By Maria-Nefeli Andredaki,
On July 14th 2023, my best friend and I had woken up with one very specific goal in mind; to get Eras Tour tickets for our whole friend group! Long story short, we survived the great war and managed to get tickets for seven people. The year that followed was full of trip preparations, flight bookings and counting down the days until we would see our favourite girl on stage. Two days ago, we returned from our trip to Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and I think this is a good opportunity to write down some very important aspects about the experience of being a Swiftie, as well as the friendships that bloom from that.
As far as the concert is concerned, there is really not much to say about the legendary shows that Taylor Swift puts on every night, other than the fact that it is exactly what you would expect: three and a half hours of the most iconic, heart-breaking and scream-inducing songs of her whole discography, endless dancing and occasional crying, all while trying to realize if what you’re seeing in front of you is actually real or if you are having an out-of-body experience. At the same time, the whole experience is deeply physical, as you are aware of your voice breaking and steadily going away, of the exhaustion taking over after the first whole hour of standing and singing, of the thirst after your water bottle has run out while you cannot even fathom leaving to buy another one and missing the next song. It may sound pretty tiring, but I see it as the price you have to pay for witnessing one of the most successful international tours in the history of music. Seriously, I would go back in time and do it all over again if it meant that I could hear the intro and feel the adrenaline the last few seconds before Taylor came on stage once more.
However, the Eras Tour experience is not just about the actual concert. Yes, you read that correctly, and that is because Taylor Swift concerts are deeply intertwined with the feeling of community. Starting off with the tradition of the friendship bracelets, my friends and I stayed awake during our flight and the night before the concert, just to make sure we had enough bracelets to trade and give out. All throughout our trip, at the stadium, on the bus, at the airport, we kept seeing people with arms full of friendship bracelets, which was extremely heartwarming and provided us with a sense of community and safety wherever we went. The exchange of bracelets at the stadium led to some beautiful conversations with strangers from all over the world, which I will always cherish and look back on as an invaluable part of the concert. In addition to that, the tradition of wearing costumes inspired by song lyrics of moments in Taylor’s discography is another aspect that made this experience much better than other concerts I have attended. Not only did I exchange compliments with complete strangers in regards to our outfits, (one of them even asked to take a picture of my best friend and I because we were dressed as “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince”), but I was also able to point out the entrance of the stadium to our taxi-driver, by observing where all the sparkly, colorful people were headed towards!
The Taylor Swift concert, to me, was a chance to get out of my comfort zone, eliminate my stress and insecurities and connect with people on a personal level. Our small Airbnb was turned into a stadium of its own, where me and six other girls sang our hearts out, shared secrets, laughed and made bracelets on the dining table, all in anticipation of seeing our favourite singer on the biggest stage. I truly admire anyone who has or is traveling solo to attend an Eras Tour concert, since these tickets are truly hard to come by, but I am not able to imagine my experience without the little community we created over the course of three days. My friends and I are very grateful to Taylor for bringing us all together and I can’t wait to witness where her future steps will take us.
Reference
- What’s behind the Taylor Swift friendship bracelets trend? The Guardian. Available here
