She’s back! Taylor Swift returned to the stage for her first concert in nearly a year at the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix in Del Valle, Texas, on Saturday, October 22 — and she had plenty of surprises for fans.
The 26-year-old pop star, who hasn’t performed since wrapping her 1989 World Tour last December, blazed through more than a dozen of her biggest hits in front of a crowd of 80,000 people.
Clad in a sequin black ensemble, Swift wowed the audience with a surprise stripped-down performance of her ex Calvin Harris‘ summer hit “This Is What You Came For,” which she cowrote for the Scottish DJ and featured artist Rihanna. (As fans know, it wasn’t revealed that Swift played a part in cowriting the song until months after its release and her June split from Harris.)
“As a songwriter, the most rewarding feeling in the world is writing something and having a crowd sing it back to you because you know the words,” she told the crowd on Saturday night. “I’ve never played this song live before, but you know it. Maybe you can sing along.”
Swift also treated concertgoers to fun-filled performances of several fan favorites, including “Blank Space,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “Shake It Off.”
Saturday night’s concert marks the first time the Grammy winner performed at a public event this year, following her heavily publicized splits from Harris and Tom Hiddleston, the latter of whom she separated from in September after three months of dating.
Swift’s epic Formula 1 show followed the eponymous world championship racing event, which kicked off a day earlier. Usher and the Roots are also scheduled to take the stage for concerts on Sunday, October 23.