Taylor Swift Dublin shows: Excitement kicks off in the Irish capital (2024)

As Taylor Swift gears up to kick off the first night of her Dublin shows this evening, the star's fans have come out in full force - with people queuing up to get a good view from as early as 5am.

The popstar, 34, is set to play atAviva Stadium at 6pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

And excitement has already hit the Irish capital, where the singer last played in 2018, for her Reputation tour.

More than 150,000 Swifties are expected to make their way to Dublin for the shows, RTE reported.

The city has been in full-swing with Taylormania, including a performance of the musician's hit Shake It Off, by the traffic police - shared by theAn Garda Síochánasocial media channel.

Elsewhere, the 3 Arena is being used entirely for merch was filled to the brink with excited fans lining up for hoodies, T-shirts and other trinkets.

'Have never been in the 3 arena when it's looking like this??' one fan, called @tpwkmeg, quipped, sharing a clip of the crowds on X.

Elsewhere, radio station Today FM revealed a an installation dedicated to the singer - with the words 'Ireland (Taylor's Version)' spelt out on Dublin beach.

The outlet worked with Mack Signs to create the 100m stint - the size of two Olympic swimming pools.

Sharing a clip of the stunt, the station wished fans a 'Happy Taylor Swift day' on X.

One fan, @imacring, writing at 5.10am this morning, revealed: 'The queue for Taylor Swift Dublin right standing has started Lol I wish I wasn't insane.'

Another, @shrvztweets, showing off her bedazzling glittering outfit amid a group of people lining up for the show in the morning, around 10am, penned: 'I counted days, I counted miles, to see @taylorswift13 at #DublinTSTheErastour @taylornation13 I counted days, I counted miles, to see at #DublinTSTheErastour.'

It's a busy weekend for the Irish capital, where this weekend Pride, Latitude Festival and theGAA footballquarter-finals are all set to take place.

The Irish police (garda) have, according to the BBC, have declared the Eras Tour concerts the 'extraordinary event'.

Taylor has already played sell-out shows in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff as well as three in London - and will head back to Wembley this August for five more.

Swift's fans, known as 'Swifties', are expected to boost the London economy alone by £300million as the capital hosts more Eras Tour shows than any other city in the world, with nearly 640,000 people expected to attend across the eight dates.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted last Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged at a 16-year high of 5.25 per cent for the seventh time in a row.

Many analysts expect the next cut to be in August, but experts at London investment bank TD Securities believe the economic boost Swift's concerts are giving Britain is so significant that it could be enough to defer the reduction until September.

The bank's macro strategist Lucas Krishan and its head of global macro strategy James Rossiter made the claim in a note on June 14, reported CNBC.

They said: 'We still anticipate a BoE cut in August, but the inflation data for that month might keep the MPC on hold in September.'

The analysts pointed out that a potential clash with one of Tyalor's Wembley concerts between August 15 and 20 and a key inflation index day could skew the data and influence the MPC's decision.

Mr Krishan and Mr Rossiter added that a 'surge in hotel prices then could be material', temporarily adding as much as 30 basis points to services inflation and 15 basis points on headline inflation.

They also said that while her Cardiff date coincided with this month's inflation index day, the impact would have been lesser given the smaller size of the city to London and just one date there.

The Bank did not respond specifically to the comments by TD Securities when contacted by MailOnline this week, but a spokesman said that the MPC 'look at a wide range of economic indicators when they make their decisions on interest rates'.

It comes after a Barclays 'Swiftonomics' report issued last month found thetour is expected to provide a £997million boost to the UK economy.

Some 1.2million fans are estimated to be spending an average of £848 on tickets, travel, accommodation, outfits and other costs to see the star at one of her 15 UK tour dates - more than 12 times the average cost of a night out.

But Oxford University research economist Ben Ramanauskas said that while Swift will have an impact on local economies, it would be a mistake to delay an interest rate change.

He wrote in the Evening Standard: 'We do see an increase in demand for services such as those in hospitality whenever there is a Swift concert. This will worry the MPC, not least of all services inflation has remained stubbornly high in the UK, but it shouldn't base its decision on this.

'The Eras Tour might represent a shock to the economy, (but) it will only be a temporary one as Swifties around the UK will lament - they're prepared to pay a small fortune to see her as she is only performing for a few nights.

'As such, the impact of Swift on the economy will not be permanent and so things should swiftly return to normal.

'What is more, while we may not be in a new era, the economy has turned a corner as the core drivers have subsided and inflation is returning to target.'