Tonight Is My First Taylor Swift Concert
Shoutout to Phil Murphy, the totally not annoying Governor of New Jersey, for settling one of the longest running debates for us all in honor of Taylor. Her one dream, to be named after a pork, egg and cheese sandwich. Way to represent, Phil!
Tonight is the first night of Taylor Swift's 3-day Eras Tour concert stop in East Rutherford, NJ. MetLife stadium will be bumping all the way to Manhattan and by the grace of the devil, I will be in attendance.
It's currently 6am, I went to sleep at 10pm because I was too anxious to stay awake. I've been to concerts before, but to the surprise of MANY, I have never seen my #1 favorite performer live. Taylor Swift concert tickets have always been hard to get, not just this tour, and they've ALWAYS been absurdly expensive after Ticketmaster bots raided the release dates and started price gauging Swifties. I've always been too broke to get myself tickets on the secondary market, so, tonight will be my very first. The last time she toured was for her Reputation album in 2018, so its...BEEN A LONG TIME COMIN'
For those who don't get what the big deal is, The Eras Tour is exactly that - a journey through all 10 of her albums, essentially a "greatest hits" concert. For someone like me who has never been able to see her before, it totally makes up for the fact I've missed out on all the others. She's playing all of the hits, a TON of the new stuff from the Lover album she wasn't able to tour with in 2020 due to COVID, and even more from the 3 albums she's put out since then. She's on stage for 3 1/2 hours, playing 43 songs, with NO BREAKS. Each concert she also performs 2 acoustic songs of her choice, deep cuts that have been dubbed "secret songs." Every concert has different songs, and she doesn't repeat them once she has played them. It's wild.
I started becoming a real serious Taylor fan around her third album, Speak Now. She is one year older than me, our birthdays are 12 days apart, and it's always felt like we were living our lives in tandem. I had something big going on in my life? Taylor put out an album of songs that helped me get through it. As someone who loves music so much and deeply appreciates songwriting, especially the way she tells a story, I have so much respect for her. She has always been able to put into words what I, and a billion other Swifties, couldn't. I don't have an older sibling, but weirdly she's always felt like that to me. It's nice looking up to a strong willed, successful, independent woman around your age navigating life and fame, making the same mistakes that so many of us have before, and being completely vulnerable about them.
Excitement aside, I'm nervous. I've made SUCH a big deal about Taylor Swift over the years, and even moreso with this tour. Everyone knows I'm going, everyone is rooting for it to be perfect for me, and I just...CANT BELIEVE IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!! I've got my outfit ready, I've got the car scheduled, I've got my friendship bracelets made and ready for trading. I have the secret songs I'm crossing my fingers for (the lakes and death by a thousand cuts, I know she already did that one, but she said she may do it again) but really, I'll love anything she plays or does. All I know for sure, is that I will be a different person after this show is over.
Wish me luck.