[attach id=436361 size="medium"]Fans Emma Robertson (left), 19 and Lucy Robertson, 17, outside the SSE Hydro, Glasgow, ahead of the first date on the Taylor Swift 1989 World Tour. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire[/attach]
Taylor Swift kicked off the UK leg of her world tour in Glasgow, declaring to the crowd: “I am one of you” and hinting at her relationship with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris.
The US star performed hits from her album 1989 to a sell-out crowd at the SSE Hydro, and told the crowd her father had instructed her by e-mail to tell fans of her Scottish heritage.
The 25-year-old said: “In the subject line it said ‘Tell Scotland this’ and in the e-mail he said our whole family is from Scotland and you have to tell them that.
“So I am one of you, and I’m proud because this crowd is amazing.”
After performing Blank Space, during which she swung a golf iron on stage, she told fans: “I happen to love Scottish people, personally.”
Swift’s UK appearance comes after she sparked headlines for her open letter to Apple saying she would hold back her latest album in protest at the technology giant’s “shocking and disappointing” decision not to pay for songs streamed during a three-month trial period.
Writing online, she said it was ‘‘unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing’’, prompting an Apple executive to tweet that the musicians would be paid.
After Apple’s about-turn Harris tweeted: “I just played a gig inside a giant owl and my girl just changed the entire music industry what a day.”
Swift, wearing a white hotpant suit and black thigh-length boots, last night thanked fans for all their messages over the years.
She said: “I’ve been entrusting my secrets to you for 10 years and I’m so happy you do the same with me.”
She said she appreciated their efforts: “It’s sold out, it’s Tuesday night, you’re here with me and I’m so happy about it. Thanks for coming.
“You’ve got signs, you’ve got costumes - you went all out.”
Swift ended her two-hour show with Shake It Off, which she and her male suited dancers performed dancing on an elevated walkway which moved around the arena to the delight of fans, who got to their feet for the finale.
She will play Manchester and London later this week.