Taylor Swift Announces ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ at Eras Tour Show in Los Angeles

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, August 7, 2023. (AFP)
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, August 7, 2023. (AFP)
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Taylor Swift Announces ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ at Eras Tour Show in Los Angeles

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, August 7, 2023. (AFP)
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, August 7, 2023. (AFP)

Taylor Swift closed the 2023 US leg of her landmark Eras Tour on Wednesday in Los Angeles in a big way, announcing the fourth edition of her re-recording project: “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”

After playing a few tracks from her “1989” era live, the pop superstar approached the center of the stage with an acoustic guitar in hand and suggested to the audience that she had been working on something big.

“Instead of telling you about it, we’ll just show you,” she told the crowd as the screen illuminated behind her. “'1989 (Taylor’s Version)' available Oct. 27!” she cheered.

Just last month, Swift released her re-recording of “Speak Now” and soon claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history. The “Taylor's Version” projects were sparked by music manager Scooter Braun's purchase and subsequent sale of her early catalog.

Aside from breaking some news, across more than three hours at SoFi Stadium, Swift offered fans a bevy of career-spanning tracks — less a greatest hits collection, and more a live celebration of an artist in her veterancy.

Throughout, it was as if the ground shook with the rapturous sound of 70,000 fans scream-singing along to her hits and deep cuts alike. This was Taylor Swift's house — filled with fans in light Taylor Swift cosplay (pink dresses for her 2019 album “Lover,” black leather and snakeskin prints for 2017's “Reputation,” sequins and A-line skirts for 2014's “1989,” and so on).

In a summer stacked with superstar tours celebrating giant new releases — like the larger-than-life experiences of Beyoncé's "Renaissance” World Tour and Drake’s 56-date “It Was All a Blur” tour — Taylor Swift's lookback Eras Tour stands proudly among them.



Anna Netrebko to Sing at Palm Beach Opera Gala

FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
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Anna Netrebko to Sing at Palm Beach Opera Gala

FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Soprano Anna Netrebko is scheduled to give a recital at the Palm Beach Opera for its gala on Feb. 3 in what would be her first US appearance in six years.

Considered the world’s top soprano, Netrebko was dropped by the Metropolitan Opera in 2022 after she refused a demand by Met general manager Peter Gelb that she repudiate Russia President President Vladimir Putin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She has sued the Met, alleging defamation and breach of contract in a case that is pending, The AP reported.

She has appeared since then at major houses including the Vienna State Opera, Paris Opéra, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden but had not been engaged in the US or by The Royal Opera in London. She last appeared at the Met in 2019 in Verdi’s “Macbeth.”

Netrebko will perform with pianist Ángel Rodríguez at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

“I am honored to be lending my voice to the Palm Beach Opera’s annual gala,” Netrebko said in a statement Wednesday sent to The Associated Press.

Palm Beach Opera’s season includes three performances each of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" in January, Verdi’s “La Traviata” in February and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” in April. Casts have not been announced.

Past Palm Beach Opera galas featured Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel, with Isabel Leonard (2024), Piotr Becza³a (2023) and Nadine Sierra (2022) appearing in recent years.

“It means a lot to me to be joining the remarkable list of illustrious singers that have participated in this celebration over the last decades,” Netrebko said.