Do you really wanna know where I was August 4?
One of the biggest artists in the music industry Taylor Swift is predicted to break concert records by grossing around $2.2 billion in concert ticket sales alone. This statistic doesn’t even include the ever-growing demand for shirts, crewnecks, CDs, vinyls, etc. as the tour progresses, on top of the merch coming with the anticipated release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”.
Swift is growing to be an all-time legend and reckoning within the music industry. The demand to see Swift has grown increasingly since the release of “Folklore” back in 2020, where the penmanship embedded in her music became especially cherished by listeners.
Her tenth studio album “Midnights” broke multiple records, becoming the most successful album of 2023, marking Swift as the first artist ever to occupy all ten spots on Billboard’s Hot 100; her popularity skyrocketed after she announced The Eras Tour in November.
The demand for tickets to see Swift in person was immediately high, leading to a scandal involving Ticketmaster for outrageous pricing and site difficulties during the pre-sale.
I was lucky enough to snag two tickets during the presale for August 4 at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, Inglewood. I’ve wanted to experience an event like this ever since she went on her “1989 World Tour” back in 2015.
Since Taylor’s discography consists of around 300 songs–including her ever-growing list of rerecordings–the setlist was a huge factor that most Swifties, if not all, were anticipating since her first night of tour in Glendale, Arizona on March 17.
It was safe to say I was in shambles when Taylor played “Mirrorball” from “Folklore” and then announced that she would sing two surprise songs each night and try to avoid playing them again.
I constantly kept up with the updates of the tour mainly through a Twitter game called “Swiftball”, created by a user named Allie. Swift, being the mastermind that she is, has a new outfit each night. So, about 100,000 players tune in to online live streams of the tour and complete Google forms of what outfit they think Swift will wear and what the surprise songs will be, basically predicting how each night will go for “Swiftball points”.
At the end of the tour, the winner of Swiftball will be announced. You can check your ranking and how many points you currently have on an Excel sheet on Twitter.
When my time came to experience the Eras Tour, it was very emotional and surreal for me. Before Swift had even hit the stage, I was crying dramatically.
At that point, I realized this wasn’t a concert, it was a full-on performance. In each detail, from the songs to the visuals, it was very apparent that this was loaded with dedication and not just some mediocre concert with a bunch of mashups.
To be surrounded by people who enjoy the same artist I do, screaming out the lyrics from beginning to end, was very comforting to me.
The best part of the night was the acoustic section where Swift played the two surprise songs, one on the piano and one on guitar.
Not only was it the loudest part of the night since we got “Our Song” from her debut album and “You Are In Love” from “1989”, but it was just incredibly special since she doesn’t replay songs.
Another one of my favorite moments was hearing her play “Long Live” from “Speak Now”, purple lights filling the stadium. Not only did Swift look ethereal at that moment, but it was also sentimental because the song was dedicated to her fans.
I had never thought that talking about a concert would be difficult but the excitement around Eras Tour is something that makes so much more sense when you’re actually there.
While I wish I could go a hundred times, this is definitely a one-time feeling, I just don’t think you’d get that same effect as you did the first time.
Though Taylor ended her US leg of the tour on August 9, you can still gain the once-in-a-lifetime experience when “Eras Tour: The Movie” comes out on October 13 in theaters.