it's been a long time coming: eras tour, babey!

wednesday, february 21, 2024

i'm back from my trip! my family flew to melbourne for a week and had a really good time. i'll probably write a separate post about stuff we did and things i got there, but before any of that: last friday i saw taylor swift in concert for the first time ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sidenote: i think it's kind of funny how now three of my blog posts on here have been taylor-related, because i don't actually think about her all that much. i guess she's just... easier to write about, as a result? it just ends up making me look like a super taylor fan among all the things i like. please be assured that most of my hours i spend thinking about the ninja turtles.)

we bought our tix in june, and it was a wild ride. our concert squad was six people in total: me, my two siblings, my sister-in-law, and also my sister-in-law's two friends. so two accounts had to go through the system to get enough tickets. i was lucky to have had control over BOTH accounts that got in (used my mom's email) and equally lucky to have nabbed four then two tix in literally the same row. what are the odds?

i watched the eras movie with my parents and sister when it came to our local theaters last year (i cried at lover and at betty – my favorite song), plus would get tour updates on my tiktok and twitter recommended pages (which i dislike as a general feature, but i guess i can't complain about being updated), so i knew what the concert was going to be like and could prep adequately. i had my bracelets and entire concert fit packed when we flew out, complete with matching nails i got done the sunday before.

(my nails. those are my natural nails, bc acrylics feel kind of at odds with my chubby fingers lmfao.)

i feel like the concert itself is pretty similar to the movie, and you can see other people's much better fancams of it, so instead here is MY EXPERIENCE of the concert day in bullets!

• my siblings (+ in-law, just assume she's included whenever i say siblings) and i just spent the morning and early afternoon indoors, conserving our energy and getting ready.
  • my brother's shirt was a DIY of taylor's "not a lot going on at the moment" shirt with red and black duct tape on a white shirt! we helped him put it together.
• i planned to draw sparkles around my eyes for my makeup, and actually did a makeup test before D-day to see if i could, but it ended up being so annoying that i only did two on each side and added pearls...
• my siblings and i were all from different eras!
  • i was lover, my sister was 1989, my brother was red, and my SIL was folklore!! we were very cute.
• while standing outside waiting for the uber to MCG, we saw some other fans who were so sweet. someone saw me and was like "she's miss americana!!" and we exchanged compliments! another girl in the car with her mom made a heart sign at us from a distance.
• i prepped SO thoroughly and did not forget to do or bring anything for the trip... BUT I FORGOT TO BRING MY BRACELETS TO THE CONCERT!!!!!!! SILLY GIRL... i panicked for a bit but didn't want it to ruin my day, so i just let it go. more about the bracelets in another post to come.
• it was so fucking hot and sunny.
• i was so happy sabrina was opening for taylor!! i like her music too. i didn't know all the songs and tried my best to familiarize myself with them on the flight over so i could at least hum them, but it was nice to see her at all and sing along to the songs i did know.
  • hopelessly devoted was a nice surprise!!!!
  • i kind of felt bad that most people were still milling about or getting to their seats during her set, because i would have been more into it if the people around me were.
• security was really kind, and the one in my section said something sweet about my fit as well. even the guy who told us we couldn't stand in a certain area (we were trying to escape the sun) was nice about it and gave us five minutes.
• i changed out of my heels like two songs in and put on a pair of flip-flops i brought. BEST IDEA EVER. if you're committing to heels for the aesthetic, just bring something comfortable for the concert proper, i swear to you
  • i would not have survived the walk home otherwise
• i don't really know what my siblings are like in party or concert settings, so this was fun!! none of us are really dancey by nature (i suppose i am the most dancey...? which is. really not saying much LMAO) but it was nice to experience this with them and see everyone singing along and enjoying in their own way
• also i realize i know less of her lyrics than i think i do, lmfaoooo. like i need her to start the line before i can sing along. sorry miss taylor
• SURPRISE SONGS!!!!!! our surprise songs were red and you're losing me. this is where i won okay
  • i was slightly nervous she'd bring out a song i didn't know, since she pulled out some debut stuff for the tokyo concert. but miss taylor came through for her first crowd of 96,000
  • felt very very lucky because
    • red is a song my brother knows! he's the least familiar with her discography among the six of us, so i was happy she played a song he knew and could sing along to... like yes girl thank you
    • YOU'RE LOSING ME WAS ON MY LIST!!!! I WON!!!!!! i listened to this song on repeat via shitty unofficial lyric vids on youtube until it got released... and this was the first time she ever played it live wahoo yippee
      • i was so nervous she was going to play her announced vinyl exclusive track like Miss Girl We Cannot Sing Along...!!! but she came through :)
• i thought i would cry at some point out of Overwhelm but i did not! i was just very happy to be there, experiencing this with people i love and with other fans like me. it was fun to scream some lyrics with people who also felt them in their bones
• sorry these are all fit-related but i got another compliment while in line for the bathroom, and walking home after the concert T_T i worked very hard on pulling together a cohesive and cute look, and i was very happy people thought it looked good.

i am risking things to post this but here is the fit. i am that happy with it! here i am in a sea of blondes.

i really appreciate that taylor's music has brought me closer to people in my life. i have not made any friends through swiftie communities as i actively avoid fandom these days (especially normie fandom/stan twitter, god forbid), and many of my friends actively dislike taylor swift, which i don't mind (some of her actions/lack thereof are extremely questionable) unless they start sounding like they look down on me for liking her stuff, or make assumptions about all of her fans.

but talking about her and listening to her music has become another way for my immediate family to bond – we went on this trip for the concert after all! i talked at length with people at my old job who were also fans and became better friends with them. i'm talking to cousins i was never close to before because of her, and can immediately connect with strangers wearing friendship bracelets.

at the start of this post i said i didn't think that often about taylor and yeah in the grand scheme of things i sure Do Not. but i think it would be remiss to say i only care about her music. i grew up with this lady! i went through phases of liking her, hating her for Misogyny Points, liking her again, and now admiring her with a critical eye. she's not in any way my infallible idol, but i like that she's been able to reinvent herself over and over and make the most of her circumstances, favorable or otherwise. i like that she looks back on her mistakes and cringe moments with a sense of humor and a lasting love for herself. i like how prolific she is—god, if i had 18 years worth of music, i'd make an eras tour too.

i think what i admire about her resembles how i want to approach myself and my growth and my art! it's less a her thing and more a me thing, but also still a her thing bc she embodies the thing. who knows. i just know that i'm very happy i got to see her live, and on such a unique, once-in-a-lifetime kind of tour... i mean, i don't think i'd see Specific Album tours but a longass concert spanning her different phases which I Too have gone through with her in some way, albeit out of order? (i was not a deep fan until folklore, and worked my way backwards via the taylor's version releases.) i would not have missed this for the world.