Is Britain prepared for Taylor Swift’s Swarovski encrusted juggernaut?

Brace yourself as Taylor Swift‘s all-conquering Eras tour — a Swarovski-encrusted juggernaut — thunders into the UK next week.

With private jets, a bevy of bodyguards, a rider specifying chocolate milk and a daily Starbucks at 11am sharp, plus a travelling circus of dancers, singers, musicians and crew — not to mention a beefy American football-playing boyfriend — there’s nothing quite like Taylor, 34, on tour.

And it’s said that the 15 dates, including an unprecedented eight sell-out nights at Wembley Stadium, will bring a £1billion boost to the UK economy.

Alison Boshoff delves behind the scenes of the biggest, sparkliest phenomenon in showbusiness, and the gargantuan effort it takes to bring her record-breaking show to our shores.

His and hers private planes 

A star of Taylor’s magnitude wouldn’t travel in anything but a private jet, and there are two Dassault Falcon aircrafts at her disposal, each worth around £30million and with room for 12 passengers. Taylor’s brother Austin, 32, an actor and producer who has worked with his sister, often hops on one plane.

There’s little sibling rivalry here: the pair are incredibly close and she’s described him as ‘one of my best pals’.

Taylor, meanwhile, flies with her long-time manager Robert Allen, publicist Tree Paine and road manager Erica Worden. It’s almost certain that her boyfriend of nearly a year — Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce — will be on her plane too as he’s indicated he is coming along for this part of the two-year tour, saying: ‘Oh, you know I gotta go support.’

He added: ‘I think she’s at Wembley eight times. Which is mind-blowing that she can do that many shows in one stadium and fill that thing up.’

Her famously supportive parents Andrea and Scott, who both worked in finance, may also be there as they’ve been spotted at other gigs on the Eras tour. They raised Taylor and Austin on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania before moving to the Nashville suburbs when she landed her first record deal aged 14.

While Taylor’s tour may be a money-spinner, her private jet habit comes at a high cost to the environment.

Last year it was calculated that she had flown the equivalent of seven times around the world, often to spend time with Travis and to cheer him on at NFL games. Private jets are said to be costing her $5million (£3.9million) for the European leg of the tour alone.

90 lorries to transport sets – and bumper bonuses for the crew 

Fans have praised the extraordinary immersive sets on the Eras tour, which change with almost every song in the three-hour set to reflect the ten different stages — or ‘Eras’ — of her career. There’s everything from a fairytale forest to a simulated house.

Produced by her own company, Taylor Swift Touring, it’s a logistical marathon.

A fleet of 90 trucks are used to haul staging and equipment around for the shows, which use smoke machines, light beams, confetti shooters, coordinated serial lights, pyrotechnics and hydraulic platforms. There are also digital displays including a gigantic curved screen.

But Taylor knows how to keep her production staff loyal. Last summer, it was revealed that she had given a total of $55million (£43million) in bonuses to her dancers, sound technicians, riggers and truck drivers.

The owner of one of the transportation companies praised the singer, saying the individual sums involved had been ‘life changing’.

The fearsome foursome 

Taylor is supported on stage by 16 dancers, four back-up vocalists and a live band of six instrumentalists, who have been in place since the tour started in March last year.

The band is led by Mike Meadows, who has been with Taylor for over 15 years. And one of her guitarists has an illustrious pedigree: Max Bernstein has been with her since 2018 and his parents are the renowned late US novelist Nora Ephron and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post journalist who broke the Watergate scandal.

A third guitarist is Paul Sidoti — known by Swifties for his big hair. They are joined by a bassist, drummer and classically-trained pianist Karina DePiano.

Backing vocals are provided by four singers called The Starlights — Melanie Nyema, Kamilah Marshall, Eliotte Woodford and Jeslyn Gorman — most of whom have been with her for at least a decade. They reportedly counsel Taylor on boyfriend problems, which perhaps is why they’re nicknamed the ‘fearsome foursome’.

Jeslyn says of her boss: ‘Your heart and generosity is beyond beyond. And just when I think you’ve done it, you top that!’

Lead choreographer Mandy Moore — who put together Barbie star Ryan Gosling’s sensational I’m Just Ken routine at the Oscars — is responsible for the routines. Mandy got to know Taylor through actress Emma Stone, one of Taylor’s besties, after they worked together on the film La La Land.

She is assisted by choreographers Amanda Balen and Jeremy Hudson. Dancers include Kameron Saunders, whose brother Khalen used to play for the Kansas City Chiefs alongside Travis Kelce. Dancers are said to be paid $500,000 (£390,000)for spending two years on the road.

Security worthy of a president 

For years, Taylor resisted having personal protection, telling Esquire magazine in 2014: ‘I fought the idea of having security for a very long time because I really value normalcy.’ How times change.

It’s estimated she will spend $30million (£24million) on security for the Eras tour. As the biggest star on the planet, she now has a detail of more than a dozen full-time staff who look after her 24 hours a day.

People who have encountered the singer say that there are three or four members of tight personal security and another ten or more who are involved with scoping out where she is going next and clearing her route.

An Australian radio host once said of meeting Taylor: ‘It was just like the president had entered the building. She is so big you do need 17 security guards just to lead the life she wants to lead, that personal life she wants to keep private.’

In the past, security has been so tight that her team have used facial recognition technology to pick out known stalkers at a gig.

She will move around in a fleet of SUVs, which are likely to be silver rather than black, as Taylor feels the colour is more anonymous. She’s also been known to use decoy cars.

Designer costumes with thousands of hand-sewn spangles 

Just organising Taylor’s tour wardrobe is a major undertaking.

Every performance features 16 costumes and in total she has more than 40 outfits, custom made by a range of top designers including Alberta Ferretti, Atelier Versace, Zuhair Murad, Elie Saab, Oscar de la Renta and Roberto Cavalli.

There will be multiple versions of some costumes in case of damage, though more expensive pieces will be one-offs.

Transporting these delicate outfits isn’t as straightforward as packing everything in suitcases. There is a team in place to ensure everything is in perfect condition and ready to carry out emergency repairs off-stage if necessary.

Because of their fragility, insiders say the costumes are the first items in and out of a new location. 

They are transported in calico bags to absorb sweat and moisture and placed in air-conditioned trailers to avoid damage from changes in climate. 

The heaviest beaded dresses need to be transported flat because their weight can cause damage if they are hung up for long periods.

Famously, Taylor loves rhinestones and because the outfits have to be worn time and again, a lot of effort goes into ensuring they stay the course, with spangles individually sewn on so that if one comes off the rest stay put.

This means the singer’s costumes require hundreds of hours of meticulous ‘hand-craftsmanship by skilled artisans’, according to Fausto Puglisi, a designer for Roberto Cavalli.

One Oscar de la Renta fringed bodysuit, for example, boasts more than 5,300 individually hand-sewn beads and crystals.

A swift economic boom 

When the tour is complete on December 8, Taylor will have played 152 shows over five continents and raked in around $3billion (£2.4billion) — smashing all previous records as the highest grossing tour of all time. She will also have helped the economies of the countries she’s visited, as research says fans will spend an average of £848 to see the singer perform. Tickets cost on average £206 and Swifites will also splash out on travel, accommodation, clothes to wear on the night and around £79 worth of merchandise.

Peter Brooks, a behavioural scientist at Barclays, said: ‘When it comes to cultural icons like Taylor Swift — like we saw with Elvis and Beatlemania in the 50s and 60s — supporters have such a strong connection to the artist and to the rest of the fandom that the desire to spend becomes even more powerful.’

There are reports already that emergency accommodation in Edinburgh is not available for homeless people as the city will be teeming with visitors there to see Taylor’s three sold out concerts at Murrayfield from June 7 to 9. Some hotels are charging more than £600 a night.

Shaking it off in style 

While there have been reports this week that the countryside-loving singer is renting a £3million house in the Cotswolds — close to Chipping Norton and luxury members’ retreat Soho Farmhouse — to spend ‘down time’ during her stay, when she’s performing it’s thought she will stay in luxury hotels close to each venue. Taylor often take over an entire floor for security reasons.

In Edinburgh, the smart money is on The Balmoral; and in London, The Savoy. In Liverpool, it’s rumoured she may stay at either the Titanic Hotel or the Hilton.

Liverpool has turned itself into a ‘Taylor Town’ ahead of her visit, with a trail of 11 art installations around the city, each inspired by a different ‘Era’ of her career.

And the superstar even has an academic influence in the UK, with the University of Kent adding her work to their Classics, English and History curriculum next year.

The campus held the first ever European conference on Taylor yesterday, which saw academics and students meet to discuss her influence in the 21st century.