Seven things we learned from Taylor Swift's incredible Cardiff Eras Tour concert

For anyone who hadn't seen the Eras Tour in person, Tuesday's concert at the Principality Stadium by Taylor Swift will have contained quite a few surprises. Of course, there were some real "wow" moments in the show's choreography and setlist, but even those who have watched the recorded version on Disney+ learned a few things about Taylor and her fans that you really can only comprehend in person.

From the sheer level of noise in the crowd to the subtle ways in which Taylor and her team made references to Cardiff and Wales, the slickness and professionalism of the three-hour show formed an entertaining contrast with the frenetic energy of the fans.

The crowd in Cardiff was "one for the books," as Taylor herself said. Here are seven things we learned from seeing and hearing the Eras Tour for ourselves, also you can read our review of the gig, here.

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Her fans are truly on another level

Whether it's the hardcore Swifties who have been there since her country days or the newer generations who found her music in lockdown or afterwards, the Swifties were there in their numbers and knew every word to every song. The little references and chants were all well-observed and some lyrics absolutely belted at the top of everyone's voice - one of the highlights being the bridge of The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived which was absolutely screamed.

Plus, there were huge groups of fans who didn't even have tickets and turned up outside to listen, despite the closed stadium roof. Get your limited edition Taylor Swift OK! glossy mag here.

She has a genuinely endless parade of hits

This isn't an exaggeration - every time we thought we'd heard all the big chart-topping Taylor Swift songs we realised we'd forgotten not just about an upcoming song but an entire album. An approximately hour-long run containing Lover, You Belong With Me, Love Story, 22, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, I Knew You Were Trouble, All Too Well and Enchanted is a setlist on a level very few artists can compete with.

And when that was over we hadn't even reached the Reputation album, a chart-topper in its own right and many fans' personal favourite. You'd think that was it but arguably her best-known songs - all from the 1989 album and including Blank Space and Shake it Off - were still to come. Frankly, it was bonkers.

The friendship bracelet trend is very much real - and it's brilliant

Any gig-going tradition that doesn't require fans to pay huge sums of money gets an A* in our book. Each to their own and there's no judgement here towards Swifties who are happy to part with their cash for gig merch, but the recently-evolved tradition of swapping friendship bracelets is an extremely wholesome way to have something to take home without breaking the bank.

For the uninitiated - there's a line in Taylor's song You're On Your Own, Kid about "[making] the friendship bracelets" and the fans have taken that and run with it. Many fans will buy a relatively cheap set of beads and spend hours making bracelets before the show - often to swap them with other Swifties.

Even if you turn up without any, chances are you'll be sat next to someone with a huge carrier bag of them and a willingness to give them out to anyone who wants them. If you're lucky you'll walk away from the gig with your arms adorned with bracelets bearing song titles, lyrics and Taylor Swift memes.

Taylor barely stops for three entire hours

It's seriously an athletic feat. There are little pauses between each era but from our perspective, it looked like most of that time was taken up by Taylor moving from one end of the stage to the other after exiting via a descending platform. Her dancers also put in an unbelievable level of effort but even they get a break - Taylor herself doesn't and must have an intense training regime to make it through without an interval, especially in other cities where she's playing several nights back-to-back.

Her team had properly researched their Welsh references

A lot of artists will throw a "shwmae" or "nos da" out into the crowd when they play in Wales, and it's always nice to hear. But it must be said - Taylor and co put the effort in to really getting it right. As well as a "croeso i'r daith Eras" and "diolch o galon," there was a well-known Welsh phrase specifically baked-in to one of Taylor's most famous lyrics.

In an established Eras Tour tradition, the "like, ever" in the bridge of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is replaced by a local phrase shouted by Taylor's dancer Kameron Saunders. In Liverpool it was "eeee, get on your bike" and in Scotland it was "ya wee radge" - and in Cardiff it was a tonally-perfect "uch a fi!"

Saunders even followed it up by replacing the "one, two, three, four" count in I Can Do it With A Broken Heart with "un, dau, tri, pedwar" - fair play to him for doing his homework! You can read more about the use of the Welsh language in the show here.

The crowd noise was the biggest in generations

Listen, we're not trying to start an argument by trying to compare Taylor to the Beatles or Elvis - form your own conclusions on where she stands among the pantheon of musical greats. But the noise was right up there with them.

Louder than any football match we've been to and without any pauses in the three-hour show, the Swifties were unrelenting. When Taylor first appeared on stage during the Lover era it was very near eardrum-bursting levels, as those who came wearing concert earplugs suddenly looked very well-prepared indeed.

Add to that the several full minutes of cheering after Champagne Problems and it's conclusive - Taylor Swift fans bring the noise like no other.

Swifties take their outfits extremely seriously

One of the real joys of gigs in Cardiff recently - be it Beyonce's visit on her Renaissance World Tour or Harry Styles' two-night Love On Tour stint - has been seeing the incredible outfits people put together. On Tuesday night, the people of Cardiff (and those who travelled from further afield) well and truly delivered.

Our photographers were out and about capturing some of the very best outfits - including hand-glued rhinestones, colour-coordinated outfits themed after specific eras, specially-themed t-shirts for mams and dads, references to lyrics and many, many, many sequins. Da iawn!