Four things Taylor Swift said about Cardiff and Wales during her Eras Tour gig at the Principality Stadium

There's one easy way to endear yourself to a local crowd - compliment them. When Taylor Swift arrived for her first ever solo show in Wales, she did exactly that.

As well as hailing the Cardiff crowd throughout the show and deploying some genuinely impressive and well-thought-out use of the Welsh language, Taylor made a few specific comments about Wales in her show.

Delivering a whopping 44-song performance is no mean feat and fans camped out from the early hours of the morning hoping to get the best possible view of it. Here are some of the things Taylor had to say during the mesmerising show:

'The Welsh countryside'

When introducing her Folklore and Evermore albums, both released during lockdown, Taylor explained the writing process behind them. Rather than being the "main character," as in previous albums in which the songs were about her personal experiences, she said she chose to be the "narrator" - writing about fictional characters she invented for the songs.

A trio of these songs - Betty, Cardigan and August - are about three characters and their romantic entanglements. When explaining the state of mind she was in writing the albums, Taylor said she imagined herself in a Victorian nightgown wandering around in nature - specifically, she said, "like the Welsh countryside."

Her first concert in Wales - or was it?

When introducing herself to the crowd in the opening Lover era, Taylor spoke about it being her first show in Wales. This actually wasn't technically true - she headlined BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park in Swansea in 2018.

But this was a short setlist and consisted mainly of songs from her Reputation album, released in November 2017 - so it's understandable if she meant that the Cardiff gig was her first solo show in Wales, and a much longer one at that. She was on stage for nearly three hours at the Principality Stadium which put her brief appearance in Swansea into perspective.

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'This is one for the books'

It might be something that happens at other Eras Tour shows, but Cardiff created an absolute wall of noise for Taylor after her performance of Champagne Problems. After around three minutes of continuous screaming and cheering, leaving everyone's ears ringing, Taylor took out her earpiece to listen to the noise.

"This crowd in Cardiff is one for the books," she said. "This is different - you're on another level! I love you so much, thank you for that. You're just so beautiful - you're so generous to us."

Her support act Paramore - a fantastic and enormously popular band in their own right - also showed their love for the Cardiff crowd. "We really do love playing in Wales," said lead singer Hayley Williams. "It's not just a thing that we say."

Even our stewards are the world's best

This one's a bit of a stretch, but it's always nice to hear some praise for the people who make these shows happen so we're including it. There were a few moments during the show when assistance was needed for members of the crowd - we don't know exactly why, and luckily we haven't heard of it being anything serious.

But it was a very warm night with the roof closed and for one reason or another there were a few people taken unwell. As the stadium staff worked to find them, Taylor commented that they were moving very quickly and said "you guys are so awesome" as the Principality Stadium staff helped the fans.