Swifties have been stopping Nicole and Brianne, who came all the way from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, to congratulate their homemade outfits.

They say they were inspired by an outfit Swift wore at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show back in 2013.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Tonight sees Taylor Swift returning for a second run of London gigs, but let’s bring you up to date with where the epic tour has taken Taylor.

She started in Glendale, Arizona, in March last year and spent six months in the US before heading to gigs south of the border in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.

This year, the show then crossed the continents with shows in Japan, Australia and Singapore before the European leg started in France in March, and the first UK dates in Edinburgh in June.

Back on the continent, there was the cancelled Vienna gigs at the start of the month after a planned suicide attack was foiled by Austrian police.

This week’s shows in London are Swift’s last in Europe before she heads back across the Atlantic to finish the two-year tour in the US and Canada.

Guy Lambert
Entertainment reporter

Earlier this year the term "Swiftonomics" was used by Barclays to highlight the singer's economic influence.

A report from the bank said fans are expected to spend an average of £848 on tickets, travel, accommodation and outfits during her stint of UK shows.

Queues at merchandise stalls here outside Wembley Stadium are stretching back as far as the eye can see, and local shops and businesses are also seeing fans queueing out the door as they get their pre-show food and drinks in.

And this is just the crest of the wave. Eating out, new outfits and Taylor Swift themed afterparties are also expected to contribute to an overall boost of £997m to the UK economy.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent reporting from Wembley

All eyes will be on the VIP section tonight.

Last time Taylor played London, she was watched by Paul McCartney, Tom Cruise, Salma Hayek, Stella McCartney and even Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Fans and the press are speculating that Ed Sheeran could put in an appearance tonight, maybe even joining Taylor on stage for a song or two.

One person who will be attending is Maya Thompson - a writer whose blog about her son’s battle with cancer inspired Taylor’s charity single Ronan.

She posted on Instagram, external that she’d received a special invitation from the star (alongside Buffy actress Charisma Carpenter).

Some fans think this means that Swift will perform Ronan at tonight’s show – as a potential tribute to the victims of the Southport knife attacks.

Swift's support acts are taking to the stage - we've just heard from 19-year-old Australian singer-songwriter Sofia Isella, and American rock band Paramore have just begun their set.

The pair are tonight's opening acts before Taylor Swift herself steps on stage in around an hour and a half's time.

Paramore has been following Swift around the entire Europe leg of the Era's tour, while Sofia Isella is setting the stage for a number of other artists to support Swift later this week.

Tomorrow it will be Holly Humberstone, followed by Suki Waterhouse, Maisie Peters and RAYE.

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Wembley

No true Swiftie's outfit is complete without sparkles. Some people have got on cowboy hats and boots, some of them have got rhinestones and heart-shaped glasses, but the immaculate vibes are symbolised by friendship bracelets.

Exchanging those bracelets is what every true Swiftie does and I've been swapping mine with some fans that have travelled across the Atlantic.

I met Shelby from Toronto who told me she had been swapping bracelets with fans and said it was "awesome that Taylor can bring people together from all over the world. I love it".

I also met a family from North Carolina who had spent about £6,000 to travel and see the gig in London, but said it was worth it as they couldn't get tickets in the US.

One 19-year-old is celebrating after getting her exam results in the queue.

While lining up for the concert outside Wembley, Martyna Smoniewska received an email saying she had distinctions in her BTecs. She'll go on to study broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University.

Martyna and her best friend snapped up their £277 VIP entry tickets more than a year ago and travelled down from Nottingham yesterday. They were at the venue at 07:00 this morning.

Asked which songs she was most looking forward to, Martyna told the PA news agency: "I am a big Reputation girl so I am so excited to hear the Reputation set. I know every song off by heart.

"There have been rumours about Ed Sheeran coming out to perform with her," she said.

"That would be such a big deal for me, because I plan to get Everything Has Changed tattooed on my arm."

• Our Live colleagues are also covering students receiving their exam results today. You can check that page out here

The Met Police say they're "well prepared" ahead of Taylor Swift's Wembley concerts, after her Vienna shows had to be cancelled because of an attack plot.

When the Austrian concerts were called off, London's mayor promised the UK capital would keep hosting Swift's concerts, despite the threat.

Ticketholders have been provided advice ahead of the concert, Met Police Commander Lou Puddefoot says.

"The public should expect to see officers, security staff and stewards working together in and around the venue and at transport hubs," she says.

"We continue to ask the public to remain vigilant and if something doesn't feel right, to report it to a police officer or in an emergency call 999."

The stadium's online guide warns fans not to bring a wide array of objects, including weapons, facemasks, chains, chain wallets, studded jewellery or spurs, noise-making devices such as air horns, bells, bullhorns, thunder sticks or aerosol containers - including sunscreen, pepper spray, bug spray, or spray paint.

And there will be no "Tay-gating" allowed - fans without tickets will be moved on.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent reporting from Wembley

Image source, PA Media

I've just overheard the following nugget of gold in the queue for the merchandise stall:

“You don’t get to judge me for how much I spend on merch. I work hard for my money and I get to put that money on my credit card.”

Image source, PA Media

One person who does not need brushing up on his Taylor Swift trivia is Bailey Heath, who has travelled from Bristol to be at the show tonight.

He is one of four siblings who have travelled in from around the world.

Joining the 23-year-old student is Kiki Heath, 34, who came from Canada, Indi Heath, 36, from Surrey and China Heath, 26, from Budapest.

In 2019, Bailey was crowned MTV's Ultimate Stan after taking part in a Taylor Swift-themed game show. He answered 72 questions about the star.

"It was actually really hard questions," he told the PA news agency.

"it was 'What was her brother's star sign?', 'What was her football team in high school?'

"Don't ask how I know them all. It's a lifestyle choice."

Image source, EPA

If you need some brushing up on your Taylor Swift trivia, we've got you covered:

Taylor Alison Swift is an American musician and songwriter, born in Pennsylvania on 13 December 1989.

Swift has been active within the music industry since 2003. She started her career as a young country/pop musician at age 14, signing with Big Machine Records – her debut self-titled album Taylor Swift was released the following year.

As Swift’s career progressed, she left the country genre for a broader pop sound, with 2014’s 1989 featured synth-heavy hits like Style, Shake It Off and Bad Blood.

Swift has been a famous musician since the start of her career, but what shot her further into the spotlight was the public copyright battle with music manager Scooter Braun, who bought her old record company, Big Machine Records.

This led to Swift losing the rights to her master recordings, which led the star to begin re-recording her first six albums - four of which have been released so far.

The Eras Tour started in March 2023 and is expected to become the highest grossing tour in music history, making Swift a billionaire.

The US star who was once known for her prolific scathing songwriting about ex-boyfriends like Joe Jonas, John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal in her music, has now arguably become the world’s largest music superstar who has connected with a worldwide audience, to the extent she was Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2023.

Thousands of Taylor Swift fans are arriving in Wembley stadium for the US pop star's Eras tour.

Thursday is the first of five remaining Wembley concerts to take place.

Security measures at the stadium have been tightened after a security threat led to the cancellation of all three concerts in Vienna earlier this month.

Charlotte Gallagher
Reporting from Wembley

Russell is taking his daughter Mia to her first ever concert. Both are Swifties and Russell was thrilled his daughter wanted to go with him.

It's traditional for Taylor Swift fans to exchange friendship bracelets amongst one another at the concert, and Russell says he is hoping to fill his arms with them.

Another parent told me she had made 450 friendship bracelets for her daughter and friend to exchange.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent reporting from Wembley

Fans arriving at Wembley on the London Underground have been greeted with a short story inspired by Swift’s lyrics.

See how many song titles you can spot.

(If you are on a mobile device, don't forget that you can pinch to zoom in and make the image bigger.)

Image source, PA Media

Tonight's concert will also be overshadowed by last month’s killing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Bebe King, six, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died after being stabbed on 29 July, with many others seriously injured in the knife attack that shocked the public.

At the time, the singer wrote on Instagram that the horror of the attack was “washing over me constantly”.

"The loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families, and first responders," Swift said.

"These were just little kids at a dance class."

There is speculation that Swift might dedicate one of her songs to the victims tonight.

Image source, Reuters

Tonight's Wembley gig will be Taylor Swift’s first since last week’s concerts in Austria were cancelled because of an apparent attack plot.

Police arrested two men they said had been planning explosions and knife attacks outside the venue in Vienna.

Sixty-five thousand people would have been inside Ernst Happel Stadium, and there could have been up to 30,000 fans outside.

As it was, the venue stood empty, and organisers are putting in place additional safety measures for the London dates.

They say fans without tickets will be moved on, and camping outside is not allowed.

• Read more here

Image source, Reuters

Despite playing more than a hundred sold-out shows around the world, tickets for the show remain in fierce demand.

For those who have missed out, a trend has emerged for ticketless fans to gather where she is playing to listen from afar.

In Munich last month, an estimated 40,000 people flocked to a nearby hillside to catch a glimpse of the star in action.

But the practice, known as "Tay-gating", has been banned at Wembley Stadium, “to support the safe entry and exit of everyone within the stadium,” a statement from the venue says, and people without tickets "will be moved on".

Security measures at Wembley had already been tightened following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.

Concert-goers are only allowed one A4 size bag, with banned items including banners, umbrellas, glass or metal containers, iPads, laptops, aerosol sprays (including sunscreen) and signs larger than a sheet of A4 paper.

You can read more on Wembley's security measures here

Charlotte Gallagher
Reporting from Wembley

Taylor Swift isn’t on stage until this evening, but her fans have been arriving at Wembley from the early hours of this morning.

We arrived at 05:00 and people were already sprinting down Olympic Way to stake their place in the queue.

Many have spent hours crafting their outfits, embellishing them with sequins and jewels.

Fans have come from all over the world - we’ve met people from the UK, India, Spain, the US and Canada.