Beginning in about 2020, Ellie started telling me that she really wanted to go to Taylor Swift’s next concert. I assured her that put her in the same boat as millions of other people but also promised to try to get tickets if and when Taylor next toured.
Fast forward to November 2022, and Taylor announced her eras tour! Ellie, Andrew, and I all got pre-registered as live human beings, which you had to do to even purchase tickets. There was no Indianapolis show and, unfortunately, none of the three closest concerts (Cincinnati, Chicago, and Nashville) worked for us because of Madeline’s dance schedule. So we chose Detroit and Las Vegas as our first and second choice cities. Andrew was selected to purchase Detroit tickets, Ellie was selected to purchase Las Vegas tickets, and I was waitlisted.
At the appointed time, 10 am on Tuesday, November 15, Andrew got on the Ticketmaster site to buy tickets, in the queue with over 2000 others. At 10:03 he was at 15% progress. At 10:30 he was at about 50% progress. And then he stayed there for hours. We all know how crazy the Ticketmaster sale was, bad enough to lead to a Congressional investigation. I would have lost it when I didn’t progress for over two hours, panicked and did something stupid. But my husband has nerves of steel. He stayed in the queue for four hours and 47 minutes and never hit refresh once. And . . . he got tickets! We hit the Taylor Swift lottery and purchased six tickets for the Friday concert in Detroit (we ended up donating two to a charity auction). We were all so excited!
I immediately realized we’d need a hotel downtown, because no part of me wanted to deal with traffic after the concert. I started looking and my jaw nearly hit the floor over the room prices! I made two different reservations, both costly. One was closer to the venue, Ford Field, but only had one regular bed and a hide-a-bed. The other was farther from Ford Field by about eight walking minutes but had two real beds. I decided I’d keep both for a few weeks to give us time to decide which we wanted.
Then I got more great news on ticket sales day. My dear friend Dawn, who lives in northern Indiana, texted me to say that she was able to buy tickets to Taylor Swift. In Detroit. And it ended up being the same night! Without any attempt at coordination, we were going to see Taylor together (ish).
The preparations began immediately. The girls started thinking about their outfits, and I started trying to learn every Taylor Swift song on all 10 albums. A daunting task, indeed! Of course, I knew the ones that were played all the time: Love Story, Fearless, You Belong to Me, Look What You Made Me Do, 22, Shake It Off, Bad Blood, etc. But what about all the songs from Lover, evermore, folklore, and Midnights? (Side note: how does one artist record two albums in one year in the middle of a global pandemic?)
I quickly realized that learning every song was not possible in seven months, so I decided to start with Midnights and work my way backward. And then Taylor played her first concerts, and Ellie created a playlist from the set list (“I made this playlist with the whole set list for Taylor Swift’s tour in order so everyone can memorize every word to every song”), and my universe of songs to memorize became much more manageable. I listened to Taylor probably 90% of the time I was listening to music, from mid-March to mid-June. And I probably knew 90% of the words to 2 hours and 46 minutes worth of music by concert time.
We were all looking forward to seeing the concert as a family, but our plan was foiled. Georgia became really ill in late May, and on Memorial Day we took her to the emergency vet, and they admitted her to the doggie ICU. Two days later when she still wasn’t improving, she had an ultrasound and then an emergency exploratory surgery. Ultimately, the surgeon removed five to six feet of her intestine because she’d ingested dental floss, which got stuck in her small intestine and was on its way to giving her sepsis. We were blessed with an amazing surgeon, and Georgia came home on Wednesday, June 7. The concert was on Friday, June 9. So Andrew volunteered to stay home with her, because he’s a wonderful human being. We were sad that he wasn’t coming, but we were happy for Georgia that she’d have Dad home with her.
Detroit is about five hours from Indy, so we got up early on Friday and left home as soon as we could. Ultimately, it was around 8 am by the time we left. We stopped at Chick fil A just north of Indy, and then a couple hours later, just east of Fort Wayne, Indiana, we stopped at a large gas station for gas and a bathroom break. And Ellie saw her fifth grade advisor in the bathroom! The advisor was also going to Detroit to see Taylor Swift. I can’t imagine how small are the odds that we’d be there at the same time.
The trip to Detroit went really smoothly, and it felt quick. Traffic was good, the weather was good, and we were all excited. Ellie spent most of the trip making me friendship bracelets from all of Taylor’s albums, and she only lost a few beads in the car. Traffic downtown was very heavy, and we had to circle the hotel’s block before we found a spot at the valet where we could pull in. But we arrived around 1 pm, in plenty of time for our evening plans.
Making a decision on which hotel to keep had taken longer than I’d expected. The question of two beds versus a shorter walk back from the concert was a hard one to resolve. And, of course, Ellie wanted one hotel, and Madeline wanted the other one. I eventually decided I wanted more space and would keep the room with two beds. However, when I went to cancel the closer one I learned I’d made a non-cancellable reservation (I never do it, so it was a complete oversight). So I canceled the one farther from the venue with two real beds. And when we got to the remaining hotel, I learned that the “smaller” room with one bed and a hide-a-bed was actually a really large suite that was larger than my first apartment after college! That made the ungodly cost a little easier to take.
We dropped our bags in our room and left to meet Dawn and her family at a nearby restaurant. They had arrived in Detroit Thursday night and thankfully were able to get a table that fit all six of us. She was going to the concert with her daughter, and her husband was in Detroit but wasn’t attending the concert. Dawn had VIP tickets, which allowed them to enter the venue an hour early, and so they were eating very early. We just had drinks and an appetizer so we could visit, and eventually the girls left before the meal was done to get ready for the concert. After the meal Dawn and family walked me back to the hotel, which was on the way to the venue, and I headed up to the room to get ready.
I chose a bright blue sleeveless dress for the concert. I wanted to be festive, but not childish. And I figured it would be hot with all the people and the dancing, so sleeveless was a must. Madeline wore lilac, and Ellie wore gold. We coordinated really well without having planned it. We took a couple pictures on the way to dinner and arrived at the restaurant right as it opened at 3:50 (ten minutes before the posted opening time). We had a mouth-watering meal and were on our way to the venue by 4:40.
It was a quick walk to Ford Field, and we were in line by about 4:45. And it was a LONG line. It ran a whole block with lines on each side of the street. Thankfully, it moved quickly. Just before the metal detectors there was a group of State Police, and several of them were trading friendship bracelets with concert goers. Of course Ellie and Madeline got in on the trade. Even with the long line and the bracelet swapping, we were inside Ford Field shortly after 5:00. The first opening act began at 6:30, so we had some time to kill. Fortunately, we didn’t have to spend that time in line for merchandise. Dawn’s VIP tickets allowed them to shop early, and so they picked up sweatshirts for us. I’m confident that saved us an hour, at least, in the crowded, noisy concourse.
When we got inside I texted Dawn to let her know we’d made it, and she described generally where their seats (on the floor) were. When we got to our seats, which was no small feat given the size of the crowd, I realized we were looking right down on where she’d described. We somehow saw each other, and we met on the stairs for her to give us our merchandise, because I didn’t want her to have to deal with it during the concert. It turned out that was a good thing, because the venue was quite cool, and Madeline put on her sweatshirt before the concert even began.
Soon the first opening act, Gracie Abrams, came on, and many in the crowd were clearly big fans. After Gracie there was about a 30-minute break, and then Girl In Red played the second opener. Her set was about twice as long as the first. Then another 30-ish minutes later, the video screen switched to a big stopwatch counting down to the main act. The crowd went crazy.
And from the first minute, you could tell this was going to be a big production. Dancers emerged, from behind the gigantic video screen, with enormous plumes fanning out behind them. They gathered mid-stage, and somehow Taylor appeared among them. And, honestly, the show never let up. I’ve been telling people if Disney on Ice and a rock concert had a baby, the result would be the eras tour. There were always more things happening than you could take in. I wanted to be watching Taylor and the video screen and the backup dancers and the band and the crowd at the same time, but of course I couldn’t. There were a couple times where Taylor would be dancing with a group of backup dancers, then she’d walk off to another part of the stage, and my eyes would follow her. And when I’d look back, all the dancers were gone.
The stage, which was probably 70 yards long or more, was not just a stage. It was also a video screen and an escape hatch. And where in the heck were the cameras, because they seemed to be in front of her face at all times but were really inconspicuous. And the video screen! It was probably three or four stories high (how tall is a football stadium anyway?) and clear as a bell. I remember watching TV on an old 12-inch, fuzzy, black & white screen in my youth. If you’d told me then that I’d see such a beautiful giant screen in my lifetime, my mind would have been blown.
A really cool thing about the concert, something I’ve never really experienced at other concerts I’ve been to (granted, I don’t attend very many concerts), is how communal it felt. Taylor’s love for her fans and their love for her just seemed to transform the whole experience. When she sat at the piano and cried after (while?) singing Champagne Problems, my mama heart broke for her. And when the crowd, in response, started chanting, “Taylor, Taylor, Taylor,” I loved them for their support of her.
When I first started listening to the playlist Ellie created, I would skip All Too Well, because the 10-minute version just seemed like too much of a commitment. But when Taylor said, “I have another song from this album I’d like to play for you, if you have about ten minutes,” with a sly smile, I sang every word as I sympathized with that poor girl left home waiting on her 21st birthday.
I have never considered myself a clothes/shoes person, but I loved checking out every outfit Taylor wore. I had gotten a preview from this Wall Street Journal article, but seeing pictures of them was nothing like seeing them on stage, glittering and moving and enhancing the experience. And, of course, she doesn’t wear the same things every night!
Taylor Swift was Madeline’s first concert! By contrast, Ellie’s was a free Bridget Mendler concert at the Indiana State Fair. I apologized to her for having ruined every other concert she’ll see in her life. Ellie said it was the best night of her life. And it was a pretty great mother-daughter thing.
In the end, it was just an amazing experience, and worth the several hundred dollars we’d paid per ticket. Taylor seems so sincere and yet playful and such a performer. Would I do it again? I think I would. Because it turns out, I’m a Swifty mom.
