THE ERAS TOUR (PHILLY STYLE)

“ARE YOU…. READY FOR IT?”

BY Stephanie Ortiz

Taylor Swift’s coming to town for the Eras Tour this weekend, leaving three nights in Nashville and all that fanfare in the dust. Philly, “Are you …Ready For It?”

Everybody’s getting hyped for Taylor, discussing what album they’ll dress as, Reputation isn’t the only album to choose from, making friendship bracelets, and finalizing the details of how soon they’ll get to the concert–will there be a little or a lot of “Tay-Gating” beforehand?

But let’s face it, no matter how great our night with Taylor will be (mine’s Friday night); there’ll be a lot of FOMO.

Even though she has two surprise songs every concert, we’ll always hear what happened at the show before ours. Plus, she’ll always keep us wondering what’ll happen next.

This past weekend she was in Nashville, and ironically so was I. And it got my daughter deliberating if we should have seen the concert in Nashville over Philadelphia. Did Taylor pull out all the “surprise bombs,” as my daughter called it, in the music city?

I didn’t care much for surprise bombs because I had to deal with the repercussions of Taylor’s fanfare, with traffic in knots and price gauging. Stores had signs saying, “Welcome, Taylor fans,” and hotels knew the drill, too. For $300, you could stay 30 minutes outside Nashville with an opened Fanta soda can on the windowsill. Or, for a slight cost reduction, you could sleep 40 minutes outside the city on stained sheets.

So, for better or worse, when we purchased our tickets at pre-sale (out of three of us, my daughter was the only one to buy them successfully), we decided to go to the concert in Philly this Friday.

But my daughter’s friend made the concert on the first night in Nashville and told us all about it. Taylor sang her surprise song “Sparks Fly” after she made her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) announcement that the recording would come out in July. And she sang “Teardrops.”

In addition to the surprise songs, Phoebe Bridgers was the opening act, and Taylor joined Phoebe to sing for the first time their collaboration, “Nothing New.”

We’ll get Phoebe here in Philly too. But the following night in Nashville, her friend lamented, they had Keith Urban.

“The walk from the bridge to the seats was interesting, seeing all the different eras and how much people got into it.”

And, walking the streets of Nashville earlier that day, I saw some of those fans. I saw a woman sneaking out the back door of Panera. She looked just like the cover of the Red album. I yelled to her, “Are you going to see Taylor?” (As if Taylor and I were on a first-named basis). And she said, “Yes. Thanks for asking,” as all the customers looked at her.

She was still determining if dressing up was the way to go. Trust me, it was.

As Skylar’s friend said, “Seeing girls who got their significant others to dress up was so cute.”

I could only imagine all the “boyfriends” who had to be there if they wanted to stay in their relationships.

We wondered if friendship bracelets were a thing in Nashville the way they are here in Philly. Skylar’s friend said the only friendship bracelet she got was from her sister.

They got to the concert ten minutes before and didn’t wait in any lines. Unlike the other Swifties who “Tay-Gate,” no, I didn’t mean to say “tailgate.” Is this one over the top, even for Taylor?

But can Taylor top what she did in the music city this past weekend? Of course, she can because she always does!

The one thing about being in Nashville during the Eras Tour was that it taught me that Taylor’s got us covered from Daylight to Midnights and for Evermore.

Did she pull out all the surprise bombs in Nashville? Who cares? I’m getting ready for my concert. “Are you …Ready for it?”

Let’s coordinate what we’re wearing. Everyone in our group is doing a different album. We have Reputation, Red, Lover, and Fearless, and I’ll be the oldie Swiftie dressing up as Midnights. I have electric blue pants, a black top, and white dancing boots, proving we’re never too old to have fun and spend money on Taylor.

Tell me in the comments below. Are you going to the Eras Tour, and if so, what album are you dressing up as?

T-Swift will be performing at the Linc Friday, May 12th, Saturday, May 13th and Sunday, May 14th.

SEPTA has supplemented transportation schedules to accommodate concert attendees.

Edited & Published by Carmen Greger