Taylor Swift is a successful snake.
Once hurled at her as an insult, the country-turned-pop songstress embraced the dig during her concert Friday -- her first stadium show in Colorado ever -- throughout an action-packed 2 hours that was quite literally on fire.
Swift emerged in front of a crowd of 58,000 during the Denver leg of the reputation tour at Mile High Stadium, starting the show after the sun had fully set with the appropriately-titled "...Ready For It?"
The 28-year-old Grammy winner wore a military-like sequin black number to start with, but changed outfits several times during the 24-song long set that was punctuated with fireworks and flames.
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During "Look What You Made Me Do", a giant inflatable snake appeared in the middle of the stage while two more were projected from the 110-foot tall video screens. Actress and friend of Swift, Tiffany Haddish, delivered the often-spoofed line "The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Cause she's dead!"
The main stage, which could only be described as gigantic, took Swift and her openers (Camila Cabello and Charli XCX) nearly a minute to walk from end to end. On Instagram during tour rehearsals, Swift called the x-shaped stage "the biggest [one] we’ve ever had,” and referred to it as "walking on an optical illusion."
As for those openers, Camila Cabello performed just days after she was released from the hospital for dehydration (the Miami singer was forced to cancel her appearance in Seattle two days prior). U.K.-born Charli XCX kicked off the night with a seven-song setlist while her DJs bopped around behind her.
After delivering one of the more popular lines from reputation, ("If a man talks sh*t, then I owe him nothing") the music stopped and Swift took a beat before she continuing to sing, sending the crowd (namely me) into a frenzy.
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In full disclosure, I've been a fan of Swift since she donned cowboy boots with dresses with her arsenal of sparkly guitars, so I've seen her perform twice before -- first in 2011 during the Speak Now tour and again in 2015 when she was promoting 1989.
The last time I saw Swift; however, was when I was covering her sexual assault trial in Denver last year. At that time, Swift had all but disappeared from the public eye as she struggled to maintain her privacy during what became international news.
She didn't address the trial on Friday, which is when she was last known to have spent any significant time in Colorado, even though that courthouse was just 3 miles away from where she held court on Friday evening.
A disappointment of the night was when Swift didn't bring out a surprise guest, something she did nightly during the 1989 tour and on some of the earlier reputation stops.
Instead, during "Shake It Off", XCX and Cabello returned to the stage, this time one of the smaller B stages, to help her sing the chorus.
A highlight of the night was a stripped-down, slightly-country version of "Dancing With Our Hands Tied", a song that was originally recorded with an electronic beat.
Another was during "Gorgeous" when her four background singers (all black women) joined her onstage to sing the song rumored to be written about her boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
The only song she didn't play from her latest 15-track album was "So It Goes..." but Swift performed a whopping 10 songs from previous eras, including the one that catapulted her into fame in 2007: "Teardrops on My Guitar".
She closed the show while singing "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" mashed up with "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and frolicking in a fountain.
From here, Swift is off to Chicago for a two-night stand at Solider Field on June 1 and 2.
