Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

Swift overcomes bumps in the road

Jeffrey Remz  |  July 7, 2011

One could argue that Taylor Swift is going through a rough patch through no fault of her own.

The singer certainly has enjoyed a great year, but last Saturday, she was doing the first of two sold-out gigs at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxboro. But during the show, Swift and about 54,000 other folks endured a downpour. That wasn't easy, of course, but Swift soldiered on. She was much more fortunate on Sunday night as the night was clear.

Now Swift's show isn't the type of concert where you can switch things up due to the weather - at least for the most part. There is a lot of staging with stories presented in many of the songs. Nine dancers participate in many numbers. Swift had very little wiggle room to change things up.

The rain also meant an early end to the evening for one Swift concert attendee, only to eventually end in much joy.

Matt Brown was a Norwood High School hockey player, who was paralyzed after crashing into the boards during a game last year. The injury received much press in the local area.

Brown went to the Saturday gig with his girlfriend and other friends, according to the Boston Globe. However, once the rain came, Brown and friends split because his wheelchair is electric.

But all was not lost. Swift's reps apparently learned of what happened and contacted Brown on Sunday and asked the entourage to attend Sunday's show. "We met her backstage before the show and talked for, like, 15 minutes,' Brown told the Globe.

"I don't remember what we talked about,'' Brown said.

Brown also spent a long time - about an hour - talking with Swift's mother. "That was really cool,'' he said.

Brown was positive about the gig as well. "Absolutely incredible," he said.

Rest assured, Swift made one fan quite quite happy. Good story.

This week, Swift came down with bronchitis, forcing postponement of her shows this weekend in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C. Swift, of course, profusely apologized to her fans, saying she really was not feeling well to have to postpone the shows. You can bet your bottom dollar that was the case because with a tour going so well, it's a royal pain to reschedule and re-route.

In the scheme of things these are small bumps in the road for Swift. She is on a career high right now, playing stadiums, doing a two-hour show with a lot of quality songs and being able to pull it off.

Based on the second show at Foxboro, it was clear that Swift and company put a tremendous amount of thought into putting the show together. While two hours may sound like a long show, it was quite surprising that she left out first album hits including Tim McGraw and Teardrops on My Guitar.

The bottom line was that Swift could have gone on even longer and still had quality material to put out there.

Yes, the past week may have presented a few bumps in the road, but Swift is on the right track.