ENTERTAINMENT

When she was just a teen. 11 highlights from a Taylor Swift concert in rural Florida in 2007

Mark H. Bickel
Fort Myers News-Press
Taylor Swift performed at the Lehigh Acres Spring Festival in March of 2007 when she was just a teenager.

It's true. Before Taylor Swift became TAYLOR SWIFT, she spent some quality time right here in Southwest Florida. It was right around the time her career was starting. She was still a teenager (17). And she hadn't won a single Grammy award yet.

Now, in 2023, she's one of the biggest stars in the world having recently completed the first leg of her wildly successful Eras Tour. Today, the concert movie "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" opens in theaters nationwide and like everything else she does, it's expected to break box office records.

11 things to know about Taylor Swift's Lehigh Acres concert

  • WHEN WAS IT: Saturday, March 17, 2007.
  • WHAT WAS THE EVENT: The annual Lehigh Acres Spring Festival. The theme for that year's festival? "Gone country."
  • WHERE WAS IT: Veterans Park.
  • HOW MANY WHERE THERE: It is estimated there were 3,500-4,000 fans to see Swift perform. The festival director, Ernie Hartman, said he believed attendance to the show broke festival records.
  • WHAT WAS THE WEATHER LIKE: It was described as a "cold Saturday night" be a reporter who covered the concert.
  • DID YOU KNOW: Swift had recently released her debut album, and her single “Tim McGraw” had become a country-music hit.

Taylor Swift's Lehigh Acres concert:5 iconic photos, facts that defined her performance

  • SWIFT'S ARRIVAL: She and her band arrived for a sound check in two "huge" tour busses.
  • WHAT TIME DID THE CONCERT START: 8 p.m.
  • HOW LONG WAS THE CONCERT: 90 minutes.
  • WHAT SONGS DID SWIFT SING: She sang every song from her debut album, including “Tim McGraw,” “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Should’ve Said No” and “Our Song.” She even hopped off the stage and danced with a kid in the audience.
  • BEST QUOTE: “It makes us really feel proud and so appreciative that we were able to have her on our stage. The little town of Lehigh, of all things! Now she’s an entertainer worth millions and millions of dollars and plays for hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. … It’s hard to wrap your head around it.” − Andy Reisinger, former Lehigh Spring Fest board member and president.