7 Best Moments From Taylor Swift’s 2nd Night in Cincinnati on Eras Tour: 2 Special Guests, 3 Surprise Songs

Even on one of the busiest weekends of the summer, and with competition from two hometown playoff-contender sports clubs, Saturday night (July 1) belonged to Taylor Swift. The Queen City was transformed into the pop queen’s city — SwiftCinnati if you will — during the second night of Swift’s home stand at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium, home of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.

But for one evening, all thoughts of helmets and pads was shunted in favor of glittery minidresses and custom shirts, a sea of colorful homemade bracelets and a trail of orphaned sequins littering the ground all over downtown. Swift appeared to have a steep hill to climb considering that the first-place Cincinnati Reds had moved Friday night’s game up to avoid a direct clash with the pop icon; the Reds played an afternoon game on Saturday to avoid a second conflict, but Swifties (and traffic cops) also battled hordes of fans attending first-place FC Cincinnati’s soccer match just a few blocks away.

Friday night’s first gig managed to avoid the predicted thunderstorms, but nearly four months into the epic Eras tour, some things remain a bit unpredictable. Like, for example, the trap door on the floor that failed to open on the first night, forcing Swift to do a quick pivot and sprint down the lengthy stage thrust to a hidden exit at the back of the set for a scheduled outfit change.

The weather was iffy again on Saturday night, but Swift packed Paycor once more, with thousands of additional fans filling the city’s streets and downtown’s Fountain Square for a massive Tay-Gate celebration in the hours before the show. Alas, due to expected bad weather, the start time was moved up an hour, which meant the nixing of opener Gracie Abrams’ planned set. That bad news, however, turned into the very best news when it resulted in Swift inviting Abrams up during the surprise songs acoustic set, which, for the first time, included three previously unplayed tracks.

Here are the 7 best moments from night two of Taylor’s Eras Tour in Cincinnati. (The tour resumes next weekend in Kansas City with two nights — July 7-8 — at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.)