Taylor Swift Performs in Portugal for First Time, Praises Crowds for Eras Tour Love During Emotional Speech: “Took My Breath Away”

Chris Gardner
·6-min read

In a nearly two-decade career, Taylor Swift had never performed in Portugal…until this weekend.

The superstar singer brought The Eras Tour to Lisbon for back-to-back, sold-out stops at Estádio da Luz in Portugal’s capital city. It was a weekend Swift said she won’t ever forget — and she’s already committed to coming back.

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“When I first walked out on this stage, when I first appeared at the beginning of the show, and I looked out and saw this crowd, you took my breath away,” Swift told an electric and capacity crowd of 64,000 at the first show Friday night. “My heart was beating so fast. You just made me feel so lucky to be here with you tonight. Thank you so much for coming to this show.”

Swift, long praised for an authentic connection to her die-hard fans and for expressing gratitude for those who fill her arenas, delivered a pair of shows for Lisbon that those in attendance won’t soon forget either. When the Lisbon dates went on sale last July, tickets reportedly sold out within 2.5 hours. That’s a shorter amount of time than the concert itself, which kicked off at 8:15 p.m. and continued for three hours and fifteen minutes, ending with fireworks over the outdoor arena as she capped off the Midnights era with “Karma.”

The Eras Tour has been revamped for the European leg in the wake of Swift’s latest release, The Tortured Poets Department. She debuted songs from the album on the first European dates that kicked off earlier this month in Paris before continuing on to Stockholm and then Lisbon. But she saved one of the tracks, “Fresh Out the Slammer,” for a live debut in Lisbon during the surprise songs portion of the show.

As has been the case since she kicked off the Eras Tour in March 2023, Swift explained the idea for the career-spanning tour which combines “all of my favorite moments from all the tours I’ve done” and smashes them into a “grand adventure,” as she calls it. The Eras Tour is scheduled to roll on through Europe with opening act Paramore and a series of shows in Madrid; Lyon, France; Edinburgh, Scotland; Liverpool, U.K.; Cardiff, Wales; London; Dublin; Amsterdam; Zurich; Milan; Gelsenkirchen and Hamburg, Germany; Munich; Warsaw; Vienna; and back to London before moving on to Canada. She’s due to wrap in Vancouver on Dec. 8.

“One of my favorite things about the Eras Tour is that, for me, it feels like going back through all of my favorite memories of getting to play shows for the last nearly 20 years of my life because we’ve gone on tour for almost every album I’ve ever put out,” Swift told the audience. “My big regret was that we didn’t get to take all of those tours to all of the places where I wanted to take them. And we absolutely should have come to Portugal on every single tour. This is not a mistake I will ever be making again. We are always going to come to Lisbon.”

Part of the reason for her early committal can surely be chalked up to how the crowd responded to seeing Swift for the first time in Portugal. The screams were, at times, deafening, and she received cheers for speaking Portuguese at several points during the show. (“Muito obrigada,” she said upon taking the stage; at two other points she asked for help by summoning security for distressed fans.)

During the Folklore/Evermore era, while Swift was seated at the piano, the audience erupted with cheers and applause that carried on for more than three minutes. So much so that the lights in the venue came on and Swift seemed caught off guard by the impromptu showing of love. She planted her hands on her head and said, “Oh my god. I love you.”

On the second show, Saturday, Swift seemed even more emotional by what unfolded in Lisbon. “I have to say, I’ve just never seen a crowd like this in my life,” she said. “There have been moments in this show already where I, like, forget what I’m supposed to do next or what I’m supposed to say because I’m just so distracted by how much fun you’re having and how you’re performing in the audience. I love this.”

Back to Friday night: “This crowd has been one of the most memorable crowds I’ve ever played for. I think every time I’m not here from now on, I’m going to be wanting to come back here.”

See key moments from the show below as well as the setlist, organized by era.

Eras Tour Lisbon Setlist

Lover

“Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince”
“Cruel Summer”
“The Man”
“You Need to Calm Down”
“Lover”

Fearless

“Fearless”
“You Belong With Me”
“Love Story”

Red

“22”
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
“I Knew You Were Trouble”
“All Too Well”

Speak Now

“Enchanted”

Reputation

“…Ready for It?”
“Delicate”
“Don’t Blame Me”
“Look What You Made Me Do”

Folklore/Evermore

“Cardigan”
“Betty”
“Champagne Problems”
“August”
“Illicit Affairs”
“My Tears Ricochet”
“Marjorie”
“Willow”

1989

“Style”
“Blank Space”
“Shake It Off”
“Wildest Dreams”
“Bad Blood”

The Tortured Poets Department

“But Daddy I Love Him / So High School”
“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”
“Down Bad”
“Fortnight”
“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”
“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”

Surprise songs

“Come Back…Be Here” / “The Way I Loved You” / “The Other Side of the Door”
“Fresh Out the Slammer” (live debut) / “High Infidelity”

Midnights

“Lavender Haze”
“Anti‐Hero”
“Midnight Rain”
“Vigilante Shit”
“Bejeweled”
“Mastermind”
“Karma”

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