Oh, hello!
I am back at my desk after the most glorious week in France (you can read all about it here, if you like), so I thought it was about time that I catch you up on what went down at the Eras Tour.
It goes without saying that this show was spectacular in every sense of the word. Our seats weren’t the best, we had a side view and couldn’t see the big screen at the back of the stage, but we were there, we experienced it, and I am so grateful for that. If there’s one thing you can count on in this life, it’s that Taylor Allison Swift will show up with every ounce of courage and talent and energy that she can muster and give the performance of her life, every damn night. She is extraordinary.
What I wasn’t expecting? The wholesome vibes. On my way to the stadium, I saw two girls with their parents: one was dressed in a gold sequinned dress with ‘he was sunshine’ written down one arm, and the other was dressed in a navy blue dress with ‘I was midnight rain’. They had MATCHING COSTUMES. Hundreds of friendship bracelets adorned their wrists, and their dad was wearing a t shirt covered in hand-drawn Taylor Swift lyrics. It was so special to witness that I almost cried right there and then.
As we got closer to the stadium, the train got busier, a sea of cowboy hats and glitter and ‘not a lot going on at the moment’ t shirts crowding every available space. We were a group of strangers revelling in the anticipation of this moment, united by the undeniable magic and sparkle of Taylor Swift.
The day was made even more special because I was experiencing it with my oldest friend, Carly. She and I have known each other since we were eleven years old, and while we’re not really actively in each other’s lives so much any more, she’s still very important to me. We went to our first concert together as lanky 15 year olds (The Saturdays in Brighton - our parents ordered the tickets for us over the phone. We wore tutus and personalised t shirts that we printed ourselves) and now we were 30 year olds reliving our girlhood at a Taylor Swift concert.
The Eras Tour has really healed something for me. It was the wholesome girlhood experience that I didn’t always have as a teenager, because I was caught up in a friendship group of girls who never really accepted me as I am. Carly was my respite from the hormone-fuelled turmoil of my teenage years, but we didn’t go to the same school or college, so I only saw her on weekends or in the holidays. I often felt like I was missing out on a crucial part of being a girl: a confessional, supportive, deeply meaningful friendship, one where we would braid each other’s hair, tell all of our secrets, gossip about boys and spend hours reading teen magazines. I recognise now that this is a bubblegum, Disneyfied version of what female friendship actually looks like, but at the time, I only felt sad and rejected that I hadn’t experienced it.
Seeing so many girls and women holding each other in the stands, screaming with utter joy, singing along to all the words, was the embodiment of girlhood for me. I didn’t feel sad for the teenager I once was; no, I just felt happy that we were all there together. This was a shared experience that I truly felt included in, a cacophony of unfiltered Swiftie joy that reverberated around the 92,000 strong crowd and made us all feel like we were part of something.
Here’s to Taylor Swift. Here’s to the Swifties. Here’s to girlhood 🥰
Thank you soooooo much for reading! Did you go to the Eras Tour? Leave me a comment and tell me how you found it! 👇
The Saturdays!!! BIG YES!! The Eras Tour was by far the best concert I've ever been too, aside from Taylor being amazing the atmosphere in that place was so friendly and welcoming, I've never been to an event like it. I'm so glad you had a good time!!