Taylor Swift Says Pre-Super Bowl Show May Be Her Only One In 2017

If you guys scream loud enough, Taylor will hear you," DJ/Swift friend Ruby Rose hollered from behind her turntables Saturday night inside a 62,500-square-foot mega-club custom-built (and soon to be unbuilt) for a series of high-profile Super Bowl week parties in Houston.

The opening act was probably right, given that the guest of honor was Instagramming videos of her cats from backstage just before that moment, and about 15 minutes later (no doubt after she heard fans' chants of "Taylor! Taylor!" from her cat- and Haim-sister-filled dressing room), Taylor Swift emerged to face 9,000 screaming fans and perform a packed 17-song set -- including two tracks she'd never performed live before.

"You have come from all over the world -- possibly to see football, but would it be all right with you if we played some music first?" Taylor asked the all-too-eager AT&T Presents DIRECTV NOW Super Saturday Night crowd during the opening number, 1989 bonus track "New Romantics." The answer was a resounding yes.

Below are highlights from the hour-and-a-half spectacle, which spanned from her 2008 hit "Love Story" to the first-ever performance of her most recent Billboard Hot 100 top five -- albeit without her duet partner.

***Going It Alone***

"I don't want you to think Zayn is going to come out, because he's definitely not," Swift immediately cautioned while introducing "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," her Fifty Shades Darker collaboration with the One Direction alum. "I saw a lot of phones go up in the air. The only one you have here is me, I'm so sorry." The crowd didn't seem to mind, helping Taylor out with the oh-oh-ohs during her stripped-down take on the steamy song.

***Little Big Taylor***

Another live debut was "Better Man," the Hot Country Songs No. 1 that Swift wrote for Nashville quartet Little Big Town. Not only has she never performed it live, we've never heard her sing it ever. Swift made epic use of her background singers for the performance, having them join her out on the circular stage and creating her own vocal group, a la LBT. 

"I never really knew what it would feel like to hear my song on the radio and have someone else singing it. Turns out, it feels awesome," she said before the song. "I feel really grateful to the artists who have decided to record the things that I have written. The one drawback is just that you don't really get to hear the crowd sing the songs back to you." This intro also led into an acoustic take on Calvin Harris and Rihanna's "This Is What You Came For," which she famously wrote with her EDM ex.

***On Theme***

There's a Taylor Swift song for every occasion -- even Super Bowl. "I figured you guys are going to be watching football, and I wrote a song when I was 16 that features, like, cheer captains and bleachers, and I don't know, I felt like it might be appropriate to play tonight," she said to introduce her 2008 crossover smash "You Belong With Me." "I mean, it's really old, but…"

***Grammys Flashback***

For Swift's last concert, at October's Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, she apparently faked out a few fans when her bedazzled white grand piano rolled out onstage. "When I sat down at the piano, a lot of people were chanting the name of a song I haven't played in a long time. 

You know what I'm talking about?" she asked, referencing her famous hair-flipping 2014 Grammys performance of the Red track "All Too Well" behind the keys. "So I figured that next time I was in Texas, if you wanted to hear 'All Too Well,' I would play it." And so she did, re-creating the hair-eography that made the original performance so memorable (and meme-able).

Several celebs were spotted in the crowd at the concert, including Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend, who appeared cuddly together while standing and also sitting on a couch. The model sang along to the songs.

Lea Michele was also spotted getting cozy with a mystery guy while singing along to the tracks. Chris Evans and The Avengers co-star Jeremy Renner were also spotted, having drinks while watching Swift's performance.