This summer was easily one of the best summers of my life! A big reason for that is because I was lucky enough to attend the Eras Tour in England with my best friend and our moms! There are not enough words to sufficiently describe how amazing my experience was. I simply can’t believe that I got to see Taylor Swift perform live!
This whole story started in July of last year when I found out that we had gotten tickets. It didn’t feel real at the time, it just felt like something we joked about doing but never actually thought would happen. But, it was very much real. It just didn’t kick in until we were physically at the stadium and in our seats. We planned our trip to England so that we had the whole week to explore, with the concert being on the final night of our stay. We spent the entire week participating in tourist activities in London and even took a day trip to Paris. This was a trip of a lifetime, and while it would’ve been perfect on its own, experiencing the concert on top of that was like a two-for-one deal!
The day before the concert, we took the tube out to Wembley Stadium to buy merch and take pictures with the murals, without the stress of weaving through big crowds. This allowed us to take our time looking at everything around the stadium, without having to carry our merchandise around for the whole concert. Instead, we were able to bring it straight back to the house we were staying at.
On the morning of the concert, we woke up early to have breakfast and allowed ourselves time to chill and relax, knowing that the rest of the day was going to be chaotic. When we got back to the house, it was time to start getting ready for the concert. It was honestly such a cute and memorable experience to get all dressed up in our outfits and do each other’s makeup, all while listening to Taylor Swift’s music blasting through the house. We all chose a different era: I was Reputation, my mom was Lover, my best friend was Evermore and her mom was Midnights. We took a bunch of pictures, made fun transition videos and then we were on our way!
Riding the tube to the stadium was a surreal experience because at every stop, more and more Swifties would get on. You could just feel everyone’s excitement building up. But, stepping off the tube was like walking into a completely different world. There were so many people at the stadium with amazing outfits, and everywhere you looked fans were taking pictures and trading bracelets. It was so mesmerizing to watch! It took us a while to make our way inside the stadium, but once we reached our seats, I swear my jaw hit the floor. Our seats were at the front of our section, so we had a lot of room to move around and got a perfect view of the stage. We could see absolutely everything and everyone. To be there in that moment felt like a complete out-of-body experience.Â
The openers for our show were Suki Waterhouse and Paramore. Both acts were amazing and made such a great start to the show! When it was time for Taylor to come out, you could feel the whole stadium shaking with anticipation. Going into this show, I didn’t think I was going to cry at all. I don’t know why I thought that, especially since I’m a very emotional person. But the second Taylor Swift came out on stage, there were tears in my eyes. It felt so magical to be there and see her perform live knowing that I’d been dreaming of this moment for so long. It was finally happening right before my eyes. The concert itself was crazy. I tried my best to avoid as many spoilers for this concert as I could, which was nearly impossible, but it ended up being so worth it. Seeing her perform live for three and a half hours, and just being able to sing and dance with the people I love was one of the best experiences of my life!Â
The surprise songs that she chose for our concert were perfect! The first song that she played was I Did Something Bad, which she hadn’t played on the tour yet, so everyone in the stadium went insane. Plus, Reputation is my favourite album, so to hear this song live was surreal. The second song she played was a mash-up between Coney Island and My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys. This mash-up was crazy because Coney Island was the song that my best friend was hoping she’d play. So, it felt almost magical that out of all her songs, Taylor played the one that my best friend wanted to hear the most.
Once the concert was over, it took over an hour to get from the stadium to the tube since everyone was going in that direction. Even though it was a nightmare scenario to be stuck at a stand-still, the bright side was that everyone was making light of the situation by singing along to the songs that were still playing from the speakers. It was so fun to be singing along with everyone, even after the concert ended, and it made the time go by much quicker. We didn’t end up getting back to the house until after 1 A.M., so we finished packing everything and then headed to bed. We woke up early the next morning and immediately headed to the airport, which made the concert feel like a fever dream. Like, did I actually experience that? Or was it all just a dream?
When I think about the concert now, I feel so lucky to have seen Taylor Swift live, and I honestly wouldn’t change anything about my experience. In fact, I wish I could go back and relive it again!