Taylor Swift Encounters Stage Malfunction While on Tour—and Laughs It Off

Taylor Swift performs against a multicolored background

(Image credit: Getty)

published 3 July 2023

From pretty much all accounts, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has been a resounding success—but even the greats have unplanned moments. Per People, Swift poked fun at herself after a stage malfunction in Cincinnati, truly putting shaking it off into practice. (See what we did there?)

On Friday night—the first of her two shows in Cincinnati—Swift “was faced with a major stage malfunction,” People reports. “Following the Reputation era segment of her three-hour concerts, Swift normally descends through the floor for a wardrobe change. At Friday’s show, however, it appeared that the trapdoor she is supposed to exit through during the transition was not working.”

Taylor Swift onstage for her Eras tour in a one legged bodysuit

A fan captured a video of the incident, where Swift could be seen running quickly (swiftly?) from the stage after realizing the trapdoor had malfunctioned. Swift then sped past her backup dancers as they exited the stage through a side door.

But Swift didn’t let it get her down, even making fun of herself, dropping into the comments section of a different video of the moment—set to AWOLNATION’s “Run”—to comment “Still swift af boi.”

Taylor Swift singing into a mic on her Eras tour

Trapdoor aside, Swift seemed to enjoy her time in Cincinnati, writing on Twitter Sunday “Cincinnati, I couldn’t love you more. Had the best two nights with you!!”

Swift wrote that her second Cincinnati show “was extra special because of her surprise performances with Eras tour opener Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner of The National, who collaborated with Swift on her albums Folklore and Evermore,” People reports.

Taylor Swift performing on her Eras tour

“Last night was so special getting to sing ‘I miss you, I’m sorry’ with @gracieabrams in the acoustic set and bringing out @aaron_dessner to play ‘Ivy’ in his hometown,” Swift wrote. “See you soon, Kansas City.”

Stage malfunctions or not—the show must go on.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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