Taylor Swift
July 26, 2018
Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
The Taylor Swift show was an experience in a way that surprised me. Never before have I sat in the audience and felt the music all around me. It was truly more than just listening on the radio or watching a special on TV. I could feel what Taylor meant she flew over the audience and sang “Delicate”. I understand what she meant just a tiny bit more.
When one of the biggest performers of the millennial generation comes to do a stadium tour and sells out for three nights, the expectations are high. People had spent a lot of money to see what Taylor could do. They brought their kids and took the day off from work to beat some of that famous Gillette Stadium traffic. They made a day out of it and those $275 floor seats were going to be sat in for every minute of even the pre-show.
There was fire and fireworks. Plus a giant snake during "Look What You Made Me Do" and then more giant snakes. Taylor fell over the audience and then ran through the crowd, petting a dog along the way. She appeared to know what people had gone through to get there and she put on her best show. You know all of the songs. My personal favorite “Shake It Off” also brought on openers Charli XCX and Camila Cabello. Her show was a bundle of energy and she did something I had never seen before.
As each audience member walked into the stadium, they were given what looked almost like a FitBit. It was white and plastic with a big section in the middle with a pull tab. The staff explained not to pull the tab until Taylor came on. The second she hit the stage and the house lights were dark, all 66,000 wrist bands started to glow. Not just light up a color, but light up a variety of colors in tune to the music. It was one of those technologies I will never forget the first time I saw it. To have the entire stadium lighting up in sequence to the music, brought the fan base right into the show. It made every 10 year-old girl part of what Taylor was doing.
However even if with all these attempts to make the fan experience wonderful, there were some bits that missed the mark. Along the floor seats, there were rows of little girls who just couldn’t see anything over the adults in front of them. They would get yelled out for being on chairs and their experience was hearing Taylor while staring at the back of some old guy’s head. There was also the issue of the blockade of fans into the floor section during about half of the show. In order for Taylor to be able to run around the audience, they needed to block off the aisles. Alas this meant we were stuck in our blocked off sections, with your kids who just couldn’t hold it anymore.
I am not saying you should not go. You should absolutely go. You should absolutely make a day of it, get a nice dinner and dance your butt off. Just make sure your kid is going to appreciate it if you spend the money and if they won’t, take your girlfriends. There is nothing like some woman empowerment to make you feel great about every $14 beer you buy because it’s your money and you deserve it!
Article By: Teresa Reilly
