When Serafina was nine, she went to her first big concert. It was a triple bill of Spoon, Cage the Elephant and Beck. Though she liked songs by both Cage the Elephant and Beck, they weren't her top picks of bands. But she enjoyed herself until she got tired and fell asleep in the seats! She didn't complain or ask to go home, just figured out a way to lay down and snoozed until it was time to go. I told Tom that we owed her one for being such an absolute trooper, so the next time Taylor Swift came to town, I would find a way to take her. Of course, a pandemic hit, during which Taylor released three albums. Serafina's musical tastes have shifted and matured, but she always has a deep love for Taylor. Then Taylor announced her epic "Eras" tour which would cover songs from all 10 of her albums. My friend Kristi (Sunny's mom) managed to get two pre-sale codes for tickets. I was waitlisted for pre-sale but never got a code. The day the tickets were released, it made national news and sparked an immense outcry from her fans because the Ticketmaster site crashed a lot and most tickets were scooped up by scalpers that resold them for thousands of dollars each. But Kristi and her husband, Ricky, both logged on to put their pre-sale codes to work. Ricky, by some sort of miracle, got through and purchased tickets at face value. And two of the tickets he scored were for me and Serafina! Amazing!
As Taylor's tour made its way across the country to us (the second-to-the-last stop), I had heard about the intensity of the fans, the insane merchandise lines and the over three-hour set list. Now I've been to a lot of concerts, big and small, but nothing prepared me for this experience.
First we did some prep.
Pretty nails for Serafina.
And making beaded bracelets with album and song titles to trade with other "Swifties". I made most of them because I do love a handicraft.
Serafina looked so pretty that night. Gorgeous make-up, beautiful dress. A lot of attendees were dressed very over-the-top, and I think if she could do it again, she would have also worn a more elaborate outfit.
So parking was a bit of an issue at a sold-out show for 60,000+ people so we parked at Ricky's work and hoofed it a little over two miles.
Serafina and Sunny in front of Levi's Stadium (home to the 49ers football team).
Our seats were way the hell up there! And in the sun for a while. The adults wandered around a bit, getting food and drink and taking in the crowd. Everyone was so dressed up and the merch lines were the longest I've ever seen at a concert. I ordered Serafina's t-shirt ahead of time online thankfully.
The girls were too excited to do much walking around. Also, Serafina ended up with blisters so she wasn't doing any extra walking. They took plenty of selfies though.
I made them smile for me too.
A selfie with Sidney (Sunny's older sister), Kristi, me, Kristi's thumb and a stranger's cleavage.
Shortly before the show started. I'm not sure if you can tell how far up we are but we are waaaayyyy up there.
There were two opening bands before Taylor took the stage a little after 8pm.
Here's a little clip of her first appearing on stage and the girls losing their minds. I love the look on Ricky's face when he realizes that these girls will be doing this the entire time.
The entire stadium was singing along. And swaying under our feet! Not just a vibration, a full rocking, undulating movement. For a moment I thought I was having some sort of vertigo episode, but Kristi confirmed she felt it too.
Do you have a favorite Taylor Swift song? I do. It's Lover...
When we entered the stadium, we were all given light-up bracelets. Just a simple plastic square on a ribbon. When the show started, the bracelets lit up and were in-sync to the music. It was an extremely cool effect.
Here's a video that shows that off pretty well.
Taylor performed almost non-stop until 11:40pm. She only left the stage a handful of times for very quick costume changes. She even made some of her changes, very creatively, on stage. She sang 45 songs, some while dancing, some while playing guitar and some others while playing piano. It was an absolutely incredible night. Both Serafina and I felt very lucky to be there. The recovery from pure exhaustion took a while but man, it was worth it.
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