Taylor Swift’s ‘City of Lover Concert’: How to Watch, What Time and What Channel

Taylor Swift’s hotly anticipated concert, City of Lover makes its world premiere tonight on ABC Television at 10 p.m. ET, and will be subsequently followed by a release on streaming platforms, Hulu and Disney+ Monday morning. Airing immediately after the two-hour American Idol finale, which starts at 8 p.m. ET, Swift’s concert starts right after the singing competition crowns its Season 3 winner and can be viewed several ways.

City of Lover can be seen live on ABC, either through a television set or on a computer via the official ABC site. Both of these would require a cable subscription, along with pertinent login information. The concert special can also be viewed with access to ABC through TV streaming platforms such as Sling and YouTube TV — both of which also offer free trial periods if you’re new to the platform. If your Sunday night is jam-packed with other programming, Hulu and Disney+ will be streaming the special for its members on Monday, May 18.

The hour-long special filmed Sept. 9, 2019, features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, shot in what is touted the most romantic city in the world at the L’Olympia Theater in Paris, France with an estimated 2,000 fans in attendance. Contest winners from 37 countries were flown in for the event, during which Swift played songs from her album, Lover live for the first time. The pop star also performed several of her new tracks acoustically, opting for a more stripped-down production, admitting to the crowd how she wanted to play many of the songs the way she wrote them.

“While we are all home, Taylor Swift and her family of fans will be able to have a moment together and experience a never-before-seen, intimate performance,” said Eric Avram, ABC Entertainment’s VP of talent and booking, vice president, via Variety. “And we are so thrilled to be able to offer this to our own family of viewers on ABC.”

The 30-year-old was scheduled to promote Lover with Lover Fest in the U.S. this year, along with shows in Brazil and a series of European concert dates, but announced last month she was canceling all planned shows due to the coronavirus pandemic. The dates for the United States and Brazil will be rescheduled for 2021, with dates announced later this year. Tickets for those events will relate to a new date, with no action required by current ticketholders.

“Fighting COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge for our global community and the safety and wellbeing of fans should always be the top priority,” a statement on Swift’s social media accounts read. “Health organizations and governments around the world have strongly discouraged large public gatherings for an undetermined period of time. With many events throughout the world already cancelled, and upon direction from health officials in an effort to keep fans safe and help prevent the spread of COVID-19, sadly the decision has been made to cancel all Taylor Swift live appearances and performances this year.”