Taylor Swift debuted another Tortured Poets Department track live Saturday night (June 29). The singer-songwriter performed “The Albatross,” found on the Anthology edition of her latest album, for the first time at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
“I’m gonna do a song I’ve never performed live before today,” she announced at the Eras Tour endstage, where she brings surprise songs (song mashups, lately) to the acoustic section of her show each night.
On guitar, she dove right into “The Albatross”: “Wise men once said/ Wild winds are death to the candle/ A rose by any other name is a scandal/ Cautions issued, he stood/ Shooting the messengers/ They tried to warn him about her,” sang Swift. “Cross your thoughtless heart/ Only liquor anoints you/ She’s the albatross/ She is here to destroy you.”
Swift suddenly shifted to “Dancing With Our Hands Tied,” a highlight from her Rep album about a love she fears will be endangered.
“I knew there was no one in the world who could take it,” she admits on the track. “But we were dancing/ Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied.”
She expertly mashed up the two songs’ moving bridges, starting with “Dancing” — “I’d kiss you as the lights went out/ Swayin’ as the room burned down/ I’d hold you as the water rushes in/ If I could dance with you again” — and adding in her “Albatross” tale, offering: “And when that sky rains fire on you/ And you’re persona non grata/ I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too/ And that none of it matters.”
“Spread my wings like a parachute/ I’m the albatross/ I swept in at the rescue,” Swift sings on The Tortured Poets Department track.
On piano during Saturday night’s acoustic set, Swift performed 1989‘s dreamy “This Love,” which she embellished with elements of her Speak Now-era love song “Ours.”
“When you’re young, you just run/ But you come back to what you need,” she sang from “This Love,” reassuring her muse with the sweet “Ours”: “It’s not theirs to speculate if it’s wrong/ Your hands are tough, but they are where I belong/ I’ll fight their doubt and give you faith with this song for you.”
Two months after an April 19 release, Swift has now played the majority of the 31-track Tortured Poets set live at least once. Her main set list includes several songs from the album: “But Daddy I Love Him,” a bite-sized taste of “So High School,” ‘Whose Afraid of Little Old Me?” and “Down Bad,” which transitions to “Fortnight,” followed by “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and the theatrical “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
She has yet to debut the album’s “So Long, London,” “Florida!!!” feat. Florence + The Machine, “Clara Bow,” “imgonnagetyouback,” “Cassandra” and “Robin” on the stage.
Below, watch clips of both acoustic performances from Saturday night. Swift’s Eras Tour will entertain the Dublin crowd with one more show on Sunday before making its way to Amsterdam for the 4th of July. Dates in Zurich, Milan and more will follow on Swift’s international trek.
