Taylor Swift‘s long-time lead guitarist Paul Sidoti wowed the fans at Huntington Bank Field with his shredding ability as the Browns hosted the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
The Cleveland native opened the show as he provided the intro before the Browns exited the tunnel onto the field in front of their home fans.
Sidoti, a native of Strongsville, Ohio, has been Swift’s lead guitarist since 2007 and was part of her recently-concluded and record-breaking Eras Tour. The 14-time Grammy winner once called the musician ‘one of my favorite people in the world,’ before playing in Cleveland in 2009.
‘When we hired him, it was because he’s an incredible guitar player,’ Swift said. ‘But he also has these amazing bottom vocals.’
After the European leg of the Eras Tour wrapped up in August, Sidoti wrote about the ‘incredible, fun-filled, memorable summer in Europe.’
‘The Summer of 2024 will go down as the most rewarding, remarkable experience in my professional career as a musician,’ the father of two wrote alongside snaps from the shows.
Taylor Swift’s lead guitarist Paul Sidoti played the intro for the Browns-Chiefs game on Sunday
Travis Kelce and the Chiefs secured a 21-7 win to move to 13-1 without Swift in attendance
‘The record-breaking numbers this tour has generated on a global scale will never be matched and to be a small part of it is truly humbling,’ Sidoti added. ‘Year from now I’ll be able to tell my kids what their dad was part of and that brings me such joy and happiness.’
Videos of Sidoti at sound check were posted before his performance as fans speculated an appearance from Swift.
While the popstar was not present in Cleveland, the Chiefs and Travis Kelce left Ohio with a 21-7 win to move to 13-1 this season. On the other hand, Sidoti’s Browns moved to 3-11 with the loss.
Patrick Mahomes completed 19 of 38 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns for Noah Gray and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Xavier Worthy also tallied a rushing touchdown for the defending Super Bowl champions.
Meanwhile, Kelce made four receptions for 27 yards. Kansas City will take on the Houston Texans on December 21 as they wrap up a dominant regular season.
Sidoti was not the only guest who appeared with a guitar on Sunday. Another Cleveland native, UFC heavyweight legend Stipe Miocic was Sunday’s Dawg Pound captain and smashed Chiefs-themed guitar to rile up the crowd.
