Taylor Swift joined by Aaron Dessner in Tampa, changes surprise song set list rule

Please welcome to the stage … Aaron Dessner! Taylor Swift was joined by her folklore, evermore and Midnights collaborator Friday night in Tampa, Florida.

Billboard reports that Taylor introduced Dessner, a member of the band The National, as the ‘collaborator version of a soulmate.” Dessner then told the crowd, “You guys are watching the greatest performer on Earth do the greatest show of all time.”

The two performed the Midnights (3am Edition) track “The Great War” — a tour debut — during the “surprise song” acoustic part of the show.

Ahead of performing that song, Taylor joked that it “took on a new meaning when you guys made enough jokes about how you trying to get tickets for this tour felt like surviving the great war.” She also debuted another Midnights track, “You’re on You’re Own, Kid.”

And speaking of Midnights songs, Billboard reports that Taylor switched up her surprise songs rule, telling the crowd, “Basically when I started the tour, I was, like, ‘In the acoustic section, I am never repeating a song. I’m never doing songs more than once.’ But now I’m, like, ‘There are so many songs I want to do more than once."”

So, she added, “I’m making a little caveat to the rule, which is that if [a song] is on Midnights, I can do it however many times I want, because Midnights is the most accurate picture of my life to date.”