Trying to Embrace the End of the Eras Tour

A little over two years ago, I fought Ticketmaster and was one of the very fortunate ones to score Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour tickets at face value. Unless you live under a boulder, you’re well aware how iconic the Eras Tour has become…but back then, when we bought the tickets we had NO IDEA what we were in for or what the Eras Tour would become. When the tour kicked off in Glendale, AZ on St Patrick’s Day 2023 we were on vacation in Florida. I vividly remember the morning after that first show: Zoe and I staring at our phones in disbelief as we watched videos on TikTok and read news articles astonished by every aspect of the show. Words can’t describe how the excitement for our upcoming show grew as the show started to grow and take on a life of its own as Taylor, the dancers, band, crew, etc, got the hang of the whole ordeal. I really don’t know how else to describe it – it is beyond a production -there are so many moving parts – literally – and so many people, its so well choreographed – its an immersive experience. The girls made friendship bracelets and picked out outfits and did all the things to prep for the event – it wasn’t just a concert. 

When the week of our show finally arrived, every conversation in the Wiker house revolved around Taylor and the Eras Tour. I can’t even describe how excited everyone was – even Brian. Zoe and I made a trip to Philadelphia on Friday so we could snag Eras Tour merch to avoid waiting in line on show day – we had seen horror stories of 6+ hour lines. The trip was smooth, we got all the things we wanted, did not wait six hours, and were home in time to finalize our plans for show day. We awoke that Saturday to rain, but that didn’t deter us. We loaded up and headed to Philly, meeting up with another car load of Swifties on the way. The rain ended just before our show and the evening ended up being beautiful. We tailgated with friends, the girls traded bracelets, but that phenomenon – prompted by one line in one Taylor song – was still in its infancy. A few notable things about the show: it was the first true viral moment of the Eras Tour when Taylor yelled at a security guard during Bad Blood – but also, in a cruel twist of bad luck something was slipped in my drink early in the show and I don’t remember most of it. I could go on about this for a long time, but l’ll leave it at ALWAYS watch your drink, even when it is in your hand. And a a week later, Zara was featured on Mug Shots during Sunday Today with Willie Guest. 

I awoke the morning after that show – which was also Mother’s Day- absolutely DEVASTATED that after months of excitement and planning, I remembered very few details about the entire night. And this is why we ended up going to a second Eras Tour show. Our first show was May 13th in Philadelphia (when Taylor was still an Eagles fan). The second show was June 30th in Cincinnati. It was amazing how much the whole environment surrounding the show had grown in those six weeks. The girls made a ton of bracelets and traded all of them. The excitement and kindness and camaraderie of the crowd was phenomenal. While Brian made the trip to Cincy with us, he didn’t go to the show. There was something truly special about sharing that night with just my girls – it was so hot and humid and we drank so much water (making sure to keep the lids on at all times). There was another viral moment at that show when the stage didn’t lower Taylor between eras and she sprinted off stage to change, later responding to a video of the incident with something to the affect of “still swift AF boi”. The experience was completely different than our first show, I remember every detail, it will always be one of my favorite memories shared with my girls. 

After that show we started tuning into TikTok to see if we could find someone sharing live videos from the shows. We ended up being in Los Angeles while The Eras Tour was in town – I kept watching ticket prices, but they were still so insanely high that we opted to watch live streams on TikTok. It was crazy to us how much the show had grown since Cincinnati – it was only another 6 weeks since that show and LA was totally transformed. Stores displayed friendship bracelet signs, evidence of Swifties was everywhere from sequins to tour merch being sported at every turn.

At some point when the tour moved overseas, my friend Beth, a fellow Swiftie, shared a TikToker that was streaming the international shows – that was our first Tess livestream. In the world of Swifties, Tess Bohne has become a celebrity in her own right – she has an impressive set up of computers, monitors, iPads, her phone – and she finds the best live streams at each show and shares them. She always credits the person streaming, includes a countdown til surprise songs and at this point, after streaming over 100 Eras Tour shows, she has a pretty well-oiled streaming machine. She’s also recently started raising money for charities in the cities Taylor visits. 

Last spring, when the tour moved to Europe, I would spend my afternoons with the concert streaming in the background of whatever I was doing, like I would normally play music. I would watch the pertinent parts – to see what costumes Taylor would don, to hear the speech before All Too Well or Betty, and most certainly to hear the surprise songs. We have started following some of the dancers on social media – it has been a joy to see the amazing life experiences this tour has brought them. Zara and I were watching live when the Tortured Poets Era joined the set list in Paris. We were watching live when Florence joined Taylor for Florida. We were watching live when dancer Jan went airborne from the wind in Scotland at the very start of the show. We were watching Tess’s live stream when Travis took the stage in London as one of her dancers. We were watching live (while at a high school football game) when Taylor FINALLY debuted a new Reputation bodysuit. All these moments that have brought so much joy to me and my girls – and this weekend it all comes to an end. I know many people won’t understand this and likely thing we’re crazy, especially me. I’m ok with it. The tour has brought so many people together. It has changed the world for the better – literally – the tour has stimulated every economy of every city it has visited all around the world. Even Vienna, when the shows had to be canceled for a terror threat – the Swifities were still there and like the Who’s showed the Grinch – you can take away the show, but you can’t take away their joy. The amount of money Taylor has donated to food banks across the globe is staggering. She has made a positive impact and shared the wealth everywhere she has gone. 

There will be tears in the Wiker house this weekend as the Eras Tour comes to a close. There will be late nights and little sleep thanks to the tour wrapping up in Vancouver. But my heart is full of wonderful memories and gratitude for the joy and positivity The Eras Tour has brought to all of us. And we are very much looking forward to whatever it is Taylor does next…