Taylor Swift surprises fans with unannounced performance at Tight Ends University in Nashville

Six months after wrapping up her history-making Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has finally performed live on stage once again in unusual circumstances in Nashville.

The pop superstar was brought out as a special guest of Tennessean country singer Kane Brown, the final act of a Tight Ends and Friends benefit concert held at a venue with only 1,200 people.

What is Tight End University? Is Travis Kelce involved?

The event was organized by Tight Ends University, which – yes – does have something to do with Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.

The university was founded by Kelce and fellow NFL tight ends George Kittle (San Francisco 49ers) and Greg Olsen (ex-Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers) “to bring the tight end community together for an immersive three-day program”.

Typically, between 80 and 90 NFL tight ends attend the event, where they are “able to bond, collaborate with, and learn amongst their peers while participating in a variety of activities including film study, on-field drills, recovery, rehabilitation, and more”.

The benefit concert was part of the opening day of this year’s program, at which a number of other country music stars also performed.

Taylor Swift’s return to the stage

After playing two of his own songs, Brown explained to the audience that he had “something cool planned” for them. Given Swift’s attendance had been expected, many in the audience would have started putting two and two together.

“Do y’all care if I bring out a really, really, really, really special guest?” Brown asked, prompting Swift to emerge from the stage wing to rapturous applause.

The 35-year-old grabbed a guitar, hugged Brown and repeated her well-documented love for Nashville, where she moved to at the age of 14 for the benefit of her music career.

“See, the one thing tight ends have in common with Nashville musicians is we’re all friends, right?”

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What did Swift sing in her first performance since the Eras Tour?

Swift and Brown proceeded to belt out an uptempo version of “Shake It Off,” which they dedicated to “our favorite players who are going to play, the tight ends.”

A duet nobody saw coming, at least until a few moments before Swift made her appearance on stage. Including the band, who the singer was full of praise for before officially ending her first live performance of 2025. “Will you please give it up for this amazing band who just figured out that we were going to play that three minutes ago!”

An unexpectedly low key, but successful, return to the stage for the music industry’s biggest name at present. Where will she turn up next?

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