BY GABY NIEVES
Co-Managing Mosaic Editor
My discovery of Taylor Swift’s 2020 GRAMMY Award-winning album “folklore” came after a years-long hiatus from calling myself a true fan of the artist — a “Swiftie,” if you will. The last time I would have considered myself a real Swiftie was in elementary school, in the years following the release of her sophomore album “Fearless,”which was many years ago. From the ages of five to eight, I loved to randomly bother my mom to let me watch the “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” music videos on her phone.
Over the next 10 or so years, Swift went on to release many other albums. Following her self-titled debut, “Taylor Swift,” and the aforementioned album that possessed young Gaby for a time came “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989,” “reputation,” “Lover,” “folklore” and “evermore,” the last three being released within the span of roughly one year. Less than six months after the release of “evermore,” Swift came out with a re-recorded “(Taylor’s Version)” edition of her sophomore album following her announcement that she would release her first six albums for the second time after the original masters were sold away from her by her former label. “Red (Taylor’s Version)” came out about five months later on Nov. 12, 2021. It was at about this time of the year that I stumbled headlong back into Swiftie-dom, now as an 18-year-old English major who fell in love with Swift both as a storyteller and singer.
But wait, there’s more! In a break from releasing the re-recorded versions of her earlier albums, Swift blessed the world with her 10th original album, “Midnights,” on Oct. 21, 2022. This album shattered streaming records and caused Swift to become the first artist to clean-sweep the “Top 10” of Billboard’s “Hot 100” chart. Following the record-breaking success of her latest work and the propulsion of her career to its highest point yet, Swift announced that she would return to the touring scene for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Eras Tour,” which promises to feature performances of songs from across all of Swift’s discography, made headlines before it even started. The company hosting online ticket sales, Ticketmaster, came under fire for multiple reasons. Countless Swifties reported not being picked to receive access to the Verified Fan presale (which begged the question — who did?). On the day of the presale, fans had to spend hours in line, hurdling over long queues and multiple site-wide crashes to even attempt to secure tickets.
However, in the months since that tumultuous time, Swift has performed the first third of the nationwide tour. And with the start of the next third comes her three nights of shows in the City of Brotherly Love. That’s right — performing at Lincoln Financial Field, Swift will be spending May 12, 13 and 14 in Philadelphia, a mere 45 minute drive from the university.
Guess who got tickets?
Well, I suppose it’s obvious from the title of this article. I did — I got tickets. After praying that at least one person between myself and my three friends got selected for the Verified Fan presale followed by four hours of website crashes, over 2,000 people in front of us in the queue and seats disappearing as quickly as they appeared, we miraculously got them.
As we stressed over whether we would even be able to look at the ticket prices at all, I found solace in knowing that the Swifties around me were in the same boat. And by “Swifties around me” I mean the Swifties that were literally sitting right next to me in the Nest. I can’t remember their names for the life of me, and I ended up moving to the library after I finished my bagel, but I hope they got their tickets, too. Nest Swifties, if you remember me, please say hi to me if you’re at the May 13 tour date.
Speaking of, May 13 will have passed by the time this article is published, so expect a follow-up article about my experience at “The Eras Tour,” which Swift album era I decided to dress up as, whether any of my fellow concert goers had memorable reactions to said outfit and more. I know numerous Swifties attend the university, so if you unfortunately weren’t able to secure a ticket to Swift’s concert (either because the tickets were too overpriced or just impossible to find), don’t worry. In addition to the endless TikTok videos you can scroll through to see every part of Swift’s performances from what feels like every angle imaginable, I’ll be providing an inside scoop.
