NEEDTOBREATHE on Touring with Taylor Swift: “We Learned a Lot”

NEEDTOBREATHE are in the midst of their 2023 CAVES World Tour in support of their ninth studio album, Caves. While the band is no stranger to arenas, NEEDTOBREATHE has Taylor Swift to thank for showing them the ropes in 2011 when they joined her Speak Now World Tour.

At the time, NEEDTOBREATHE was performing in 2,500-capacity rock clubs when they got the call to join Swift on her sold-out arena tour. In an interview with American Songwriter, NEEDTOBREATHE shares why they were hesitant to take Swift up on her tour offer and what they ultimately learned from the country-turned-pop star.

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“Honestly, we took a long, long time thinking about trying to say no because we were right in that place of selling out the Ryman and the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and all these rock clubs and things were happening,” NEEDTOBREATHE frontman Bear Rinehart tells American Songwriter. “She was much younger at the time, too. So it was very Cinderella-era Taylor.

“But, we learned a ton about performing,” he continues, ultimately taking Swift up on her offer to open for the trek. “She’s one of the hardest workers in music, obviously. Translating and relating to people, we’ve been able to lean on [our fans] seeing us face to face in the rock clubs. All of a sudden, now, we’re on the video screen and all they’re seeing is your mug. So, now the actions have to be bigger to translate the feeling that you get on stage. I think we got a lot better as a band during that process, even though it was a little bit painful at times.”

NEEDTOBREATHE confesses that they weren’t sure if they won over any concertgoers during their 2011 trek with Swift, but time has proved otherwise. Keyboardist Josh Lovelace says they’re frequently approached by fans who caught them on the Speak Now World Tour.

“What’s crazy is these 13-year-old kids who were there to see Taylor Swift are now 25 and coming to our shows,” Loveless marvels. “At the time we were like, ‘Are we reaching these people?’ Now they’re growing up and they’ve been listening to, hopefully, the band for a decade now. … I think it was a really good opportunity for us to meet new people, make new fans. We learned a lot, played a lot of big places. It was like 90-something shows in six months.”

Now headlining their own arena tour, NEEDTOBREATHE looks back with appreciation for Swift’s invitation to open for her in 2011.

“I think we realize it more now than we did then,” Rinehart admits. “A lot of times it felt like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if anybody paid attention during that. Maybe five people liked it.’ But it obviously was much bigger than that. I think the big takeaway to me was the next tour we did was for a record called The Reckoning and so much of what we learned from the arena thing we were able to put back into amphitheaters. It really stuck with us, in terms of relating to the audience, especially talking. I mean, we were just a rock and roll band. We didn’t talk. We just played the songs. … And you realize you’re trying to have a relationship with the audience, obviously. She’s one of the best at doing that. So I think we learned a lot.”

Watch NEEDTOBREATHE talk about opening for Swift below. A complete list of the band’s tour dates is HERE.

(Photo Credit David Od / The GREENROOM)