The National’s Aaron Dessner Joins Taylor Swift For ‘The Great War’ Debut In Tampa

The National’s Aaron Dessner dropped in on Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts on Friday and Saturday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The surprise appearance Friday featured the live debut of “The Great War,” while Saturday’s guest spot featured the tour’s first “mad woman.”

Dessner and Swift co-wrote and co-produced “The Great War.” The song was included on the expanded edition of Swift’s 2022 album, Midnights. Prior to Friday’s concert in Tampa, the song had not been performed live by the mega pop star. In addition to his work on several songs on Midnights – 3am Edition, Dessner also contributed to Swift’s 2020 albums folklore and evermore.

On Friday, Swift welcomed Dessner during the “Surprise Song” section of her show and followed with a solo piano debut performance of the Midnights track “You’re on Your Own, Kid.” Prior to the duet on acoustic guitars, Swift introduced Dessner, and addressed the Ticketmaster fiasco surrounding The Eras Tour, telling the Tampa audience:

“In the last couple of years, I discovered sort of like the collaborator version of a soulmate. I met a guy named Aaron Dessner, and he’s so incredibly brilliant. We have made so much music in the last couple of years, it’s actually really ridiculous how much music we’ve made together, started with folklore then went on to evermore – he’s been so helpful with the re-records I’ve been doing.

“We are so lucky tonight Tampa because Aaron Dessner is here … We wanted to perform for you a song we did together. If that’s cool. This song really took on a new meaning when you guys made enough jokes about how you trying to get tickets to this tour felt like surviving the great war.”

Dessner was brought back on Saturday night for a piano performance of “mad woman.” The song from folklore had not been played by Swift at any of the other The Eras Tour stops.