Tips For The Eras Tour Based On My Opening Night Experience
I’m still pinching myself that I was able to be at The Eras Tour on opening night in Swift City, Erazona 🥹🫶🏻🤩 It’s crazy how much you can look forward to a huge event and feel like it will never come and then it’s over in the blink of an eye and feels like the most enchanted dream! I was reliving the entire experience the following day by rewatching all the videos I took and watching the live videos that people were sharing on TikTok. I couldn’t get enough (and still can’t)! This was only the 2nd Taylor Swift concert I’ve been to (shoutout to the Speak Now tour in LA circa 2011), so I obviously knew to anticipate massive crowds, but until you’re there experiencing it, it’s hard to prepare for just how insane it will be. In this post I’ll be sharing my experience and a few tips/tricks that I think will help you prepare for one of the most iconic concerts in history that we get to be a part of! If you’re in need of outfit ideas/inspiration, check out this post! I’ve put together a dozen outfits based on her hit songs and I’m continuously creating more!
Arriving At The Venue
Night 1 was on a Friday and in hindsight I wish I had taken the whole day off instead of working a half day. Parking lots opened at 12pm, doors at 4:30pm, and Gayle’s opening act started at 6:30pm. My original plan was to arrive somewhere between 4:30-5:30 thinking that others might get there super early and we could avoid the mad rush to the stadium, but with it being about the same time people were getting off of work it created a perfect storm of traffic. The worst of it was the traffic for the 1 mile it took to exit the freeway and get to the parking lot! We were sitting there for well over an hour barely moving at a snail’s pace and finally parked right at 6:30 in the knick of time! So all of this to say, GET THERE EARLY AF!! You’ll be way less stressed and can just soak in the whole atmosphere being surrounded by Swifties and shop merch early before everyone else gets there.
Merch Shopping
Speaking of merch, let’s talk about the craziness that was me and my friend trying to buy shirts 😂 We breezed through bag check and immediately saw a merch tent outside the stadium (before they scanned our tickets). We honestly had no idea if there was merch inside or not…and since there was a giant booth in front of us we didn’t want to risk it so decided to wait in the longgggg line. At this point it was 6:40ish and Gayle had already come on and sang her ABCDEFU song, but after 10 minutes of her performance it sounded pretty quiet. We thought she would have at least sang for 20-30 minutes and then there would have been more buffer to set up for Paramore, but sure enough at 7pm on the dot we heard people losing their minds and my stomach sank. I told my friend to stay in the merch line so I could confirm my suspicions and ran to the stadium doors: Paramore was singing “This Is Why”!! I called her and was like “get over here NOW!!” 😂 We ditched the merch line so fast and were greeted by literally tons of merch booths inside throughout the stadium - so all of this to say, don’t stress about getting merch right away if you’re running behind. There will be plenty of opportunities between sets (or during if you’re not a fan of the openers music) and all the booths are well stocked. Or if your concert buddy is a queen like mine was and is willing to wait in the merch line even during Tay’s opening song…that’s another option 🤩 (and that friend is a keeper for life!). Obviously the sooner you shop the better chances you’ll have of getting your item/size of choice, but if you’re in a pinch and don’t want to miss the music I recommend saving merch for later.
One other thing about merch that I was expecting was that they’d have the same selection that’s on her website. False! I went into the night knowing exactly what I wanted to get based on the window shopping I did online to only find out they didn’t have the items I had my eye on. Here’s a pic of what they have at the shows and if there’s something different you want online then buy it in advance!
Event Timeline
I had an entirely different timeline for the evening built up in my head and it quickly got thrown out the window. While we were in traffic trying to park and the minutes kept ticking by, I knew we wouldn’t see Gayle and I was totally okay with that. I was not totally okay with missing Paramore 😬 I thought for sure that Paramore would come on around 7:30, play for an hour, and Taylor would be on at 9. Needless to say I was panicking when I heard Hayley William’s beautiful voice bellowing through the speakers at 7! Getting in the doors was quick, but unfortunately we entered on the complete opposite side of the stadium and had to run/walk/weave through massive crowds to get to our seats. Add having to pee so bad after drinking a Coke and sitting in traffic for almost 2 hours (& being on your period) into the mix and my stress levels were skyrocketing lol. We thankfully found a bathroom that didn’t have an insane line, but I sadly missed seeing them perform “That’s What You Get” and “Decode” during this whole dilemma. I could hear everything though and was singing while running to our seats 😂 We finally made it just in time to see them perform “The Only Exception”, “Still Into You”, “Ain’t It Fun”, and best of all…”Misery Business”!!! 🤘🏻 Literally all I wanted was for Hayley to scream sing that song and that’s exactly what we did right along with her. It was one of the highlights of the night! I’m telling you all of this as a learning opportunity 😂 which brings my back to my first tip of get there early! They were very organized and on time (which was much appreciated), and Taylor came on at exactly 8pm (I believe on Night 2 she came on at 7:57, making her entire performance exactly 3 hours and 13 minutes 🥹).
There was at best only 25 minutes between Paramore’s set ending and Taylor taking the stage, which honestly isn’t enough time to get through a merch line, so I’d recommend going during one of the openers sets if you’re game for that (or again, get there SUPER early and you won’t have to worry about it)!
Enjoy The Eras Experience!
This was honestly the most magical, exhilarating, and FUN concert I’ve ever been to! Taylor is an incredible performer and she really knows how to wow a crowd with her stage presence, sets, dancers, and OUTFITS. She leaves no detail unaccounted for and I think all of her costumes for this show were another huge highlight for me. They were all perfectly and strategically themed to match all of her musical eras and added to the overall vibe of the night!
I also had some preconceived ideas of what she would open with, the order that she would perform her albums in, but being the mastermind that Taylor is, she threw us a curve ball and kept us on our toes! The flow of the entire show was flawless ✨
Spoilers & Songs I Wish She Sang
I’m going to list the order of the albums she performed on opening night, so keep scrolling if you don’t want to see!
Lover
Fearless
Evermore
Reputation
Speak Now
Red
Folklore
1989
Acoustic Set: Piano and guitar set feat. 2 random songs from any album (her goal is to not repeat a song for the entire tour!)
Midnights
I won’t lie, I was a little bummed she didn’t dedicate an era to her debut album. I was really hoping she would sing “Our Song”, but thankfully on Night 1 she sang “Tim McGraw” on the piano and it gave me all the nostalgic feels 🥹 Her set included 44 songs (3 hours and 13 minutes 💗) which is A LOT and so much more than I was expecting! Obviously I wish we could just have a 24 hour concert and hear her sing everything. Here’s some songs she didn’t sing but wish she had:
Fifteen
Sparks Fly
Our Song
You Are In Love
Long Live
I Did Something Bad
Out of the Woods
Cornelia Street
Death By A Thousand Cuts
the 1
Message In A Bottle
One Last Tip
I brought a portable charger so my phone would hold up with all the videos/photos I captured, but most importantly, be present to really get the most out of this once in a lifetime experience! I’m so grateful for the videos I will have forever, but also so glad I put my phone away for certain moments and just sang and danced my heart out with my friend!
I want to know which show you’re going to, what you’re planning on wearing, and what you’re most excited for! Head on over to my Instagram and TikTok for more Eras Tour content (I can’t stop talking about it 😁).