The word “phenomenon” is overused, but when it comes to Berks County native Taylor Swift its meaning of “rare” and “significant” might not do her justice.

Swift took over Lincoln Financial Field this past weekend for three sold-out shows, leaving thousands more clamoring for tickets, others setting up shop in the Linc parking lot and still others forking over astronomical sums to be a part of the action.

Swift, 33, grew up in West Reading and Wyomissing, both in Berks County, about 50 miles southwest of Lehighton. She lived on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm, the same one depicted in her “Christmas Tree Farm” music video.

Swift attended West Reading Elementary Center and Wyomissing Area Junior-Senior High School before she and her family moved to Nashville to give her a shot at a music career, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Before leaving Berks County, she performed at the Pat Garrett amphitheater in Bethel and sang the national anthem at the Reading Fightin’ Phils baseball team’s home games.

Being able to attract nearly 70,000 fans on each of three consecutive nights gives you an idea of the kind of impact Swift has had on the American music scene. Her Eras concert tour still has 30 more play dates and has consistently sold-out venues.

“We’re going on a journey, through 17 years of music, one era at a time,” Swift told her screaming fans, many of them decked out in their Swiftie finery.

The fact that I have two of Swift’s biggest hits on my mini I-Pod, along with the likes of Dion and the Belmonts and Dany and the Juniors, gives you an idea of how generational her music is. She has a rare talent to be able to relate events in her life to others who are going through similar experiences. In a way, though, I feel sorry for any of her boyfriends, because, chances are, if they break up they could wind up as central characters on her next hit song.

Her fresh, wholesome appearance makes her a favorite with parents whose children are so into Swift. It was not uncommon to see teenagers and their mothers at the weekend concerts, some of the kids saying it was a perfect tie-in for them to observe Mother’s Day weekend with mom.

In the 2020 Netflix documentary “Miss Americana,” Swift in her unguarded moments is not above using the “f” bomb and other unladylike language to show her frustration. It cements the notion that she is like one of us, minus, of course, her estimated net worth of $570 million, according to Forbes magazine.

Based on music reviews of Swift’s Philadelphia performances, she did not disappoint her legion of fans. The more than three-hour concerts featured 45 songs from her extensive playlist, including the two I have downloaded on my mini I-Pod - “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “Shake It Off.”

The Eras tour is Swift’s sixth and the first since she canceled the 2019 tour in support of her album “Lover” because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She opened the concert with “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” and “Cruel Summer” both from the “Lover” album.

After four songs, Swift addressed the frenzied crowd. “Whether you are aware of it or not, you have walked into my hometown show,” she said in giving a shout-out to her Berks County roots and childhood.

Growing up watching Eagles’ football games on TV with her dad, Swift said that even in her “most outrageous dreams” she never thought that she would be playing to a sold-out audience at the Eagles’ home football stadium.

The Eras tour that began on March 17 in Glendale, Arizona, was booked for 52 dates in 20 cities, and is scheduled to end on Aug. 9 in Inglewood, California. Next up are three weekend dates starting Friday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Then, it is back to a nearby venue May 26-28 - Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The Eras tour was marred by the struggle many Taylor fans had in trying to get tickets. Ticketmaster reported more than 2 million tickets were sold ahead of her tour, the most for any artist in a single day, but the record high demand also resulted in record high issues with the Ticketmaster website.

The thousands upon thousands of complaints caught the attention of Congressional regulators who are holding hearings to determine whether stronger controls need to be imposed on ticket-sale sites such as Ticketmaster.

If I were to try to list all of the awards that Swift has won during her meteoric rise in the music industry, it would take this entire column. She has won 12 Grammys, 14 MTV Video Music awards and is listed in nearly 100 Guinness Book of World Records categories.

What’s a superlative beyond “phenomenon?”

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.