The Eras Tour: Gillette Version

Taylor Swift announced the Eras Tour on November 1, 2022, stating she would be performing throughout the United States. The Eras Tour, as she called it, would be a compilation of multiple songs from each of her albums or eras. 

Right away, the media was eager to see what Swift had in store for her fans. There were numerous early-access opportunities such as the Capital One Card, Taylor Nation, and season tickets to a concert. The famous singer/songwriter released her tickets for her tour through TicketMaster. Unfortunately, due to many complications with the TicketMaster app/website software and the overwhelming amount of fans on the site at one time, it crashed. In other words, TicketMaster sold more tickets than were actually available, thus leading to thousands of fans upset and ticketless. 

With a stunning amount of actual tickets sold fans began planning for their respective show dates. Fans were quick to pick out their outfits for the concert and a trend soon developed across several media platforms, TikTok specifically, where fans would pick an outfit based on a certain album. They would follow the color schemes or overall theme of the album, for example: Reputation would be an all-black outfit, Speak Now a purple one, Lover red and pink. 

The Massachusetts tour dates consisted of Friday, May 19, Saturday, May 20th, and Sunday, May 21st. Luckily, my co-writer and I were able to snag four tickets for us and our moms to see Swift on May 20th. 

As the days grew closer and closer to the tour day our excitement grew. We have been fans of Taylor Swift for the vast majority of our lives and genuinely couldn’t wait to see her perform live. This would be not only our first Taylor Swift concert, but our first concert ever.

In our anticipation we also took some time to interview other fans that would be going to the concert. WHS freshman Rhea Carlson will be attending the concert with a group of close friends. She started listening to Taylor Swift with her mom when she was little. “I’m not 100% sure, but I really want to dress as her country era also known as the Taylor Swift album,” said Carlson. “I am most excited to hear and sing “All Too Well” the 10 minute version which tends to be a fan favorite.”

The closer we got to show days social media began to blow up. One set during her concert, her acoustic set, was one of the fan favorites throughout the entire show. During this portion of her concert, she would sing two surprise songs while playing the guitar or piano. These two songs could be from any of her albums, but there was one caveat, she never repeated a song. Fans were eager to hear their personal favorites and, of course, if she performed it Arizona, fans in Boston were not going to hear it. The more concerts she performed, the more songs eluded Swifties nationwide. Fans packing Gillette Stadium on the second night got to hear “Question…?” from her most recent album Midnights and “Invisible” from her debut album Taylor Swift. 

One of the biggest factors for the show was the weather. The weather, specifically for Saturday night, was on our minds:  What was the weather supposed to be like? Torrential downpour would be the answer! 

As the day of the show came, preparations started early. Hair and makeup was applied followed by our outfits, one inspired by Taylor’s Taylor Swift Album, and another following Taylor’s Reputation album. These outfits were finished by our lovely, and significantly transparent, rain ponchos, of course. 

Upon our arrival at Gillette Stadium, almost every fan felt as though they had to walk a marathon. We finally made it to our seats in the 300s section with a view of the center of the stage. We’d achieved this glorious moment but in the pouring rain. For backstory, rain shows can either be a time where the performer embraces the rain or will postpone. Taylor Swift never lets her fans down and decided to embrace the rain. 

We had the time of our lives! Taylor Swift is an amazing singer as well as performer and creates a show with talented dancers and backup singers as well. 

As rain continued to pour throughout the entire night, not one person in the entire stadium seemed to care. The rain, in fact, made it all the more memorable for not only the fans, but Taylor herself. As Taylor was in between sets she even said, “I think this is the rainiest rain show ever.”

This night would be a night for everyone in that stadium to remember. That night Taylor helped friends and families make memories, and let others scream and shout and dance their entire way through the night, which is exactly what we did. In fact it’s the only way to do a Taylor Swift concert right. 

From our perspective this concert will most likely be the best one we will ever see. Thank you Taylor Swift for an incredible and unforgettable night and for making us both lose our voices!