I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to attend one of the most anticipated concerts of probably the century. That’s right, I went to Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour!! Way back in November/December of last year when the tickets went on sale I didn’t think I had the chance of going to the tour. My expectations at the time were low since the ticket demand amongst swifties was extremely high and I didn’t think my family would have a fighting chance at tickets. I had expressed great interest in attending the tour, but wasn’t going to be all upset if I didn’t wind up scoring tickets. Come Christmas time, my mother reveals to me that a family friend was able to get 6 tickets to The Eras tour. I was absolutely over the moon at the news and was incredibly thankful that this opportunity was given to me.
The plan was that it would be myself, my mom’s close friend Debbie, her three daughters and one of the daughter’s friends. Our date was Foxborough, MA Night 2 which was May 20th to be exact. So, over the course of a few months, all of us began planning out our chosen Taylor Era outfit and making bracelets to trade with fellow swifties. My chosen Taylor Era was her most recent Midnights era and I purchased a cute outfit off Amazon that represented the song “Bejeweled” from her album. As time grew closer and closer towards our tour date, the anticipation kept bubbling up inside of me. I couldn’t wait to see Taylor Swift in the flesh for the first time and hear all of my favorite songs live. She had a phenomenal setlist planned out for the tour and every show she would perform two surprise songs which had swifties going crazy trying to theorize which songs she would perform at their tour date. Spoiler alert: My tour date’s surprise songs were “Question…?” And “Invisible.” Not songs I was hoping for, but hey, we got some debut Taylor thrown into the mix for the first time in who knows how long.
On the week of our tour date it was announced on news stations all throughout Massachusetts that Foxborough would get hit hard by a rainstorm. Of course, on all days that the rainstorm had to hit it had to be on our tour date. With the rainstorm in mind, my group and I prepared for the worst, or well, tried at least. We packed ponchos…that’s about it. I did however bring a raincoat and wore water-resistant boots, up until the point where they became non resistant water boots. The whole day was rainy and gloomy, but we wouldn’t let the weather destroy the most anticipated day of the year. We made the most of what we could do in the rainy conditions. There were photoshoot opportunities inside, as well as giveaways, and even the hosts of popular Boston radio show Kiss 108 were there djing pop hits. We got to personally speak to and take pictures with Billy Costa, Lisa Donovan, Winnie Akoury and Justin Aguirre which was awesome. They’re super chill and down to earth people and to speak to them one-on-one was an amazing experience.
After staying dry inside for a while we decided to head towards the merch truck since all of us had set a goal to get eras tour merchandise. When reaching the merch line we found it to be ridiculously long, although we expected that. Everybody had the same idea as us and just happened to get there faster than we did. You may ask, was it worth it? My answer would be yes. You could call me crazy but standing in the pouring rain for 2 hours was worth it. And yes, I did say 2 hours. It was probably the wildest 2 hours of my life just to get a hoodie, but again, it was worth it as I now have Taylor Swift Tour memorabilia that I will probably wear til I die.
In the 2 hours we spent waiting in line we had made friends with a family of three in front of us. They traveled all the way from Maine (when saying that it isn’t actually that far, but still) and came just as underprepared for the weather as we did. But they were lovely! We bonded for those 2 hours up until we finally reached the front of the line and purchased our merch. We had gone our separate ways by that point and never did we see them again.
The gates had opened for Gillette Stadium and fans crowded security trying to eagerly find their seats. My mom’s friend Debbie had purchased nose-bleed seats as they were the cheapest she could get. We went up to our seats after grabbing some food and realized just how terrifying it was to be so high up in a stadium. We were at the tippity top of the stadium and were scared out of our minds as none of us enjoyed heights. So, Debbie went to guest services and was able to get us better seats.. by better seats I mean we were behind the stage (not completely, but slightly) and couldn’t see Taylor and the openers. The only way to see them was on the massive screens shown around the stadium. I wasn’t going to complain though. Those seats were WAY better than the nosebleeds.
The openers for Foxborough Night 2 were Gayle and Phoebe Bridgers. Gayle was awesome and Phoebe was stunning, phenomenal and all around wonderful. You can tell I like Phoebe, right? Taylor came on at around 8 and I had never felt a sensation like the one I felt amongst the crowd of swifties. Us swifties are powerful beings, for real. Taylor was beyond words incredible. I was literally enchanted by her. Speaking of “Enchanted”, I literally cried hearing that song live since it’s one of my all time favorite songs by her. It’s just such a flawless, beautiful song. I had an out of body experience during that. Every era from Lover, to Evermore, to Reputation, to 1989, was absolutely spectacular. Speak Now is my favorite era of Taylor, but 1989 is a personal favorite of mine as that’s the album that got me into Taylor in the first place.
I wish the night never had to end, but unfortunately as all good things do, the show closed and everyone scattered to get out of Gillette stadium as quickly as possible. At this rate, the rain had picked up so much the streets were flooding. My outfit was more soaked than it ever had been the entire day and one girl in my group had her phone destroyed because of rain damage. We got to the car only to wait roughly two and a half hours to get home. We did not end up getting back home till 3 in the morning. To say I was exhausted was an understatement, but after the long day that I had just endured, it was bound to be exhausting by the end of it.
While the end of the concert was eventful to say the least, the entire day as a whole is a memory that I wish to never forget. I hope that day never fades away and lives on in my memory forever. It was an unbelievable experience that I’ll always be grateful for.