Taylor Swift brings the Red Tour to London's O2 Arena: Review

"No-one tells you they're building you up just to try and knock you down," Taylor Swift solemnly intoned in her distinctive bittersweet twang, five songs into the Red Tour. It was one of the few biting moments in a show that's overall more about spectacle than self-exploration, as befits a sold-out blockbuster concert that saw London's 20,000-capacity O2 arena packed to the gills with a palpably thrilled crowd.

It was easy to forget looking around at the sign-wielding masses, the starry-eyed teenage girls clad in their own sparklier versions of Swift's iconic red shorts-and-Keds outfit, the 20- and 30-somethings singing lovingly along to every word, that any animosity towards Swift exists. But few will have missed the media's obsession with her 'string' of ex-boyfriends and her tendency to write songs about them (as if musicians have not always done this), and a cursory Google search makes it very clear where the "knock you down" feeling comes from. "But they haven't yet," she concluded, defiant, before launching into the first of the night's high-concept set pieces for 'The Lucky One' – a 1940s Hollywood-inspired bit which cast Swift as an elegant screen siren and her backing dancers as the predatory press. It was sly and spunky and not even slightly self-pitying, and summed up the energy of a night that combined ambitious staging with Swift's trademark emotional intimacy. From the moment Swift appeared with tiny shorts and big hat and red, red lips, opening with peppy pop double-whammy 'State of Grace' and 'Holy Ground', her energy was infectious – when she transitioned into high school angst classic 'You Belong With Me', all the more so. The show was heavy on crowd interaction, but Swift seemed initially a little stiff and too polished as she teased the show's "secrets" and monologued about the many significances of the colour red.

As the night went on, she relaxed into the heart-on-sleeve persona she's best known for, at one point delivering a sweet speech about how creativity helped her overcome social rejection as a teen, which led into anti-bullying ditty 'Mean'. Earnest moments like this will always make Swift an easy target for mockery ("Is this a support group?" one cynic in the crowd muttered), but they are also what makes her resonate as so much more than Songwriting Barbie. The show was a technical triumph, making full use of the vast arena space via a round walkway, a floating platform and a B stage on which Swift performed a lengthy mini-set. Ed Sheeran made a less-than-surprising appearance to duet on his own 'Lego House', while the historical fantasy tone continued into Gothic ballroom for 'I Knew You Were Trouble' and an Alice in Wonderland vibe for finale 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'. One of the night's most telling moments came with the transition from stripped-down ballad 'All Too Well' into 'Love Story'. The former is Swift's most lyrically sophisticated song to date, a painful reflection on the vivid memories of a failed romance; the latter is as lyrically simple as it gets, a literal Romeo and Juliet story with a fairy tale ending swapped in for the tragedy. Swift straddles the adolescent divide between innocence and experience – for her younger fans there is the dream, the prince with a ring, and for the 20-somethings there is the reality of just how disappointing relationships can be. She can near-snarl a line like, "You call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest," and moments later pull off a whole-heartedly escapist romantic fantasy. The Red Tour capitalises on exactly what makes Swift such a powerful figure for her audience, the sincere blend of aspirational and relatable.

Set List State of Grace Holy Ground Red You Belong with Me The Lucky One Mean 22 Fearless Sparks Fly Lego House I Knew You Were Trouble All Too Well Love Story Treacherous We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together