanye West at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, music superstar Taylor Swift rolled her sold-out “Fearless Tour” into North Little Rock Saturday, Sept. 26.

   Swift performed at the Verizon Arena to a sea of fans holding signs with phrases such as “Kanye Sucks,” “We Love You Taylor,” “Taylor Rocks” and the cleverest, a sign with West’s picture and the words “Picture to Burn.”

Wild Red High Heels

   But before Swift could take the stage, two crowd favorites, Gloriana and Kellie Pickler, filled the arena with energy.

Photo by Douglas Boultinghouse

Wild at Heart - Rising country band Gloriana opened for Taylor Swift before Kellie Pickler. Left to right: Cheyenne Kimball, Rachel Reinert, Tom Gossin and Mike Gossin.

   Gloriana members Mike and Tom Gossin, Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball kicked the night off with a few songs from their debut album.

   Each member brought something to the stage, especially during a performance of their summer anthem “Wild at Heart,” but when Tom Gossin and Reinert took over lead vocals for a show-stopping duet of “Lead Me On,” sparks flew, giving proof this band heads down an enormously successful path.

   Pickler, the blonde girl-next-door known for walking in her “Red High Heels,” commanded the stage shortly after Gloriana. Performing an array of hits from her two albums, such as “I Wonder, “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful,” “Best Days of Your Life” and “Things That Never Cross  a Man’s Mind.”

   But her moment to shine arrived when she belted her current single “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You” into the rafters.  She hit hair-raising notes that really makes one ask, “America, how did you vote her off ‘American Idol’ and crown the now-unknown Taylor Hicks the winner?”

   During the intermission, Gloriana set up a booth in the arena lobby to meet fans before headlining act Swift began.

Photo by Douglas Boultinghouse

Best Day of Your Life - Kellie Pickler opens for her friend Taylor Swift. Pickler and Swift co-wrote "Best Days of Your Life."

You Belong to Taylor

   Right of the bat, those in the audience knew a Taylor Swift show would not be a typical “stand behind a microphone and sing” show. She made her entrance in a band costume atop a raised platform on the stage, recreating the look of the music video for “You Belong with Me.”

   Towards the end of the song, Swift stood, arms outstretched, smiling at the crowd. In a split-second, dancers on the stage took hold of her arms, ripping the costume from her and before you knew it, she continued on in a black and silver dress.

   She moved into “Our Song” and “Tell Me Why,” making her away around the stage shaking hands with fans, dancing and swinging her curly, blonde locks of hair from side to side.

   She then told the story of a guy in high school named Drew who she liked. Drew inspired the hit song “Teardrops on My Guitar,” so what did Swift do for the performance? She recreated scenes of him talking to her in class about his girlfriend or dancing with the girlfriend as she watched, all while singing the song off to the side.

   She performed the title-track for the album and tour, “Fearless,” before exiting the stage for a costume change.

   Swift returned to perform a dramatic version of her Joe Jonas kiss-off song, “Forever and Always,” in which she throws the chair the Jonas look-a-like sat in from the top of the platform to the main stage in a fit of rage.

   She again exited the stage to change, but returned in an unexpected location. Performing the song “Hey Stephen,” Swift stood in the aisle of Section 114. She finished the song and made her way down the aisle, hugging fans as she went, to a round stage at the back of the arena.

   There she performed the current single “Fifteen” and her first single, “Tim McGraw,” as the small stage lifted into the air and began to spin.

   Once back on the ground, she walked up the center aisle to the main stage, again hugging fans along the way.

   She then finished the last verse of “Tim McGraw,” which ended with ground-breaking applause and cheers, lasting well over five minutes.

   “Little Rock,” she said. “I will never forget you did that for me.”

Love Story

   She continued with a chilling performance of the haunting ballad “White Horse,” completely acoustic, before telling the crowd, “Little Rock, let’s go back in time.”

Photo by Douglas Boultinghouse

Singing in the Rain - For Taylor Swift's encore, she performed a portion of "Should've Said No" while being drenched with rain.

   As she exited, ballroom dancers danced onto the stage to the sound of violins playing “Love Story.”

   Swift appeared atop the platform again, this time in a red gown and performed the song.

   Towards the end of the song the dancers surrounded Swift, lifting their gowns out to shield the star. While out of sight, the red gown disappeared to reveal a white dress as she continued into the “Marry me Juliet, you never have to be alone,” portion of the song.

   She changed again to perform “The Way I Loved You” and a smoky rendition of her song “You’re Not Sorry,” mixed with Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around/Comes Around” on the piano.

   As flames filled the screen behind her, she launched into one of her biggest hits, “Picture to Burn,” before leaving the stage.

   After a brief pause, she returned wearing a white Arkansas Razorbacks jersey performing “I’m Only Me (When I’m With You).”

   Midway into the song, Pickler appeared on the platform to join her friend. As she made her way down the staircase, Gloriana walked onto the stage from behind the platform.

   All three acts joined forces for the song as pictures and videos of them on the road filled the screen.

   An explosion of confetti hearts filled the arena when the song finished. As Pickler and Gloriana exited, Swift removed the jersey to reveal a black dress.

Encore

   She stormed into an encore performance of “Should’ve Said No,” which included a moment of a trash can battle similar to something seen in famous acts STOMP.

   As she finished the song, rain poured on the stage. Within the shower of rain, the word “No” flashed repeatedly. Swift ended the night singing in the rain before waving to the crowd and dropping the curtain.

   Swift’s show can be defined by the word entertaining, making it obvious, she deserves her nomination in the “Entertainer of the Year” category, something females rarely receive, let alone a 19-year old who took the industry by storm.

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