As of today, T.Swift has four of five sold out 1989 World Tour shows at the Staples Center under her belt. That brings her grand total of sold out shows at the arena to 16, making Swift a record holder—a fun fact that Kobe Bryant pointed out to her on August 21 before presenting her with a championship banner that will, according to Bryant, “hang here forever” and “make everyone else in L.A. question their own achievements.” Wait—that second part was in my head.
Kobe wasn’t the only celeb to make an appearance. An outrageous number of famous friends have joined Swift at various stops on the 1989 tour, and this week has been no exception. In L.A. alone, Ellen Degeneres, Uzo Aduba, Mary J. Blige, Natalie Maines, Alanis Morissette, Matt LeBlanc, Chris Rock, and that dude from her “Blank Space” video have all hopped on stage with the singer, which left everyone at last night’s show wondering: who is it going to be this time? “I made some phone calls,” Swift told the crowd. “It makes me feel like you might be excited if I brought out a special guest.” [Insert deafening din.] “What would you say if it wasn’t just one but two of the greatest musicians we’ve got?” I’ll be honest: I was 100 percent sure Jay-Z and Beyonce were about to walk out on that stage. Based on the shrieks of everyone around me, so did the rest of the audience. Alas, Swift welcomed Beck and St. Vincent to perform with her, which, while delightful, did not seem to satisfy the crowd’s Special Guest hopes and dreams:
Taylor Swift was AMAZING, ICE CUBE’s SUITE was amazing!!!! But not surprise guest #1… A photo posted by Meg Taylor (@firstnamemeg) on
Despite Taylor asking the crowd to cheer loudly for the duo, I’m sad to report they received 15,000-plus golf claps. But who cares because a few short songs later, John Legend slayed the Surprise Guest game. “I found out John and Chrissy were coming 30 minutes before the show,” Swift said. “So I called Chrissy and said, ‘Will you ask John to come onstage?’” Being the gentleman he is, Legend obliged; he and Swift performed a lovely, off-the-cuff duet of Legend’s “All Of Me.” Relive the magic of both performances below.
John Legend and Taylor Swift Sing “All of Me”
Beck and St. Vincent Join Taylor Swift Onstage
