‘I didn’t think I was a full-fledged Swiftie until . . . ’
I was one of the unlucky ones to not have gotten a ticket to “The Eras Tour” last year, despite living in the United States. Ticketmaster’s rules were so confounding and resellers so sketchy that I gave up.
And then in August, I chanced upon a spot.ph guide on how to sign up for the Japan “Eras” lottery and thought, why not?
I haven’t been to Japan in a hot minute, and if I were to watch a super packed concert, there’s no better place to do it than in a crowd of polite people with a strong concept of personal space and majority of attendees below 6 feet in height so, given the right angle and seating area, I will be able to see over heads. Plus, in terms of pricing it would’ve cost me likely the same if I had bought a ticket to, say, Minneapolis, where there may be an abundance of cheese (or is that Wisconsin?), but no Hello Kitty. And given that choice, I’d rather spend the money to see Taylor Swift and Hello Kitty in Tokyo (in all honestly, that’s probably a lie, the math won’t math, but in my head, this is how it is, so let me live this fantasy).Ironically, despite Japan’s rules being written in Japanese characters that I couldn’t understand, their lottery guidelines were more straightforward: sign up for dates and seating areas you want and then wait. If you get picked, your credit card will get charged right away. You’re in. No virtual waitlists and queues upon queues.
I wasn’t expecting anything, I had been beaten down by Ticketmaster, but shockingly, I got in! Arigato gozaimasu, All Too Well VIP Package! As it turned out we really lucked out: I had chosen a weekday show to up my odds of getting tickets and I ended up getting the very first night back from the break, and what would turn out to be her first night on tour straight from an epic Grammy win.
I sent my husband a link to the “Eras” Spotify playlist and a message: “You have six months to become a Swiftie lol.”
And speaking of Swifties, I may lay the blame on Ticketmaster’s door for not getting tickets, but the reality was that when ticket purchases opened up for the tour, I was not a hardcore Swiftie. I certainly wasn’t a big enough Swiftie in 2015 that I did not lose it when Lifestyle’s Pam Pastor brought me along to meet “Blank Space” hottie Sean O’Pry when he repped Penshoppe way back when (2024 me CANNOT believe that happened though). I knew about her (how can one not), and I love her songs when it comes on in a random popular hits playlist, but I didn’t think I was a full-fledged Swiftie.
Why I needed to see it live
And then I realized, you don’t have to be a hardcore Swiftie to recognize just how amazing the “Eras” tour was and why I needed to see it live.
1. Discography. Eye roll all you want at her being all over the news and overexposed, every little action of her widely reported, but you can’t deny that this woman has consistently produced songs and albums—for 18 years—that capture the zeitgeist and the feels. It’s not just the catchy beat, it’s the lyrics, too.
“All Too Well (10-minute version)” may have been about Jake Gyllenhaal, and while you were never with Jake Gyllenhaal so you really couldn’t relate, chances are, you have/had your very own “Jake” (or JP, or Paolo, or Paola), that love who kept you like a secret but you kept like an oath, who sang with you in the car, got lost with you upstate (in Zambales or Elyu), and then broke you like a promise, casually cruelly and left you a crumpled-up piece of paper—and years later, you still remember it all too well.
2. A feat, a historical moment. To have a discography so rich you could do a three-hourlong concert is wild on its own, but to sing those songs live, while dancing? Everyone credits her football player boyfriend for his athleticism, but singing and dancing for three straight hours arguably deserves more recognition than carrying a football over some whatever number yard line (don’t come for me, dads, Brads and Chads).
She’s performed this concert in the pouring rain, in extreme 40+ degree heat and humidity, or when she was visibly fighting a cold, and didn’t bat a mascaraed eyelash (she does this now in different cities around the world back-to-back-to-back, too). She ran three straight hours on a treadmill to prepare for this—that’s hardcore. For that alone, I think it’s worth watching the concert just from a technical and creative perspective. I don’t know if we’ll see another performance like this in our lifetime.
3. She’s the ultimate mastermind—and storyteller. She knows her audience and how to whip them into a frenzy. She’s the queen of Easter eggs, leaving sly clues and subtext to drive her fans crazy with speculation and make them sound like loony conspiracy theorists at times, but the payoff, when it does happen, is incredible.
The way she wrested her back catalog back from Scooter Braun is masterful, and the way she’s flexed her muscles out of the recording studio and into writing and directing her music videos, shows that she’s not just a songwriter, she is a consummate writer and storyteller, even in the way she controls her own public persona and narrative.
4. She’s a cat lady. Have you seen how she and Benjamin Button met?
Okay. So maybe I’m more of a Swiftie than I care to admit.
Tips and things
1. Go early for merch. I got to the venue two hours early and by then the merch line had lines as long as the “Reputation” snake. Go early, or if your feet can handle more standing and waiting, go after.
2. Know what you want. The merch lines show what’s available so please decide before your turn. I nearly lost it when the woman in front of me started trying all the sizes in all the things. Get the merch that has your tour city on it! A lot of the merch was universal, but there were some that had cities on them, like the Tokyo Eras towel I got. The sweatshirts are soft and oversized.
3. Do the bracelets. That was such a fun part of the tour and it never gets old. For my turn, I bought tiny cat beads and did “Karma”-themed bracelets with the cat. I also did “Reputation”-themed bracelets thinking we would get a Reputation TV announcement (I rabbit-holed too hard on the “clowning” as they call it) during my night so I was bummed when we didn’t.
I didn’t get to make a lot (I didn’t have enough time), but I tried to trade with people who had gone to the concert solo. There was this young man (god I’m old) who was all by his lonesome and I handed him one of my bracelets. He later tapped my shoulder and gave me four in return.
4. Embrace a theme. I leaned into the cat theme and wore a different Taylor Swift cat-themed sweatshirt while I was in Tokyo.
5. Take a break during “Folklore” and “Evermore.” It’s truly okay to sit down. We ended up having to stand because the guy in front of us wouldn’t sit down so I didn’t get a break.
What I watched to get hyped
The hardest part of this was refraining from watching the “Eras” movie, and once this starts streaming in the next few weeks the temptation will be harder—totally up to you, though. Whatever gets you hyped!
“Eras” set lists on Spotify. Love the fans who painstakingly update set lists with the surprise songs from various cities.“Miss Americana.” This documentary is awesome. Watch it.
Watch all her music videos. Taylor Swift’s evolution from country princess to multigenre is incredible to watch in one sitting.
Watch the behind-the-scenes clips of her music videos. The “All Too Well” behind-the-scenes is gutting but my ultimate favorite is the “Me!” BTS when she met Benji. —CONTRIBUTED by Tanya Ting INQ
