Who is Taylor Swift’s support? All the acts performing at the UK Eras Tour
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Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is no ordinary concert run – it’s earned more than a billion dollars, boosted the local economies of dozens of cities across the US, Latin America, Asia, Australia and continental Europe, and cemented her status as this generation’s biggest popstar.
Tonight, the 34-year-old pop behemoth will finally bring her three-hour extravaganza – in which she performs a selection of music from her 11 albums, also known as her “Eras” – to the UK. After playing Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff, the next takes to the stage at Wembley Stadium in London (21-23 June; 15-20 August).
However, Swift’s near-two decades of chart-toppers aren’t the only musical draws to the Eras tour. The starry support acts lure in their own fans – whether they’re newcomers in need of a publicity boost (Swift’s US openers, Gracie Abrams and Sabrina Carpenter, have both become stars in their own right since the tour began last year) or established award-winners (like Paramore or HAIM) – and promise to ramp up the energy long before Swift arrives on stage.
Paramore (all European and UK dates)
The Tennessee rockers may seem, at first glance, an odd choice for the primary opening act of the highest-grossing pop tour in history. But the band, who burst into the mainstream in the early Noughties with a run of deliciously rebellious, angst-ridden albums (2005’s All We Know is Falling, 2007’s Riot!), have a long history with Swift personally. Flame-haired frontwoman Hayley Williams, 35, is widely regarded as one of the most influential women in modern rock: Paramore have numerous Grammys, NME and MTV Awards, soundtracked the mega-successful Twilight films, and headlined Reading and Leeds festivals.
She’s also been friends with Swift since they were teenagers and coming up together in the Nashville music scene. Paramore’s influence is keenly felt in much of Swift’s work, from the pop-punk tinged Haunted or Better Than Revenge, on 2010’s Speak Now to upbeat poptimism on 2019’s Lover. After Paramore opened the Eras tour in Glendale, Arizona in March 2023, Williams featured on Castles Crumbling, a Vault track from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) released last year – the pair have yet to perform it as a secret song. For the European leg, Swift even reportedly petitioned Williams to put Misery Business – Paramore’s pop-punk anthem that they stopped playing because of the “problematic” lyrics – back on the setlist. Paramore’s entertaining blend of rock instruments and pop beats is the perfect energiser for a tour that requires pure stamina.
Paramore’s current setlist for the Eras tour: Hard Times, Burning Down the House (Talking Heads cover), Still Into You, That’s What You Get, Running Out of Time, The Only Exception, Misery Business, Ain’t It Fun, This Is Why
Mette (Wembley Stadium, 21 June)
Swift has also announced additional support acts for her whopping eight shows at Wembley Stadium, starting with triple-threat Mette. The Minnesota-native has tried it all: as a dancer, she appeared in N.E.R.D. and Rihanna’s 2017 video for their hit song Lemon, before acting in Hustler, alongside Jennifer Lopez, and Greta Gerwig’s box-office smash Barbie, in which she played Video Girl Barbie. Her music career, meanwhile, has garnered her an Ivor Novello nomination (for Best Contemporary Song for Mama’s Eyes) and nod from Spotify as one of its Pop Rising Artists for 2024.
Song to look out for: Van Gogh, an infectious electro-ballad that is sure to get the crowd on their feet
Griff (Wembley Stadium, 22 June)
Named the Brit Rising Star in 2021, when she was just 20, Griff (real name Sarah Griffiths) is one of Britain’s most exciting rising talents. She’s spent the best few years touring with the megastar likes of Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa, but she’s long been vocal about her adoration of Swift, and how much her music has meant to her. It makes for a wholesome full-circle story, one in which the world’s foremost popstar passes the baton on. Griff’s sound can be summed up as a hybrid of Swift’s emotional vulnerability with Lady Gaga’s infectious, dance floor-ready beats, and she’s also a terrific, energised live performer.
Song to look out for: Vertigo, which Swift herself applauded on Instagram; prepare to yell lines like “I’m used to fixing broken things before / I thought maybe I could change you”
Benson Boone (Wembley Stadium, 23 June)
Born and raised in Monroe, Washington, 21-year-old singer Benson Boone’s path to fame was a modern one: during the pandemic, the music he shared on TikTok went viral and he was consequently encouraged to audition for American Idol. He later withdrew, but his powerful voice and boyband good looks (and four million TikTok followers) led to him eventually signing with Nigh Street Records, owned by Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds. Boone has had a run of hits since, including Beautiful Things, which recently topped the UK Singles Chart.
Song to look out for: Beautiful Things, the earworm chart-topper that set Boone up as the greatest threat to Harry Styles’s dominance over male pop music
Potential secret guests
Swift has brought a number of famous guests on stage to sing with her throughout the Eras tour – typically artists with feature credits on her songs. The National’s Aaron Dessner, who produced much of her lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore, appeared in Santa Clara, California, to perform melodic break-up ballad Right Where You Left Me. The National are in Europe throughout the summer for their own gigs and festival performances – including a Sunday night headline slot on the Other Stage at Glastonbury – so he could make a surprise appearance again.
Then there’s sister-indie trio HAIM, who are personal close friends with Swift and featured on No Body, No Crime. Other potential secret guests range from Lana Del Rey (who sang on Snow on the Beach, and is in the UK in August for Reading and Leeds festivals, so it could work), Ed Sheeran (Everything Has Changed), Jack Antonoff (Getaway Car and more) and Zayn Malik (I Don’t Wanna Live Forever).
