Taylor Swift thanks poncho-wearing Swifties after they waited hours in the rain at Anfield for her 100th Eras Tour show – and confirms end date for ‘exhausting’ record-breaking run of gigs

Taylor Swift thanked her fans for braving the rain all day and breaking the all-time attendance record at Anfield Stadium as she kicked off her three-day stint in Liverpool tonight for the latest leg of her Eras Tour. The Liverpool FC stadium was transformed into a sea of pink and red after many devoted Swift fans – known as Swifties – waited for hours in plastic ponchos to protect themselves from the dreary weather.

The American superstar began performing in front of a 53,000-strong crowd at 7pm tonight following a performance by the band Paramore.
Taylor, wearing a pink bejewelled bodysuit on stage, told fans: ‘I’m so excited. What you’ve already done here is crazy, because it has been raining all day; you have braved the rain; you came here ready to drape yourselves in plastic; you’ve been standing here; you’ve been ready for the show.’

She added: ‘I just want to say, those things means the world to us – getting to play this show for people who would go so far above and beyond for us, and welcome us to Liverpool in such a fashion. We love you so much. ‘And you know, while I was walking to the stage they pulled me aside and told me another thing that you’ve done for us tonight. And that thing is that you broke the all-time attendance record for this stadium tonight.’

Taylor also acknowledged that tonight marks the 100th show of the ‘exhausting’ Eras Tour, which she said will end in December. ‘You know, this is actually the 100th show of the tour,’ the singer told the audience. ‘Absolutely, that blows my mind. That doesn’t feel like a real statistic to me, because this has definitely been the most exhausting, all-encompassing, but most joyful, most rewarding, most wonderful thing that has ever happened in my life, this tour.’

Taylor said the 100th show marked the first time she has admitted to herself ‘that this tour is going to end in December, like that’s it’. ‘I think this tour has really become my entire life,’ the 34-year-old continued. ‘It has taken over everything. ‘I think I once had hobbies, but I don’t know what they were anymore, because all I do when I’m not on-stage is sit at home, and try to think of clever acoustic song mashups, and think about what you might want to hear.

‘When I’m not on the stage, I’m dreaming about being back on the stage with you guys.’ While performing her hit song 22, Taylor gave her fedora hat to a little girl at the end of the stage. Taylor wrapped up tonight’s show by expressing gratitude towards her ‘incredible’ backing dancers, vocalists and band. ‘Liverpool, my fellow performers and my band and my dancers and my singers, we have all performed hundreds of hours on this tour, and we are very happy to celebrate 100 with you tonight,’ she said.

The UK leg of Swift’s mammoth international Eras tour began in Edinburgh and saw the enthusiastic dancing of nearly 73,000 Swifties picked up by earthquake monitors 3.7 miles away. Earlier today, poncho-wearing Swifties headed to Anfield Stadium in droves clad in sequins, feather boas and cowboy hats as they counted down the hours to see their favorite popstar.

‘Nothing could dampen our spirits today,’ Reece Edwards, 22, from Manchester who dressed up in the Reputation Era told MailOnline. Dressed in coordinated sparkly dresses with her friends Lucy Powell, 16, added: ‘We too excited. We got the tickets a year ago and we are so excited to see her perform Reputation songs.