Doesn't it seem like Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has been going on for all of our lives? A lot has happened since that first show on March 17, 2023: there's that concert movie, her romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and her (tour-fueled) addition to the billionaires club.
There have also been more somber milestones, such as the death of Ana Clara Benevides, who collapsed at a Taylor Swift show in Brazil and died of heat exhaustion soon after. It's likely that tragedy was on Swift's mind Friday when, during her show at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, she stopped mid-song to ensure a distressed fan was attended to.
The June 7 concert was the first of three Swift shows planned in Edinburgh this weekend, in what Deadline writes is "Scotland’s Biggest Ever Stadium Concert." That means 73,000 fans were left hanging when—as was captured by fans and posted to social media—Swift stopped singing during a mashup of songs “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” and “I Know Places.”
Gesturing toward the crowd with her guitar, Swift said—strumming all the while—"We need help right in front of me, please, right in front of me. She's right there. I'm just gonna keep playing til' somebody helps them, then I'm gonna keep singing the song."
“I don't think anybody's gotten to them yet…We're not gonna keep singing, we're just gonna keep talking about the people that need help in front of me," she continued. "Just let me know. I can do this all night.” According to the BBC, after it was clear that the fan was receiving medical attention, Swift resumed the show, saying ”We’re good? Awesome!"
But things weren't completely awesome, as Swift was forced to stop a short while later, yelping “Oh God! Hand cramp!”
“This has never happened before," Swift said. “It’s so embarrassing. My hand's like a claw!”
Temperatures in Edinburgh dropped to the 40s Friday night, making a hand-cramping chill almost inevitable during her outdoor stadium-focused tour. One thing that might warm her up is the news that she's broken new records for the isle of Scotland. “I had someone pull me aside and say, ‘Hey, we’ve checked this 20 times and we swear… tonight’s concert is the most highly attended stadium show in Scottish history,'" Swift said from the stage Friday night.
And if that's not enough, there's always Outlander star Sam Heughan, who announced on Instagram that he'd be at one of the shows. The actor promised that when "she sees me in the audience, she’s gonna forget all about him and fall for a man in a ginger wig. How could she resist?”
“You know, she’s gonna shake him off and take me out instead. I’m really excited,” Heughan continued, tongue firmly in cheek. Outlander viewers know, of course, that Heughan has a solid track record of warming shivering women up, so point taken.
But it's not like Kelce, the “him” to which the actor refers, is unfamiliar with managing a chill. While playing in below-zero temperatures last year, Kelce revealed his own tactics for managing cold weather, and they involve neither horseflesh nor wool. Instead, the athlete says, he prefers to scream at the top of his lungs to keep his circulation going. “You got to keep it warm, you know what I mean?” he said following one such sideline screaming session. Hey, if it works, it works.