"long live all the magic we made"
a very delayed post on my Eras Tour Santa Clara N1 experience
Dear readers,
I wanted to let you know that I will be relaunching this Substack in a very exciting way real soon! But before I do that, I wanted to say goodbye to this era of the Substack and share this post that I had sitting in drafts since JANUARY of this year. I’m going to finish it and publish it as it is.
To current subscribers, thank you for being early adopters of my Substack. I absolutely can’t wait to share what’s next!
Karen
Happy 2024, friends! I hope the beginning of the year has treated you kindly.
Following up on my previous post, I’m sharing my experience at The Eras Tour because 1) it was too fun, 2) it’s coming back soon, 3) I’m guaranteed to go again at least once (In what is currently scheduled to be the final show in Vancouver!), and 4) I can’t stop talking about Taylor Swift and she is basically the inspiration behind this Substack in the first place (Well, her and getting my heart broken).
So, here is the long overdue recap of The Eras Tour, Santa Clara N1 (July 28, 2023) [Karen’s Version]!
How I got tickets: Since these were harder to get than the Princess Beanie Baby in 1997, I got a lot of questions about how I was able to get tickets super last minute without selling feet photos.
But first, a little background on THE STRUGGLE!!!!
I was very fortunate to get a Verified Fan code for my show back in November 2022 when the tour was first announced. Unfortunately, everything was a cluster the day of the presale. They changed the time of the presale and I had scheduled a meeting before I knew that would happen, and I couldn’t get out of it. I also got in trouble at work since I was supposed to be in the field that day, so to speak. I talked it out with the folks involved near the end of that grueling week and all was forgiven, but definitely not my proudest moment! Anyway, I did not get tickets that day and my only hope was that more tickets would become available closer to the show.
As the tour progressed, I began following resell accounts on Twitter/X that offered fan-to-fan sales at face value, but you had to get picked to purchase the tickets. I also began following accounts that would announce day-before and last-minute ticket drops on Ticketmaster.
One of the resell accounts was erastourticketz.
So, two things:
I was going to go to Levi’s Stadium even if I didn’t get a ticket. (Shout-out to Rally)
The day before the show, I spent two hours in the queue at my office to no avail, and drank my sorrows away with a lavender haze French 75 at the bar with my friends.
The Twitter account announced they had two pairs for sale that someone was able to secure from the drop from the day before. I responded to the prompt with a photo of the sparkly dress I bought from Target and hoped for the best.
It was the only time I turned on message requests and push notifications.
Around 1PM, I got a direct message saying that they wanted to sell the tickets to me!!!
I was literally still in my bra getting ready and got on FaceTime to thank the seller profusely and to ensure a successful transaction. The tickets had an obstructed view (Since they are the seats that get released after the stage is set up), but I ended up only paying ~$140 for two tickets.
I called my friend/neighbor who I’d be going with and she was as ecstatic as I was. My sister had slept over my place that night and had a single ticket from the resale market. She saw it all go down and I knew she was happy for us too.
The outfit: A sparkly lavender dress that I thought was a mix of the 1989 and Midnights eras and my Barbie movie-inspired shades from Alamo Drafthouse’s collection.
The merch: Got a water bottle and beige hoodie for myself (Lost the water bottle a couple of months later), a beige t-shirt for my sister (Which was too big so she gifted to our brother), and a black hoodie for my brother (Which was too big for him!). I ended up getting the black hoodie for myself later through Taylor’s merch store.
The merch/bathroom/food break: I left during “You Belong With Me” and came back around “marjorie.”
I chose “You Belong With Me” since she’s performed it at every show of hers I’ve gone to, but I was pretty bummed about missing half of the evermore set, including “no body, no crime” with HAIM.
Other bummers:
Not being able to watch the openers since lines were so long (Gracie Abrams and HAIM)
The venue running out of the branded mason jars for the custom cocktails
Missing the last song because we had to catch the bus back to SF (Even though we totally could have stayed since the bus left later than scheduled!)
Fun stuff!
Seeing the cleaning cart that Taylor enters in
The Great America fireworks going off next door during her performance of “22”
Taylor waving “hi” to our section during “Anti-Hero”
Not related to the show itself, but walking back from the SF bus stop on Taylor Street and seeing a lavender haze (There was a light show up the hill at Grace Cathedral)
The surprise songs: “right where you left me” featuring Aaron Dessner and “Castles Crumbling” but NOT featuring Hayley Williams. Both amazing! And Taylor forgetting the words to “right where you left me” showed how adorable of a human she is.
My favorite performances:
“Cruel Summer” (I knew the bridge was going to be a thing when Lover came out in 2019)
“tolerate it” (THE DRAMA)
“…ready for it?” (BANGER)
“Long Live” (One of my absolute favorites and I’m so sad that it never really got the time of day)
“All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” (Very therapeutic to scream-sing along to)
“illicit affairs” (I remember seeing a video of one of the first performances of this song and that was when I knew I couldn’t miss it!)
“Style” (Another one of my all-time Taylor faves)
“Anti-Hero” (Because she waved at us plus it was just so fun to sing along to!)
*including this video of “Lover” because it had one of my favorite views of Taylor on the screen
In addition to this magical night of seeing the tour in real life, I’ve had the opportunity to relive the tour over and over again with at least four screenings of The Eras Tour film in theaters.
As of finishing this post today in October 2024, it will be a little over a month until The Eras Tour officially ends. I’m going to miss this landmark moment in our pop culture history and this encapsulation of modern girlhood (Even though folks like myself have literally grown up with Taylor - for me, it was during the Fearless era).
But till then, I’m counting down till that last tour date in Vancouver - and hoping she announces reputation (Taylor’s Version) sooner than that!