Taylor Swift breaks curfew at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara

But that didn’t matter to Swift, whose Era Tour shows run at least three hours and include more than 40 songs.

Following the example of earlier scofflaws the rolling stones (2019), U2 (2017), Coldplay (2017) and regular Beyoncé, who broke curfew on her own in 2016 and again on her co-headlining tour with husband and rapper Jay-Z in 2018, Swift blew past 11 p.m. while introducing the first surprise song of the night, “Right Where You Left Me.” Longtime collaborator Aaron Dessner even joined in on the song from her 2020 album, “Evermore.”

Ignoring the ticking clock, she continued her set with her second surprise number, “Castles Crumbling,” one of the six previously unreleased songs included on this year’s remastering of her 2010 third studio album, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

Friday night’s show marked the first time Swift performed the song live.

The later than planned set time may not have been entirely Swift’s fault. When the gates opened at 4:30 p.m., the lines at Levi’s Stadium wound around the parking lot with approximately 58,000 attendees stood in line to enter the room. Add to that the countless costume and set changes that have come to define the spectacle of the Eras Tour, and it’s no wonder why Swift couldn’t stick to the schedule.

“It feels like forever since I’ve been able to play a show in the Bay Area,” Swift told the crowd. “It’s been five years. It feels so good to be back with you.”

Despite the potential repercussions, she can probably afford the fine. When U2 violated the curfew at Levi’s Stadium in 2017, Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor fined the 49ers $1,000, the standard amount for a noise violation. Tickets for Friday’s Eras Tour concert went for as much as $45,000 each at resale sites on the day of the concert.

A completely unbothered Swift, who started her set at 20.10, continued to play until about 23.37

One of the highlights of the night came after Swift sang “Champagne Problems” from “Evermore,” when the crowd gave her a standing ovation that lasted more than three minutes, bringing the singer close to tears. The cheers were so loud that Swift pulled out her in-ear monitors to fully hear the crowd and walked to the front of the stage as fans chanted her name.

At another point, as Swift sang “Long Live” — which she recently added to the “Speak Now” portion of the Eras Tour setlist after re-releasing the album — fireworks from the nearby Great America theme park went off. They continued as she entered her “Red” era, ending during “We Are Never Getting Back Together.”