“Light Me Up!”: Taylor Swift Plays ‘I Did Something Bad’ for First Time on Eras Tour
Taylor Swift did not announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) Saturday night, but she did finally perform the album’s “I Did Something Bad” on The Eras Tour. At her Aug. 17 show, the song — a personal favorite, Swift said — got its tour debut during the acoustic set at London’s Wembley Stadium.
“The whole tour I’ve done 100s of songs, but I’ve not done one of my favorite ones,” teased Swift, guitar in hand in front of 92,000 people, “because I was waiting for the right crowd.”
And then came “I Did Something Bad” for the first time in 2024 — a sharp, acoustic version of one of Reputation‘s big pop pillars.
Swift’s Eras rendition of the song still was a thrill, building up to a bridge that had her scream-singing the last “Light me up!”
Of course, it was a thrill to Swifties not just in a musical sense, but in getting hopes high that Swift’s much-anticipated Reputation (Taylor’s Version) might be this-much-closer to materializing.
With only two re-recorded album releases remaining in Swift’s queue, Reputation and her self-titled debut, and with the tip last December that Rep‘s previously unheard vault tracks are “fire” (it’s what Swift said), playing a Rep rarity, which many fans guessed would be saved to align with an album announcement, is an interesting choice. “I Did Something Bad” hasn’t been performed live by Swift since 2018.
Swiftstorians might recall that it was almost exactly seven years ago, on Aug. 18, 2017, when Swift cryptically went dark on socials ahead of the original Reputation album’s announcement. Without explanation, on Aug. 21, 2017, one post showed up on her feed: the first slither of the now-iconic snake imagery associated with her sixth studio album.
“I DID SOMETHING BAD” surfaced as a trending topic on social media into the late hours of Saturday, with fan memes aplenty. (Scroll through them below.)
In Saturday night’s acoustic set, she also played a piano mashup that pulled at the heartstrings: “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” from The Tortured Poets Department, and “Coney Island,” from Evermore. Swift has two more Wembley shows before wrapping her run of London tour dates.
Keep track of all of the surprise songs performed on The Eras Tour on Billboard‘s full list, after you watch “I Did Something Bad” and scroll through the general reaction Swifties had online.
Ashley Iasimone
Billboard
