How I Spent My Thanksgiving Break: A Magical Night at Madison Square Garden: Taylor Swift edition

Let me start this off by saying I am a huge Taylor Swift fan.  I have been to all of her tours, and each time they get better and more extravagant.

I, unfortunately, was unable to go when she was in my hometown over the summer, but I was determined to see her Speak Now Tour somehow.  A few weeks ago, my best friend and I realized she would be in New York City while we were on Thanksgiving break.  We live in Baltimore, so that’s only a train or bus ride away.  Luckily, my friend lives in NYC, so we were able to stay at her apartment for free.  We found good concert tickets and cheap Megabus tickets and began planning our trip.

On Nov. 21, we took the train to NYC and spent the day roaming around Times Square and did some early Christmas shopping.  Monday night, we headed to Madison Square Garden early—we couldn’t wait for this much-anticipated concert.  

After the two opening acts, Adam Brand—a country singer from Australia—and NeedToBreathe, the red curtain opened to unveil an even more extravagant stage setting than any of Swift’s other tours.

She opened up with Sparks Fly, and from the minute she began singing all the way to the encore, 2.5 hours in total, everyone was standing, dancing and singing along to every single word.  The audience consisted of girls of all ages, women, college aged guys and even some dads,  every single group in the audience was not ashamed that they knew all the words.  

She sang a total of 19 songs.  But each had a different stage setting and Swift had at least nine outfit changes  Swift introduced the concert by letting us know how “beautiful, magical and majestic” Madison Square Garden looked.  Before each set of songs, Swift would introduce the song with a mini description of why she wrote the song and what she was feeling.  Her bubbly personality and smile were contagious. She put everyone in the happiest mood.  

What made the night even more special was her expression when the audience would scream or sing along in unison.  Her surprised reaction really showed how much she appreciates her fans and her fame.  

About halfway through the concert, Swift walked through the audience to the back of the floor seats, where she had set up a mini stage.  She graciously greeted fans while walking back to her stage.  Swift then sang three songs on the back stage, letting her audience in the back of the arena know that everyone deserves a front row experience and she talked to the audience as if we were her best friends.  She understands that her fans loves her music because of how relatable each song is.  She told us that we all must stick together because we are the few lucky ones who are still hopeless romantics in this world, and she dedicated all of her songs to us.  

At each stop on the tour, she has brought a surprise guest artist to sing a song with her.  That night, we had the pleasure of hearing the lead singer of Goo Goo Dolls, Johnny Rzeznik, sing “Iris” with Swift.  It was amazing.

My favorite performance of the night was, “Enchanted.”   The set was beautiful and her dress and makeup were breathtaking. There is something very special about having an entire arena singing in unison—it really seemed magical.  If you are not a Taylor Swift fan, or have never attended one of her concerts, it is hard to understand.  

It was the best concert I’ve been to, and I really did have an enchanting experience.  Some of her performances left me speechless, which is extremely hard to do.

Still, for those nonbelievers, give Taylor Swift a try.  I guarantee you will be able to relate to her songs.  You will not be disappointed.