Taylor-Mania Hits Tokyo as Swift Resumes Tour Before Super Bowl 

A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Taylor-Mania Hits Tokyo as Swift Resumes Tour Before Super Bowl 

A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A Taylor Swift fan from Hong Kong poses for a photo in front of the venue of Taylor Swift's international tour named "The Eras Tour" in Tokyo, Japan February 7, 2024. (Reuters)

Taylor Swift will celebrate making Grammys history with a run of concerts in Tokyo starting Wednesday, kicking off a month of sell-out shows in Asia that will include a quick run home to see her boyfriend contest the US Super Bowl.

Excited fans queued in the cold from morning to buy merchandise at Tokyo Dome before the four shows, part of the megastar's global Eras Tour -- the first billion-dollar-tour ever.

"It's us, hi! We are Swifties from Taiwan!" read a huge fabric banner featuring 10 pictures of Swift's face, held up by a group of fans outside the 55,000-capacity arena.

Results of a hotly contested ticket lottery for Swift's Japan dates were announced in July, with some fans travelling to Tokyo, even if the tour was coming to them.

"We came just for the concert as we couldn't get tickets in Australia," laughed 18-year-old Ebony Donohue.

"I'm so excited to finally see her. All her music is so different. She's so relatable, and strong and amazing."

Other fans from places Swift won't stop this time, including Thailand, the Philippines and China, joined the vast crowd which gathered in the afternoon before the gig.

Some donned tassels, bright sequins and high-heeled boots in homage to their favorite Swift looks, while others came dressed as unicorn angels or wore official tour T-shirts.

Saya Matsuo, 25, told AFP he had been waiting years for this moment.

"I've been listening to her songs since I was in middle school, about 10 years. This is the first time I'll see her in concert, and I've been so excited since the moment we were able to get tickets," he said.

"She is someone who can grab people's hearts, make people sing and dance. I love her personality."

Swift-mania has reached fever pitch worldwide after the 34-year-old on Sunday scooped her fourth Album of the Year prize at the Grammys on Sunday.

That is the most held by any artist and breaks the joint record of three previously held by Swift and the likes of Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

Super Bowl dash

Straight after her last Tokyo concert wraps up on Saturday, Swift will make a pit stop at this weekend's Super Bowl, where she is expected to cheer on her current beau Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs from the VIP suites.

The pop icon will then play dates in Australia and Singapore before heading to Europe on the tour that is predicted to make a staggering estimated $2 billion.

An influx of fans to the concerts has been shown to create a so-called "Swift effect" on local economies.

Travel technology company Amadeus reported an "extraordinary increase in interest" in search traffic for travel to cities in the Asia-Pacific region visited on the Eras Tour.

Cheska Caberte, 25, from the Philippines, told AFP she had been planning her trip for six months.

Wearing a fluffy bright pink jacket and matching heart-shaped shades, Caberte she was "really excited" to meet other "Swifties", as the star's fans are known.

Did she think her idol will make the Super Bowl in time? "She can go back right away, no sweat -- it's Taylor Swift."



How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT

How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".