Taylor Swift kicked off the UK leg of her sellout Eras Tour in style in Edinburgh with a flawless three-and-a-half-hour showstopper of a performance in which she told screaming fans: ‘What a way to welcome a lass to Scotland.’

The 34-year-old megastar drove fans wild on Friday night as she emerged at Murrayfield Stadium in her signature blue and gold sequined leotard following a riotous warm-up from American pop-punk band Paramore.

Over the course of 46 songs, Taylor shook off a cramp in her hand, witnessed a live proposal, gifted a fan her hat and even suspended a tune so fans could receive medical aid – and in between those events found time for an almost insurmountable 12 costume changes.

Among the outfits were including a double-breasted black and gold pinstripe blazer dress, a white Vivienne Westwood dress and a stunning lilac gown complete with train.

Fans queued for hours – some as early as 3am – in order to be the first inside for the gig, which kicked off following Paramore’s set at exactly 7.18pm.

Excitement built to fever pitch with a two-minute countdown on the big screen before Taylor finally emerged from a stage, which rose dramatically into the air in the middle of the stadium to hysterical screams from fans.

Taylor started out with 2019 tune Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. And as she took in the adoration of thousands of fans she had in the palm of her hand, she almost seemed overwhelmed by the response.

Between songs, she paused to tell them: ‘What a way to welcome a lass to Scotland… you’ve gone and made me feel so amazing… You’ve got me feeling really, really powerful.’ Towards the end, she vowed: ‘We have to do this again.’

Taylor Swift began the first show of the UK leg of her Eras Tour in a stunning sequined blue and yellow bodysuit

Taylor Swift dazzles in a stunning bodysuit as she takes to the stage at Murrayfield in Edinburgh for the first show of her UK Eras Tour (left). She later changed into a red bodysuit (right) as she continued the look back over her career to date

The epic show ran for three-and-a-half hours – giving Swifties more than their money’s worth after forking over up to £600 for tickets

The elaborate show set-up featured a dozen costume changes – including this elegant lavender ball gown for power ballad Enchanted

One outfit change saw her don a t-shirt reading ‘this is not Taylor’s version’ – thought to be a reference to a dispute that saw her lose the rights to early works, which she later re-recorded as ‘Taylor’s Version’ editions

She embraced a young fan during her performance – and gifted her the fedora, as is custom at each show

Taylor told fans the show was the biggest stadium performance in Scottish history – pictured here in a green dress she donned for her Folklore ‘era’

Taylor had 73,000 fans in the palm of her hand as she belted out hit after hit over the epic performance

The multi-talented performer broke out a number of acoustic guitars over the course of the set, including sky blue and glittery Gibsons (left and right)

And as she rounded out the monster three-and-a-half-hour set with Karma, fireworks shot out from the top of the stage, lighting fixtures within the grounds and the roof of the stadium itself, prompting an avalanche of cheers from fans.

The sell-out show saw her run through a cavalcade of hits including Cruel Summer, Lover, You Belong With Me, Love Story and 22 – which saw her hand a fedora hat to a young fan in the audience, as is tradition at each show – within the first hour alone, before moving onto later ‘eras’ in her illustrious career.

Ms Swift also said she had made history, with last night’s Murrayfield gig having the highest attendance of any stadium show the country has ever seen.

She told the crowd: ‘I have not been in Scotland for almost a decade now. And I was wondering what it was going to be like when we go back to visit there, how are they going to be as a crowd and, do you know what, you kind of answered me before I even got on stage.

‘I had someone pull me aside and say, “Hey, we’ve checked this 20 times and we swear… tonight’s concert is the most highly attended stadium show in Scottish history.”‘

And in a nod to her Scottish audience, she gave backing dancer Kameron Saunders the opportunity to say ‘Nae chance!’ as she performed We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

She later drove the native fans wild after telling them lockdown-era album Folklore was inspired by their home country.

In remarks reported by BBC News, she said: ‘There was so much TV, so much white wine, covered in cat hair. That was my reality. So I thought, ‘I’m going to create an imaginary world and escape into it’.

‘That was Folklore, and it was probably based online of videos I’ve seen of Scotland.’

She also told the adoring crowd earlier in the show: ‘My biggest regret is that I should have played in Scotland more. I should have brought every tour to Scotland. I can’t stop looking at the crowd…it’s captivating.’

The show was packed with epic moments, not least when one romantic took the opportunity to write their own Love Story by proposing to their partner at the show, catching the singer’s eye.

She told the crowd: ‘I’m pretty sure someone just got engaged right now. They did! That’s amazing. That’s huge!’

All those crammed inside the stadium raised their arms into the air and activated special wristbands which sparkled whenever Taylor began singing.

The three-and-a-half hour show charted Swift’s 20-year professional music career, from aspiring country singer to pop star and now global cultural juggernaut with a fandom unrivalled by almost any other musical act on the planet – and a reported net worth of $1.3billion (£1.02billion).

It features countless costume changes, with Swift moving from bodysuits to sequined suit jackets, a t-shirt reading ‘this is not Taylor’s version’ and even a flowing lavender gown she wore to sing Enchanted – blowing kisses to fans as she re-emerged on stage.

She then donned yet another outfit – a snake patterned ensemble – to sing Reputation and Bad Blood.

Later, her backing dancers were boxed inside transparent cases as she launched into Look What You Made Me Do – her polarising hit that riffs on Right Said Fred’s 90s hit Sexy.

And no expense was spared as she took to the roof of a treehouse, backlit by a gigantic moon on the screen behind her, to sing mellow track Cardigan, the lead single from lockdown album Folklore.

As she sang in a forest-inspired green dress, the 73,000-strong crowd sang every word back.

Later, Murrayfield lit up with a sea of torches as she launched into slow-burning Evermore hit Marjorie, inspired by her late grandmother, and Willow – fans waving their phones back and forth, bright LEDs alight across the entire stadium.

Taylor Swift atop a plinth at Murrayfield as she kicked off the UK leg of the Eras Tour, which has been rejigged to include material from her latest album

The second half of the show featured several tracks from her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department – itself a two-part album that was released in halves just hours apart in April.

Among the new tracks introduced since the tour was tweaked for the European leg were So High School, Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me? and Fortnight – performed in a white ball gown dress decorated with lyrics from the most recent album.

And a saucy routine saw her change into high-waisted sequinned shorts and a matching crop top – with a spangly jacket to match. Later in the show, she performed two ‘surprise songs’ that change night to night.

In this case the two songs were in fact four, spliced across two mashups: Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve and I Know Places on guitar, followed by a piano medley of ‘Tis the Damn Season and ballad Daylight.

Opening the unpredictable segment in a blue dress, Taylor told the crowd: ‘This has been the most insane thing. We have to do this again!’

But she had to briefly halt the first song – first to draw attention to fans who needed help in the crowd- and after developing a rare cramp in her hand, which she compared to ‘performing with a claw’.

The star was clearly freezing on stage as a cold wind hit. At one point she had to stop playing her guitar because her hand had ‘frozen’.

She told the crowd: ‘I’m so sorry everyone, this has never happened before but my hand is frozen, I’m just going to warm it. I’m so embarrassed.’

Following the surprise segment – intimately performed on acoustic guitar and piano – she moved into her final, most recent era, of 2022 hit album Midnights, with songs such as Lavender Haze, Anti-Hero and Vigilante S***, performed to a racy chair dance routine in a purple sequin bodysuit with tassels.

And she rounded out the show with Karma – illuminated by cascades of fireworks sent skyward towards the hugely emotional climax, livestreamed by tearful fans for thousands to watch online.

Fans gushed about the epic show to MailOnline as it wrapped up.

Sara Johnson, 40, said: ‘She was beyond amazing, absolutely incredible. She was the epitome of fine and divine and proved why she is one of the world’s biggest selling artists.

‘Tonight was simply incredible. I won’t ever forget it.’