My Imaginary folklore Fest Concert

Let’s pretend for a moment that we are in fact not in the middle of a pandemic. Let’s pretend Taylor has decided to do Loverfest in 2021 the exact way she planned it for 2020. But after those shows are all done, Taylor plans and advertises a world-wide series of concerts in smaller venues that go from late summer through the fall. Imagine it’s more of an acoustic set overall with an intimate vibe within an arena (not in a stadium). No crazy stages, no elaborate props, no dancers or aerialists. Just Taylor and her band. Can you picture it? I certainly can. Which is why I made this blog post about my imaginary folklore Fest concert.

This vision is all made up completely from my imagination and from watching all of Taylor’s previous tours over the years. I am honestly doubtful anything like this would happen anytime soon. We’re in a pandemic that doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon for America, but also because Taylor is such a fantastic performer and puts on such incredible stadium performances. She could be seen as too big to just do smaller arena tours again with not as many bells and whistles. But I know so many fans would love to see her perform in this way. So while we have no idea what the next few years will look like, a girl can dream. And in my wildest dreams, this is what folklore Fest looks like.

This was so fun to make! The process of making this post has made me really appreciate Taylor and her team’s efforts to put on such amazing stage performances. There is so much to think about! I’m not an expert on any part of this (costumes, high fashion, setlists, stages, etc.) but I took my knowledge of what Taylor has done for her previous tours and some knowledge of when I did theatre in high school (womp womp) to come up with all of this. I thought about how each song looked in my head and what I would love to see on stage just as a fan in the audience. I hope my vision makes sense to you and I didn’t forget any major points. Hope you like my imaginary concert!

Opening Acts:

There were some very obvious choices for her opening acts when I thought about this. For instance, The National and Bon Iver were the very clear choices to open for her for this concert. Taylor worked closely with Aaron Dessner of The National on this album and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver sings on ‘exile’. Both of these men will need to be in attendance at every single show in my head for performances you will read about later in this post. But I was also trying to think of female artists (because we’re all about female power here) who also fit the pop/indie/folk vibe. I was thinking Maggie Rogers, Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Micheals would be excellent opening acts. Any one of these performers would be amazing to see live, but I would love to hear who else you think would be great!

PreShow Playlist

One of my favorite parts of the reputation Stadium tour was the preshow playlist that played in between Charli’s and Camilla’s sets. What I would do to go back in time to singing along to ‘Tequila’ and ‘Bad Reputation’ right before Taylor went on stage. Here’s a playlist of all the song’s that played before Taylor’s reputation shows. You can also click the image above for my own preshow playlist for folklore. I made this playlist with the notion that I am not a very big indie/rock fan but these songs do remind me of folklore and the stories that album tells. I made ‘Wildflowers’ by Tom Petty the final song before she goes on, as an ode to when ‘American Girl’ played right before she went on for the Speak Now Tour. If you have suggestions for this playlist, I would love to hear them too!

The Stage:

No joke, this stage is very inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream (obviously). Don’t make fun of me for that! I did that show in high school and when I picture a folklore-esque stage, it has a lot of trees, twinkly lights, high grass and wildflowers. I want it to look like we’re in the middle of a magical forest. Embarrassingly enough, the best way for me to show that was to include some theatrical stage designs of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Try to ignore the bizarre set pieces and actors in weird costumes in these pictures and try to focus on the lights, trees and foliage everywhere.

Of course there would be a giant screen behind her to project her out to the giant crowd with some visuals that rival the 1989 World Tour graphics. In between costume changes, prerecorded videos of Taylor telling the stories of folklore and what inspired her would play. I would love to see a tribute to all of the first responders to COVID-19 right after ‘epiphany’ and video clips of Taylor as a child in Pennsylvania right before ‘seven’. I also want to add that there would definitely be light-up bracelets for this show too, just like there was for the 1989 World Tour and reputation Stadium Tour. I think that idea is genius and would still be awesome to see in small arena shows.

I included the above images of past Taylor performances for reference for a few other stage elements. I loved the tree on the b-stage during the Speak Now Tour and think a large b-stage with a small forest just like this one would be so enchanting. But I also included the floating b-stage from the reputation Stadium Tour because that is what I envision Taylor floating back and forth from the main stage to the b-stage (perhaps different colored lights though). I wanted to show the Speak Now Tour main stage to highlight the hardwood flooring that I think would work well for folklore Fest too, as well as the elevated surface for her band behind her. I threw in an image of Taylor singing ‘Innocent’ at the 2011 VMA’s to showcase the vintage type of microphone I envision her using for most of the show. Whether it’s on a stand in front of her or she’s holding it freely, I think it’s a perfect vibe for folklore Fest.

She would have her whole band set up on stage with her during the show. There would be a slightly elevated platform for Matt on the drums and David on the keyboard. (see the image of the Speak Now stage above). This may be controversial, but BRING CAITLIN EVANSON! I miss her on the fiddle. The Starlights (her background singers) would perform any of the minimal choreography along side her, which is basically just swaying. I didn’t include dancers in this tour because 1. I know literally nothing about choreography 2. if I did, I wouldn’t know how to show that in this post and 3. since it’s meant to be more of an acoustic, folk/indie set, I don’t picture any elaborate dancing. No offense to the incredible dancers she includes in her shows!

The Setlist:

It turns out that deciding on a setlist is so hard! I had to redo it so many times when I kept rethinking outfits and acoustic sets and when the best time is in a show to sit at a piano.

I love the idea of her starting a show with “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit” and ending a show with “I had a marvelous time ruining everything”. Also, now is probably a good time to mention she will be singing every single curse word from the album, so maybe this would be an 18+ show? She did that for Super Saturday back in 2017. I doubt she would make an entire tour 18+ because it is Taylor Swift. How are you going to tell little kids they can’t go see her show? What will the good-Christian, suburban housewives say? Personally, I don’t care about that, mainly because I’m 24 and this is my show. I will not censor Taylor one bit in my imaginary concert. Deal with it.

Mash-Ups

I went back and forth on whether or not to include mash-ups in this post. Let’s be real, Taylor has been touring for over 13 years and her discography is incredibly long. Fans love to hear her old classics and hits but I wanted to focus this concert on her folklore album. That is not to say though that I don’t think she wouldn’t incorporate her older songs into the new ones. Her mash-ups in her past tours have always been my favorite!(Enchanted/Wildest Dreams? Bad Blood/ Should’ve Said No? Masterpieces.)

I’ve been keeping a running list of mash-up ideas in my phone as I’ve been listening to folklore. I’m not musically inclined, so it’s hard to explain how the actual mash-ups would happen. I do think there are ways to add fan favorites into the new album, without completely changing each song. When making this list, I considered parallels in lyrics and what songs have similar themes and evoke the same emotions. I don’t picture more than a few lines of each throwback song included in these mash-ups, but still feel like these concepts are worth mentioning:

• the lakes/Lover
• the lakes/Love Story
• mad woman/ I Did Something Bad
• exile/ You’re Not Sorry
• betty/ The Story of Us
• betty/ All Too Well
• illicit affairs/Better Man
• illicit affairs/White Horse
• peace/ …Ready For It
• august/ Out of the Woods
• august/Cruel Summer
• mirrorball/ The Archer
• the last great american dynasty/ Starlight

I included multiple ideas for a few songs, but know she probably wouldn’t do more than one mash-up for each song. Let me know if you have other ideas for mash-ups!

Taylor’s Tour Outfits:

Taylor usually has custom-made costumes for her tours (Jessica Jones has been doing most of her stuff in the Lover and reputation eras). Like with the stage aesthetic, I thought her tour outfits would be a mix of cottagecore but with sequins (we know how much she loves sequins). TaySwiftStyle did a really awesome post about her predictions for Loverfest. The style in which she made that post definitely inspired this next section. I figured runway looks would be the best visuals to pick from for this post, or else I would just be making up designs as I go. And I don’t know anything about high fashion or how to construct an appropriate tour outfit. So here goes nothing!

Outfit #1:

Bring on the cottagecore! The second I saw this outfit from Christian Dior, I thought of the outfit Taylor wears on the folklore album cover. There is a touch of embroidery on the dress and I love how vibrant the long jacket is. To start the show, Taylor would walk out after a montage of her home videos of her quarantine and part of her dialog from the album prologue. After ‘the 1’, she would roll right into ‘peace’ and I picture her playing an electric guitar for this number (for those small riffs you hear in the song). Then she would loose the jacket, introduce herself, do her little “hi I’m Taylor” bit and sing ‘betty’. I picture ‘epiphany’ as more of an interlude for the album. I envision bright white lights and smoke on the stage as she stands singing ‘epiphany’ in her long, white dress. Then it would go into a transition where she would go change off-stage, but video clips to the instrumental of ‘epiphany’ would play. Here is the link for the boots.

Outfit #2:

You’ll notice that I did not include any shoes for this outfit. I love the idea of a barefoot performance, especially for an album like folklore. I chose this dress mainly because of the life-like floral neckline. This dress also comes in black, but the pink is so cute and bright for the stage! I specifically chose these songs for this outfit because in my mind, I see a lot of wildflowers blooming when I hear these songs. I think it would be fun for Taylor to prance around the stage to ‘seven’ once we walks out in this new dress. She would then sit on this super fancy, antique looking couch and play an acoustic version of ‘the lakes’. I picture her still sitting on the couch with her guitar for ‘invisible string’ but her band also plays with her, so it’s not only acoustic.

Outfit #3:

As I was looking through outfits for this tour, I came across this Rodarte line and thought this outfit just screamed Taylor. This is the b-stage outfit. During ‘this is me trying’, Taylor would climb into the floating stage and fly to the back of the stadium to the b-stage, very much like she did during ‘Delicate’ for the reputation Stadium Tour. She would then do an acoustic set of ‘illicit affairs’ while sitting on a stool with her guitar. For ‘exile’ I have this crazy vision of Justin Vernon of Bon Iver singing with her every night (which is why Bon Iver would open for the show). While Taylor is on the b-stage after ‘illicit affairs’, Justin would walk out onto the main stage and start to single ‘exile’. This would help showcase the lyrics of the song and how the two characters are watching each other from across a room. Taylor would sing her solo part from the b-stage facing him and then get back in her floating stage. The stage would start flying her back at the “so step right out” part and then they both would be singing together from the main stage. Here is the link for the boots in this set.

Outfit #4:

When I look at this gown, I get major dark and mysterious witch vibes. It’s like goth cottagecore. I had originally picked a velvet gown that is very similar to this one, but I figured it get’s really hot on stage, so that may not be the best idea. I would actually love if Taylor altered this gown to be a jumpsuit with a long train behind her. And I’m not sure how I feel about the ‘bow collar’, so let’s pretend she looses that element too. Here is the link for the boots. This portion of the show is what I call PIANO TIME! She would walk out in this dress to sing ‘my tears ricochet’ with the Starlights flanking her on both sides. She would be standing for that performance (so maybe think of ‘This Love’ on the 1989 World Tour). After that, she would move to the piano for ‘mad woman’ and ‘hoax’. Taylor doesn’t normally do two song’s on the piano, but I can’t really picture these songs without a piano.

Outfit #5:

Last outfit change! And I was so excited to find something sparkly with lace! Here is the link for the boots in this image. They remind me of the boots she wore at the reputation Stadium Tour. I really wanted Taylor to look like a mirrorball when she sings ‘mirrorball’, so the silver sequins work for that. I think it would be so cool if she did a similar performance to what she did for ‘Treacherous’ on the RED tour for this song, since the lyrics mention a tightrope. After that, she would roll right into ‘august’ which would give off vibes of her performance of ‘Out of the Woods’ on the 1989 tour of this show (if that performance energy makes sense to you like it does to me). For ‘cardigan’, I picture Taylor sitting with Aaron Dessner at the guitar next to her for more of an acoustic number. She would also share a story about how this album came alive by collaborating with him. That was the first single for this album so I thought it should be towards the end of the show in the setlist. I also picture her putting on the cardigan from her website for this song, and then giving it to a fan in the audience. After that, she would sing ‘the last great american dynasty’ while interacting with fans in the audience, prancing, giving her band a chance to bow and ending the entire show with “I had a marvelous timeeeee”.

Betty’s Garden

Of course, it would not be a proper Taylor Swift concert without some sort of album themed meet-and-greet for before and after the show. So I have come up with ‘betty’s garden’. Much like the stage, this is a magical forest inspired lounge with a lot of fake foliage and string lights. There are a ton of pillows everywhere, intricate rugs, canopies/draped curtains, vases filled with flowers, and bookshelves filled with quirky antiques. The furniture is classy, but also vintage and dated. For the backdrop for your picture with Taylor, I picture a moss wall with tiny flowers scattered in it. This room would be like a more adult version of the original T-Party room. Not that I could relate to meeting Taylor in a setting like this… *sigh*

What I Would Wear:

I love dressing up for Taylor’s shows! Check out what I wore to the reputation Stadium Tour and what I would have worn to LoverFest. The vibe for folklore Fest is a little more laid back however. I know a lot of fans will go all out in crazy elaborate costumes with props and glitter and battery powered lights (and I have totally been there). But the outfits I would personally wear to folklore Fest would give a nod to the fashion that Taylor shows in the folklore album booklets. Think: cottagecore, boho, delicate-vibes, velvet, midi and maxi dresses, booties and the likes. Here are a few pieces I would wear to this imaginary concert:

Dresses:

Tops:

Skirts:

Shoes:

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Phew! So that was a lot. I spent a lot of time coming up with this, and I don’t even feel like I covered everything. I would love to hear what you think of my imaginary concert! I’ll also be checking back on this post when Taylor starts touring again ,when it is safer in the world. Hopefully that day comes sooner than later but for now, let’s all just appreciate a really stellar album and everything Taylor does for us.

Thanks for reading! xx