Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship reached a new milestone that left fans in awe. For the first time, the NFL star joined the Grammy-winning artist onstage during her sold-out Eras Tour at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 23. The surprise cameo occurred during the Tortured Poets Department section of the concert, where Travis, dressed in a tuxedo and top hat, swept Taylor off her feet and carried her to another part of the stage.
“I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut,” Taylor shared on Instagram the following day, accompanied by a heart-faced emoji. “Never going to forget these shows.”
Travis’ appearance came during Taylor’s third consecutive performance at Wembley Stadium. The “Blank Space” singer had kicked off the series of shows on June 21, with Travis, his brother Jason Kelce, and Jason’s wife Kylie Kelce in attendance. The concert also saw notable attendees like Prince William, who attended with his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
“Happy Bday M8!” Taylor captioned an Instagram selfie with the royal family and Travis. “London shows are off to a splendid start.”
This Instagram post also served as a hard launch for Taylor and Travis’ relationship, nearly a year after they first sparked romance rumors. The duo initially connected after Travis missed an opportunity to meet Taylor during her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City last summer. On the July 26 episode of his and Jason’s New Heights podcast, Travis expressed his disappointment at not being able to give Taylor a friendship bracelet he had made for her.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Travis said. “So I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
However, fate had other plans. “We started hanging out right after that,” Taylor told TIME in late 2023. “So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other.”
Since then, Taylor has attended 13 of Travis’ NFL games, and he continues to attend her Eras Tour stops. “I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” Taylor told the outlet. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”
Their love story began in July 2023 when Taylor’s Eras Tour made a stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. As a huge Swiftie, Travis attended the show with hopes of giving Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it. However, he couldn’t complete the pass due to her pre-show rituals.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Travis shared on the July 26 episode of his New Heights podcast. “So, I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
After publicly recounting his fumble, Travis decided to shoot his shot and invited Taylor to watch the Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium. “I threw it out there, I threw the ball in her court,” he shared on The Pat McAfee Show. “I told her, you know, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one’s a little more lit.’ So, we’ll see what happens in the near future.”
By early September, a source close to the situation told E! News that Travis and Taylor were “texting and talking here and there.” “It’s been very low-key,” the insider explained, “as he’s been in season.”
Accepting Travis’ invite, Taylor joined the athlete’s mom, Donna Kelce, at Arrowhead Stadium to watch him and the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears. After the game, Taylor and Travis were seen packing PDA at a local bar. Though folklore had it that it was the couple’s first in-person meeting, Taylor later clarified that the two had spent a “significant amount of time” getting to know each other beforehand.
As Taylor noted, “We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
Their relationship continued to heat up, with Taylor bringing her squad—including friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sophie Turner, Hugh Jackman, Sabrina Carpenter, and Antoni Porowski—to watch the Chiefs play against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Another sign that Travis could be The One? Taylor started bonding with Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Travis’ BFF and teammate Patrick Mahomes, in and outside of NFL games.
The couple took their romance to TV, making a surprise appearance on the October 14 episode of Saturday Night Live. Their Big Apple takeover also included the after-party for the NBC sketch show and a date night at the Waverly Inn.
During a bye week, Travis traveled to Argentina to catch the South American leg of Taylor’s Eras Tour. Not only did the NFL star bond with Taylor’s dad, Scott Swift, at the November 11 show in Buenos Aires, but he also got a special shoutout from the stage. “Karma is that guy on the Chiefs,” Taylor sang, “coming straight home to me.” After the show, the Midnights artist was seen running up to Travis backstage and greeting him with a passionate kiss.
Taylor addressed the lavender craze surrounding her appearances at Travis’ games. “I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she told Time. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone.”
The music superstar turned Travis’ December 17 game into a family affair, bringing her dad to cheer on her man. Taylor and Travis spent their first New Year’s Eve together, sharing a romantic kiss when the clock struck midnight on January 1. Continuing to bond with Travis’ family, Taylor hung out with his brother Jason Kelce and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce at the Chiefs’ game against the Buffalo Bills.
Taylor joined Travis on the football field when the Chiefs won the AFC Championship, a victory that cemented the team’s spot in the 2024 Super Bowl. The couple shared a celebratory kiss before exchanging the L-word. “Tay, I’m gonna enjoy with the guys,” he told her. “I love you—so much it’s not funny.”
The pair locked lips on the field after Travis led the Kansas City Chiefs to victory on February 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. Taylor posted footage of Travis on social media for the first time on February 12, poking fun at how she took her parents clubbing with the athlete after the Super Bowl.
Taylor’s first Instagram pic featuring Travis was a selfie of the two with Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton’s eldest kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, backstage at the singer’s Eras tour show at Wembley Stadium in London.
While attending his seventh Eras tour concert and second show at London’s Wembley Stadium, the NFL star joined his girlfriend onstage as a backup performer during her performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” Travis, dressed in a full tuxedo and bow tie, lifted Taylor off the ground in a motion to revive the singer.
Travis Kelce reflected on his surprise cameo during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop in London on his “New Heights” podcast with his brother Jason Kelce. He revealed that the surprise appearance was his idea. “I initially mentioned it to Tay. I was like, ‘How funny would it be if I just, like, rolled out on one of the bikes?'” he recalled. Taylor laughed before asking if he would seriously be up for it.
“I was just like, ‘What? I would love to do that, are you kidding me? I’ve seen the show enough, might as well put me to work here,'” he added. Taylor, whom he called a “true showman,” found the “perfect part of the show” for him to join her on stage at Wembley Stadium during the June 26 concert.
“There was no bike in case I ran into somebody else or hit one of the dancers or anything,” he joked. “It was, like, the safest option.” Travis said his dance moves during the show were inspired by Jim Carrey’s role in “Dumb and Dumber” and said he enjoyed the opportunity to “just be a ham and have some fun.”
“It was awesome,” he concluded. “And I didn’t disappoint Taylor, so that’s all that really matters.”
Taylor Swift’s trio of London shows were full of surprises. At one point, opener Hayley Williams joined the 14-time Grammy winner on stage for an acoustic performance of their Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) duet “Castles Crumbling,” and Grace Abrams later came out to sing a new song “Us” with her The Secret of Us collaborator.
“Acoustic sections went OFF,” Taylor continued in her post. “I got to sing ‘Castles Crumbling’ with @yelyahwilliams for the first time – hadn’t performed with her since 2011 and man my heart was just so full of love for her and our friendship. Then the impossibly gifted and wonderful @gracieabrams came and surprised the crowd with the first performance of our song ‘us.'”
The pop star will next perform three nights in Dublin starting Friday, June 28, after which she’ll travel through Amsterdam, Milan, and more European cities before closing out the leg with five more nights in London in August. In October, she’ll begin the Eras Tour’s final leg with a string of shows in the U.S. and Canada.
“Wembley Stadium round one was so surreal,” she added. “Looking out into crowds of 90,000 fans each night and hearing that VOLUME… Those were some of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard … Never going to forget these shows.”
Source: E! News, Billboard
