Taylor Swift Eras Tour swept the UK during June and I couldn’t wait to line up with 70,000 fans to see my favourite human live on stage.
I’ve loved Taylor Swift since 2006 when my best friend returned from a regular trip to Nashville with a recording on her phone of a girl I just had to listen to. Taylor was singing Love Story with only her guitar for company and it was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. She quickly joined my other favourites, Sugarland, Keith Urban and when I reunited with an old school friend Fearless was chosen for our wedding song.
20 years later I’ve separated from the husband but my daughters picked up the Taylor Swift gauntlet and ran with it. Aged 13 and 19 they are huge Taylor fans and know every lyric to every single song. We HAD to see her live.
We booked a hotel for the night before so we could spend the day of the concert just getting ready and watching the Swifties roll into Cardiff. There was a spooky kind of hush on the penultimate night as if the city was holding its breath for what was about to come. Random security guards spread haphazardly from the Principality stadium made sure no one bedding down with tents to wait in line early. Metal gates were stacked in their hundreds ready to shepherd the people where they needed to go. Signs were erected to ensure the thousands arriving would stay in line.
A huge lorry of Taylor Merchandise made sale after sale as the sun set over the stadium and as everyone took to their beds, a quiet kind of magic swathed the town in glitter, while residents seemed to adopt American accents.
AS the sun rose on the day of the gig the statues of Cardiff unveiled their new Taylor look. Woven friendship bracelets appeared on bronze effigies of historic figures, feather boas draped across railings, cowboy hats adorned everything that resembled a head, from traffic cones to concrete works of art.
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Pop up shops popped up like Whack a Mole, appearing suddenly with their rose tinted sunglasses, fur trimmed hats and flower garlands, disappearing as the smiling police checked perimeters and popping up 30 metres down the now pedestrianised road. Groups of glitter girls crowded the streets, men wearing merchandise, children dressed up with their I heart Taylor T-shirts and sequin adorned skirts. Everyone, absolutely EVERYONE wore a smile. Summer’s answer to Santa was about to grace the city of Cardiff and the love was palpable.
My daughter insisted we queue early despite having VIP tickets and I’m so glad we did. We met so many wonderful people in line from all over the entire world and a seasoned concert going German woman took us under her wing. She promised we’d have a good spot and she wouldn’t leave us behind. She introduced us to her English professor boyfriend, her daughter and his granddaughter. We became a group of seven, we found a spot, sat and chatted for hours until a ripple of heightened sound reverberated through the crowd.
My eldest daughter was stood with two drinks, both full, ones she’d picked up as she didn’t want the rising crowd to knock them over and create a sticky Pepsi mess. These became a problem as the crowd began to push us forward, to squash us into each other so we couldn’t move our arms from our sides or see above anyones heads. The crowd knew something we didn’t. I told my daughter I would find a bin and be back in five minutes. My German friend assured me she’d reach out and pull me back to the spot, while keeping an eye on my girls while I was away. I set off, climbing over the crowd with two litres of Pepsi in soggy cups upsetting anyone I passed as they slowly dripped down my legs and subsequently onto them.
Finally I find a sink, I waste the drinks, I recycle the cups and then, BOOM, the most gorgeous voice I’ve ever heard blasted through the speakers, the crowd went wild, moved forward in one giant wave, and became a swarming, wriggling mass of heads bobbing like Bouys on wild sea water. I had to find my way back to the girls. Paramore were on stage and they were driving the crowd wild, in a good way. (Full Paramore review coming soon).
I start by apologetically tip toeing past people, making myself as small as I can be as I squeezed sideways towards the front of the crowd where I’d left our group. I could not see exactly where they were over the sea of head but had a general idea and thought if I just kept going forward I’d see them along the barrier as that’s where they were left (just a few heads back). Most are happy to let me through as I explain quickly that I’m trying to get back to my daughters, many recognise me in my flowing white costume as leaving just a few moments before and then BAM. A heavy set middle aged woman in a white dress punches me VERY hard in the arm and then pushes me roughly backwards. At this point I’m worried my 13 year old will be squashed at the front with mostly strangers and so my maternal instincts take over. I push back, tell her I’ve lost my daughters and forge my way ahead.
I come to a trio of Kardashian lookalikes (this is a compliment, not an insult, they were gorgeous) who ask if they can help. They are incredible as I explain the situation and for a moment I just want to stop, enjoy Paramore and get to know these generous, lovely people but they tell me they see someone waving a hat and even though I know it’s not the German lady’s boyfriend I sense they’ve had enough of 45 year old me cramping their style so I follow the hat and end up…
Right at the front of the crowd. I give in. I’m hemmed in. I can’t move. Hayley Williams is pointing directly at me and singing her heart out. This is a moment of a lifetime (that I’ll share in the Paramore review) just ten minutes then when there’s a break before Taylor I’ll search again.
I look to my left and finally find my new German friend, but my daughters are nowhere to be seen. They have gone looking for me.
Long story short I make my way right to the very back of the crowd. My daughters are there. They tell me they couldn’t watch Taylor without me, they don’t care about being at the front as long as we’re together and so we stay, at the back, where we have plenty of space to dance. We don’t regret it.
The Weird Phenomenon about the Taylor Swift Audience
The clock struck seven and Taylor emerged in a flurry of fantastic fabric flowers. We screamed, we jumped up and down, we sang, we shouted, we hugged, we were together and this was the best night ever.
As we danced and recited every song, as we pulled each other in, swung around, bounced and celebrated Taylor I looked at that sea of heads before us and thanked the heavens that we didn’t stay at the front, squared between a gently swaying apathetic crowd. Apart from the odd arm in the air when Taylor commanded it, no one moved. The entire audience stayed still, completely still, pretty silent, with their phones in the air blocking any view. It blew my mind. Maybe I’m old, maybe I’m remembering Live Aid and more, but there was no energy in that crowd at all. The majority were too scared of moving in case their videos and photos weren’t good enough quality for social media, it was slightly shocking.
However, no spoilers but Taylor was magnificent, her energy didn’t wane, she had enough for everyone. I was worried they’d be huge breaks with outfit changes but she made them seamless, absolutely seamless, every last detail thought out in order to deliver the best possible entertainment for the crowd and my god did she deliver! The woman deserves an Oscar for her performance, not only is she an incredible singer and songwriter, one that will be remembered forever, but she’s also an extremely talented actor. I would watch her in any Hollywood blockbuster, any drama, any Broadway play and I’d be captivated from the first word.
Taylor also retains her humility, which must be so difficult as hundreds of thousands of people regularly gather to catch a glimpse of you, but somehow, it’s there and it’s not fake. Her head hasn’t swelled, she’s not become a Diva, she’s simply a perfectionist with an exceptional talent, or six, generous enough to share that talent with the world.
Dismantling the Taylor Swift Set
Once the show was over, Taylor had left the building, the girls wanted to grab some confetti. Each colour represented a different album and the floor was littered with it, along with many drink and food vessels that others hadn’t bothered to find a bin for. (This is abhorrent in my view, my daughter’s legs, along with my own were quite sticky at this point due to the spilled wells of fizzy pop gathering in puddles all over the floor).
As they gathered the paper strands I started chatting to the supervisors who gave me insider knowledge about what happens next. Already men armed with power tools were dismantling the epic set, lorries lined up outside ready to take it away, I was told it would be gone within a few hours, and the stadium would return to normal. It blew my mind away. This was not a small set. This set had an entire house in it!
The Taylor Swift After Party
When we finally made it onto the streets, we were nearly shepherded on a train to Swindon but dived out of the queue at the last minute much to the chagrin of the security guard who had decided we really must need to return to the city we’ve never been to. It was impressive how the people were organised so seamlessly. We made friends on the pedestrianised areas, traded friendship bracelets and then I got the girls back to the hotel.
A quick change of clothes into some linen trousers, a vest, and crocs, and I left the hotel to find food for us all. The streets were much quieter now, evidence of Taylor had almost passed, only the pubs and clubs held the remnants, the ones that wanted to continue the party the best way they knew how. Directed by security I found Cardiff’s Chippy Lane and Five Guys.
When I returned to the hotel I encountered two police officers in the Foyer, we exchanged friendship bracelets then settled down for a little chat. They told me how the Taylor Crowd were much better behaved than football crowds, how they’d enjoyed seeing the smiles spread through their city, how they too felt like a big part of the Taylor Swift experience and that’s what it is. You book tickets to see Taylor, the night is all about Taylor but it’s also about coming together, sharing this once in a lifetime moment, making friends, enjoying life, escaping and remembering that we are all in this together.
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