Well, finally got to see her live for the second time. A great show of course. I think the setlist could have been better, but it was eye opening in a lot of ways. What really surprised me is, she left off a bunch of her biggest hits! I mean, I as thrilled about that because as a hardcore fan I'd always rather hear deep cuts anyway.
I was thrilled she did it, but I was just.... completely floored that she would do that. Of all people I expected Taylor to play the hits. Maybe it's just because I'm used to going to classic rock shows, where if somebody doesn't play every hit they ever had over 30 years, the "fans" think the artist is the ****ing devil and all that jazz. Can't count the number of times I've heard comments like that after shows from classic rock bands. Is it different for modern artists?? Would people not be mad if Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber or Adele left out a bunch of their hits on a tour? I'm inclined to think people would be mad.
The really amazing thing is all the deep cuts she's been playing. She plays a different song at every gig, all different kinds of things. Sometimes it's a hit she hasn't played at any other show, other times it's a total deep cut from one of her older albums, other times it's even an obscure cover song. It's like she's Tom Petty or something, I was really impressed that she would do this.
One of the interesting things about this is that she plays this part of the show solo-acoustic. Kind of clever, really: this way she can play a different song every night and the band doesn't have to learn 40 extra songs, and the dancers don't have to choreograph 40 extra songs, and Taylor can play any crazy thing she wants (among the inclusions thus far have been covers of The Neon Trees and Nelly).
But even more interesting about her doing these songs solo is, it shows that not only can she genuinely play, but even more impressively, she has an expert grasp on her catalog. She's always done a solo-acoustic song here and there but for her to be able to whip out all kinds of songs from all over her catalog, deep cuts and hits and even covers, several different tracks a week, that demonstrates some undeniable prowess.