I'm the biggest Swiftie but I was disappointed at the Eras Tour.
I have loved Taylor Swift for more than a decade now. By ‘love’, I mean deeply investing myself in her music, lyrics, aesthetic, career moves, being inspired by her work and her as a person. For me, there was a deeply rooted aspiration to share with others what I find inspirational and the urge to bridge connections across demographics based on constant similarities that prompted me to found music communities in university and my current workplace made primarily up of Taylor Swift fans to appreciate her art together. To say plainly, my biggest achievement in life could be having people think of me when they think of Taylor Swift, for my consistent advocacy for every record she breaks and every reference to her lyrics in my own words. Yet, I deter from stalking behaviours that document all of Taylor’s personal life details and minute preferences; it’s her words that inspire awe, having lived a life of monumental career success that comes no short of inhuman media scrutiny and criticism.
For a fan as big as myself, put me in America and you would find me frequenting Taylor’s live shows since I discovered her back in 2008 when Love Story and You Belong With Me hit the streets. However, being born in a middle-class Malaysian household only meant that watching Taylor Swift live would be a dream best not to have faith planted in. Not only is Malaysia, or South East Asia, a rare destination for Taylor’s live shows, tickets to such events are typically out of the affordable range for me too. When I managed to get hold of a ticket to the RED tour in Singapore back in 2014, I ultimately chose to back out due to financial pressures. I gave up on the ticket and got my SGD288 back. The next year when Taylor brought her 1989 World Tour to Singapore, securing tickets did not even cross my mind, knowing my little savings had better avenues to be spent on rather than entertainment. When I then received a scholarship to study in the UK, I managed to save enough to afford a ticket worth GBP172 to Taylor’s Lover Fest which was to be held at Hyde Park London in 2020. But guess what? The pandemic happened, the show got cancelled, Taylor did not tour for the subsequent three years.
And fast forward to Taylor announcing The Eras Tour in Singapore, which were her only six shows in the entire South East Asia, I was already a working adult and I knew I could afford tickets with my own money. And so I went on what Swifties called The Great War- competing for tickets. I was all grey on the ticket release day, after rounds of queues and being denied access to tickets at checkouts, but my experience proved that persistence was gold. I came out of a meeting six whole hours after the tickets were first released, to find myself finally able to secure two Category 1 tickets worth SGD348 (around RM1200) each. I made it, with my own money and effort! When Coldplay crashed stadiums in KL and Singapore, everyone asked me if I was going to watch them. My short, sweet reply was that I would rather top up my budget for a Taylor Swift concert with what I could have spent on Coldplay. Why would I pay hundreds of Ringgit to attend a show of a band whose only a handful of popular hits appeal to me? This is especially when I am someone so detachable from blindly following the biggest trends out there- I just don’t think you should find relevance in what others’ interest if it does not match yours.
The waiting months flew by but I obviously did not just sit around doing nothing. Friendship bracelets making became a huge sport where I got to exercise my creativity and it sure was an easy go-to for bonding sessions with friends. I managed a small business profiting off bracelets I made, even hosted two social sessions at my workplace to bring fellow Swifties together to make bracelets. I then purchased a set of Sharpie and a white T-shirt, deciding that my costume would be a writable canvas where fans could scribble their names or their favourite songs all over my upper body. I would admit that I copied the idea from an influencer (@cade.gass) on Instagram, though he does have the more compelling look of a cowboy lit from within (and with bigger biceps). All these simply fueled the anticipation for the show, something I have looked forward to since… 10 whole years ago!
At this point you could most probably guess that I would be arriving early at the National Stadium of Singapore. Bingo! My girlfriend and I arrived at 1pm when the doors only open at 4pm. Alright, I admit- it was a wee bit too early and even though the crowd was already building up, we decided that we would window shop and have our snacks till we felt ready to interact with others. So around 2:30pm, I got my sharpie out and gathered my inner confidence to reach out to all random strangers by asking if they would write their favourite song on my shirt. And oh man, the response was massive! Swifties were incredibly supportive of the ‘game’ and even offered to exchange friendship bracelets. I had the best time talking to people who have flown in from other parts of Asia- Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and even China. Never knew you could make new friends by getting people to write words on you- I think that is one unique scene only to be found at a Taylor Swift concert. Also, the effort put into designing their costumes by 90% of the concert goers was worth every second of appreciation, be it recreating a look worn by Taylor, a reference to a lyric or just mere inspiration of Taylor’s well known musical Eras, which inspired this tour in the first place.
We made our entrance into the stadium rather smoothly, kudos to the management. The communication was great, the queue speed was fast and the crowd control deserved compliments. I even noticed that some male toilets were temporarily converted for female use to help divert the crowd (not being sexist but it's common that the queues at female washrooms tend to be longer- legend says the girls take time to touch up their makeup too, not sure how true this is). I'm overall very satisfied with the experience thus far. The stage looked a tiny bit far away still, even though I was on a floor seat, and some of the workers checking equipment on the stage looked slightly small. Would Taylor look tiny too? I wondered. When Sabrina Carpenter opened the show, the audio was just perfect- it was the kind that could sufficiently make your heart dance to the rhythm without deafening you. But to be really honest, at this point I wasn’t paying much attention anyway since I am not a fan and I only knew two of Sabrina’s hits. So did Sabrina look small? I had no idea.
Then there came the queen. Taylor emerged from below the stage with her explosive vocals. She started the tour with ‘It’s you and me, that’s my whole world’, which is a line from the song, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, from her Lover album. That felt very much like a direct message to the fans, don’t you think? It was a moment I have looked forward to for almost a decade and the excitement in me was real! It was like- I spent years being obsessed with this woman and there she was, right in front of me, breathing the same air as me! Then it hit me- I gasped in surprise by how small she actually looked! I literally paid RM1200 to not see her like an anchovy but there she was looking like a shrimp. So, apparently, despite having secured a seat in Cat 1, we were closer to the back end of the category. Cat 1 was also behind an entire section, which was VIP 1 (costs SDG1228 per ticket, which is equivalent to approximately RM4300)! Was it the distance between my seat and the stage that made her look small? Or was she standing on the slight further end of the stage, since it was such a wide runway, that made her look tiny? It was both.
I pondered, how do other people in VIP 1 even afford tickets? How do people even gain access to the tickets, given that it was such a struggle for so many in my community to get them? Did they know someone in power? The funniest part was, I was literally surrounded by other attendees who were not even singing along nor did they look impressed enough like they were going to pass out. A few guys near us looked like they were just accompanying their girlfriends, as they either stood like a log the whole show, or were finding time to sit down and rest. A few seats away was a family with small children, and the entire family did not look too impressed by the show, or perhaps only found the concert more engaging when some of Taylor’s biggest mainstream hit songs were performed. A few rows away were what I hoped for- screaming fans who knew every single line of Taylor’s lyrics and they were radiating immense excitement. Those are the kind of people you want to stand near during a concert like this, because they make you feel understood in so many ways possible. For instance, just like me, they probably scream the bridge to ‘Illicit Affairs’ in their showers on a daily basis too.
And so I couldn’t help but allow my intrusive thoughts to analyse the situation- so people who were not fans could afford around RM1200 (even for kids) to sit in Category 1 while playing dead log not knowing Taylor’s songs (like me during Sabrina’s set) while some of the big fans I know from school or from work did not manage to secure a chance to even be in the stadium. How unfair life is that affordability means accessibility! In a capitalist world, whoever can pay gets the opportunity, not whoever deserves it the most. And this might be me being sour and jealous, but truth be told, it took me years to decide that RM1200 was worth being spent on a mega concert experience by my favourite artiste of all time, but for others who perhaps view RM1200 as more insignificant than I would, the true value of appreciation will remain incomparable forever. As for whoever that was just there ‘for the vibes and trend’, it only disappointed me that the world truly is a capitalist’s playground.
I think it’s too petty to complain that I got all the worst dresses, so let me avoid that entirely and just say that the overall concert experience was still incredible. It was my first ever Taylor Swift concert and it was the closest I could get to Taylor Swift, like ever (like I said, we were BREATHING THE SAME AIR). Having a seat in the stadium and hearing the music live were insane as we travelled through Taylor’s musical eras with her. But I must admit that another hint of disappointment stemmed from me being too familiar with The Eras Tour movie, which I was obsessed with. The film was shot from optimal angles and every single detail on stage was captured in HD, so I think it really built up my expectations. Having only the limited space at my seat, I could only watch the show from one angle (not really enjoying the LED screens cuz why would you stare at the LED screens when you are there to watch her, right?), which felt rather underwhelming. Another self-inflicted pain was me knowing the setlist too well- I knew what songs would come next and what to expect for almost every song, and that led to me to lose out on the capacity for surprises. The only one true surprise was probably Taylor's dancer screaming 'WALAO EHHHH' as part of the performance of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. The lesson learned here is probably to leave room for surprises when it comes to concerts, rather than getting to know the show in and out beforehand.
However, I reflected after the show and realised that all the key moments I have missed from her previous tours were strategically compressed into the 3.5-hour long session so fans would be able to relive those scenes. I remember feeling sad having to miss out on the Red Tour back in 2014 despite securing a ticket. The Red set brought me back to what could have been, as Taylor sang and danced in the ‘22’ outfit. Even better, her vocals matured over the years, and so did her stage presence and dance choreography. I was even treated to her 10-minute version of All Too Well, something I would not have gotten at her show back in 2014. The Reputation set brought us to church- I’m not even religious- but as a long-time fan, you couldn’t help but feel like an abyss in your heart was filled. The folklore set gave me the chance to scream lyrics to August live alongside other fans, and the 1989 set delivered so many mic drop moments that it took my soul to New York and back. Not trying to write a Masters thesis here so I won’t document every single era, but the entire show was a roller coaster ride which answered countless prayers from my teenage years. But still, I must mention, when she pulled out This Love and Call It What You Want as her surprise mashup songs, I just knew I was the most blessed person on Earth. Yes, we always look at others’ surprise song mashup combos and think ‘Oh that’s a good one.’, but I could safely say that I got a pair of pretty good ones there too.
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