It’s been five years since Taylor Swift last went on tour, during which time she’s released four albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Folklore.

Her live absence – enforced by the pandemic – was a source of frustration, because her first show back was a three-hour, fifteen-minute extravaganza, including 44 songs from across her career.

“I can’t even go into how much I’ve missed you,” Swift told fans, as she took to the stage for the opening night of her Eras tour.

The star had promised that the show would be “a journey through all of her musical eras”. Despite that, the tour broke the record for the most concert tickets sold by an artist in a single day, at 2.4 million.

About 80,000 of those fans attended the first show at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, where they were treated to a trawl through Swift’s hugely varied back catalog.

She opened with Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, a cherished fan favorite from 2019’s Lover album, before segueing into the dreamy pop of Cruel Summer.

Dressed in a diamond-encrusted leotard outfit and surrounded by dancers with elaborate peacock tails, she soaked up the crowd’s applause, declaring: “I don’t know how to process all of this and how it’s making me feel right now.

Amount of songs played from each of Taylor Swift’s albums at the first #ErasTour show: ‘Lover’ – 6 ‘Fearless’ – 3 ‘evermore’ – 5 ‘reputation’ – 4 ‘Speak Now’ – 1 ‘Red’ – 4 ‘folklore’ – 8 ‘1989’ – 5 ‘Taylor Swift’ – 1 ‘Midnights’ – 7