Taylor Swift captivates at Bridgestone

Taylor Swift mania filled every inch of Bridgestone Arena on Friday night: Even before the concert started, fans lined up on the concourse and posed for photos with a cardboard cutout of one of the pop star’s pet cats.

Swift seemed equally excited about the show, admitting to the adoring crowd, “I know you’re supposed to be cool… (but) I’m so excited to be playing this show that I can’t even deal with it.”

Over the course of the two-hour concert, which began with “Welcome to New York,” Swift captivated the packed arena with fierce performances and elaborately-crafted visuals and sets, including a catwalk that rose 20 feet off the ground and spun around while Swift and her backup dancers performed atop it.

The majority of the 18-song set list was composed of material from her most recent album, “1989,” but Swift performed some of her earlier material as well, including "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (featuring a leather-clad Swift on electric guitar), “You Belong with Me” and “Love Story.” The crowd sang along with every word, and the multicolored light-up bracelets that were distributed to each fan before the show flashed with the beat of each song.

As she has done during many of the concerts on her 1989 World Tour, during Friday night’s performance, Swift brought surprise guests onstage: “Love Me Like You Mean It” singer Kelsea Ballerini, Steven Tyler (he and Swift sang Aerosmith’s late ’90s power ballad “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”) and near the end of the night, Alison Krauss, who joined Swift for a lovely and unexpected version of “When You Say Nothing At All.”

By the time Swift encored with her infectious hit "Shake It Off," it was after 11 p.m., and more than a few exhausted young audience members had to be carried out of Bridgestone by their parents, but it was a night none of those kids—nor anyone else in the crowd—will likely forget any time soon.