RADFORD -- Fans of Grammy-nominated singer Taylor Swift were dancing in the Bondurant Auditorium aisles Saturday night before the country diva took the stage. After the warm-up act, the crowd rose to cheer when Swift arrived with her six-piece band.

Swift opened with I'm Only Me When I'm With You and accompanied herself on a gold glitter guitar. Known for her energy on stage and one-on-one connection with audiences, Swift mesmerized fans with hit after hit including her most popular songs Tim McGraw, Our Song and Teardrops on My Guitar.  The roar of the crowd resulted in Swift pausing a minute between songs and soaking it in. Overcome with emotion, she said, “I hope you know how excited I am about coming to Radford and being in the great state of Virginia.”

RU sophomore Nicolette Cositore of Abingdon was one of those dancing in the aisles. She stayed past midnight to get Swift’s autograph. (See photo at right of Cositore with Swift.)

 “This exceeded my expectations. The concert was great,” Cositore said.  “Taylor is very humble and grateful. She’s not cliché. I felt like I was hanging around with an old friend.”

Tickets for the concert, sponsored by the Campus Activities Board and Black Awareness Programming, sold out in record time. Swift, 18, records on the Big Machine Records label. She is a nominee in the upcoming Country Music Television awards. Her self-titled album debut was released in 2006 and  produced three Top Ten singles.

Country guitar trio Love and Theft opened the show and energized the crowd for an hour. Their music was a good lead-in for the headline act, with song lyrics like “hey, what you gonna’ do when the world turns around on you.” Swift seems to have the answer. Take all your love-gone-wrongs, crushes and wishes and turn them into hit songs.