Jacqueline Howard
BBC News

Taylor Swift is well and truly back in action with a seemingly seamless sell-out show in Wembley tonight - with four more performances scheduled at the venue this week.

Her return to the stage was greatly anticipated after three shows in Vienna were called off due to a possible security threat.

After more than two weeks between shows, Swift sprinkled an extra bit of star power into the spectacle - bringing out her "best friend" Ed Sheeran to sing a duet mashup of three songs during the acoustic section of the show.

That included ‘Everything Has Changed’ - a song written by Swift and Sheeran together in 2013.

Our live coverage has now closed.

• You can read more about the performance here.

Chi Chi Izundu
Reporting from Wembley Stadium

Although 'Tay-gating' is not allowed following the Vienna security scare, I counted around 250 Tay-gaters near the base of the steps up to the stadium.

For context, 'Tay-gating' is where ticketless fans gather outside the venue.

Despite not having tickets, these Tay-gaters made the most of it by swapping friendship brackets.

One of the girls has a ticket for Taylor's last London show on 20 August and has flown from LA, after seeing Swift perform there. She came here tonight just to soak up the atmosphere.

After nearly three and a half hours of songs, 16 costume changes and a surprise guest appearance from Ed Sheeran - Taylor Swift has finished her first of five shows this week at Wembley Stadium.

The BBC understands that Taylor Swift has privately reached out to the families affected by the Southport attack.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar died after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed event in the Merseyside town on 29 July.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

In the end, Swift chose not to address the tragedy in Southport or the foiled attack plot in Vienna during tonight’s show.

Instead, she celebrated her music and her fans. Which, in many respects, was what we expected. The singer is notoriously private and addressing the tragic death of three young fans would have struck an odd tone in the middle of a pop concert.

Swift ends the acoustic section of the show with a mashup of her songs King of My Heart and The Alchemy on the piano.

She takes a bow to an adoring crowd, then turns on her heel and dives into a cavity that has opened up in the middle of the stage. It's an iconic part of the theatrics of the concert.

She'll soon emerge kitted up for the Midnights era, the finale of the show.

What began as a duet of Sheeran and Swift's Everything Has Changed has quickly turned into an acoustic mash-up medley.

The song morphed into End Game, which features Sheeran, then into Sheeran's hit Thinking Out Loud.

Fans lucky enough to be in the room are absolutely loving it.

Hysterical screams are ringing out around the stadium, which can only mean one thing: Ed Sheeran is joining Taylor Swift for the acoustic section of the concert.

He appears on the stage to join Swift in singing 'Everything Has Changed'.

The song was written by Swift and Sheeran together back in 2013.

Image source, Getty Images

The epic performance of the Eras tour has to be seen to be believed.

Typically, Swift takes to the stage performing a range of 46 hit songs from her ten albums. The show is three and a half hours long with a conceptual theme, paying tribute to each 'era' of her career.

The tour itself is the highest grossing of all time with 11 million tickets sold and £1.7bn estimated revenue since it began in March 2023. Her run of shows in London is a record-breaker in itself - she is the first artist to play an eight-show run at Wembley Stadium.

The local economy of cities Swift plays in receive a "Taylor boost" of tens of millions of pounds when she comes to town and her Seattle show generated such a high level of seismic activity it equated to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.

• Why is Taylor Swift so big? 'She wants it more than anyone'

Chris Gibson
Culture editor

To understand the Taylor Swift phenomenon, you have to recognise who has stood where she has. Stadiums are usually filled by male musicians.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen. Before that Queen, Rod Stewart.

Other women such as Beyoncé, Adele and Pink have all been part of the change.

But standing inside Wembley, the sound and smiles are testament to a different power source. It feels like a nuclear power station. A woman who has broken male dominance and changed what we understand to be be a stadium headliner in a male world.

Outselling them, out monetising them and outsmarting them.

The metrics of her success mean she is not only the pre-eminent cultural figure of her time but also the one who continues to change the game.

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Fan speculation is all part of the Eras Tour fun and many are hoping that the last leg of Taylor’s European run will end with an album announcement.

Many are hoping she will announce the re-record - or Taylor’s Version - of Reputation, her 2017 album.

Some believe that the one-legged jumpsuit she wears in the Reputation part of the show will get a second leg to mark the album’s imminent release, whilst others think various stage malfunctions (including with her big screen and piano) in recent shows are signs of exciting things to come.

Swift has two albums left to record, Reputation and her self-titled 2003 debut. She has already remade four of her EPs between 2021 and 2023.

She made this decision when the masters of six of her albums she recorded with Big Machine Records were sold to Justin Bieber’s former manager Scooter Braun.

Jacqueline Howard
Live reporter

Introducing the Folklore/ Evermore era, Swift speaks of feeling overwhelmed by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd.

She says that she and the band will miss the feeling of performing to such crowds when the tour ends.

"Ugh, feelings and emotions," she says.

"Feelings and emotions I didn't think about before talking about it," she adds, trailing off.

It's fair to wonder whether these big feelings and emotions might possibly have been compounded by recent events such as the cancelling of the previous Vienna shows.

Guy Lambert
Reporting from Wembley

With the show well under way inside, Swifties of all ages have gathered outside the perimeter of Wembley Stadium to sing, dance and party the night away.

'Tay-gating', where ticketless fans gather outside the venue, is not allowed following the Vienna security scare which caused three concerts to be cancelled, but it seems these fans are far enough away. With clouds gathering overhead and the temperature beginning to drop, nothing is going to dampen their spirits.

Leyla Hayes & Chi Chi Izundu
Reporting from Wembley

People have spent huge amounts of money to be here tonight.

One American family of four paid £2,000 to come.

That’s just for the tickets “because they were $2,000 dollars each in LA, so it was cheaper to come here on vacation and see her," they said.

And Australia superfan Bridget Saric reckons she has spent more than £5,000 travelling around the world to see the star.

Tonight will be her 10th of 12 shows on this tour. She's already seen Taylor in Melbourne, Sydney, Milan, Cardiff, and Liverpool, and this is her third show in London where she now lives.

She says it’s all worth it!

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent reporting from Wembley

The sound of fans singing along to All Too Well is reverberating all around Olympic Way.

The 10-minute extended take of the star’s devastating break-up ballad was released on the re-recorded version of her Red Album in 2021, and was quickly branded her masterpiece.

Even out here, where we’re gathering material for the BBC Ten O’Clock News, it’s quite affecting.

Celebrities, including Idris Elba and Amelia Dimoldenberg, have been spotted in the VIP area at the opening night of the August Taylor Swift run at Wembley.

Asked whether he was excited to be there, Elba said: "Oh my God, yeah. Can't you tell?" But when asked whether he considered himself a Swiftie - he moved from side to side and looked uncertain.

Elba said his favourite Swift song was London Boy.

Elba exchanged friendship bracelets with Sienna Lorenz, 19, a student at Nottingham University.

Ms Lorenz said: "I gave him a London Boy bracelet and it broke as soon as he touched it so I gave him the Style one and he said thank you".

Image source, Getty Images

We've just had the first photos of tonight's concert cross our desks.

It looks like Swift's opening costume is the leotard in the traditional Lover pastel pinks and blues.

Swift has been known to switch it up on occasion – she stepped out in Paris last May in a leotard beaded in bright reds and oranges.

Inaya Mohmood
BBC News

Image source, Amy Green

Nine-year-old superfan Emilie and her mum Amy have travelled from Nottingham to be at Wembley tonight.

They’ll be celebrating some good news with their favourite artist: Emilie has just completed two years of chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, as well as battling sepsis and pneumonia twice in the last six months.

“Emilie’s wish was to come and see Taylor Swift. Charities couldn’t make it happen, so I spent a lot of time to get her some tickets”, her mum Amy tells me.

“She really deserves this celebration.”

Emilie is hoping she’ll be chosen to get the 22 hat, which Swift gives away at almost every concert on the tour.

The lucky receiver is usually picked at random, but fingers crossed it will be Emilie wearing it tonight!

A spectacular opening.

Taylor Swift appears from under huge peach-coloured feathers singing Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

Her fans are ecstatic.