I know that this isn’t my usual content, but I hope you’ll indulge me. 🙏🏼 I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Taylor’s final Eras Tour show in Vancouver, BC this past week and it was just the thing that my mental health needed as we bring 2024 to a close.
The entire Eras Tour experience was such an incredible spectacle and while I think they did a great job capturing its essence in the Eras Tour Movie, it just isn’t the same as seeing it in person and I still can’t believe I got to see it twice! 😭 The global sensation was not only an exciting event for Swifties to attend, but it became a major economic boost in each city that Taylor performed in. The Eras Tour smashed records and made history! I’m so incredibly proud of Taylor for this EPIC phenomenon she built.
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I recorded so much content, but I’ll spare you my grainy iPhone videos which include me screaming the lyrics basically right into the microphone. I’m SO happy that I have these clips for my own memories, but they’re the last thing the internet needs to be subjected to. On that note, please forgive my very amateur photography in this post — my iPhone is not meant for long range images in a dark stadium, but it did its best. 😅
BEFORE
When I went to the Seattle Eras Tour concert I didn’t realize how big of a deal the friendship bracelets were and I hadn’t made time to create any beforehand (which I definitely regretted). There were some kind souls at that show that gifted bracelets to me without trades, but that experience made me really want to have some bracelets of my own to exchange at the Vancouver show!
It turned out that making bracelets was way more fun than I was expecting it to be… I had a marvelous time (😏) choosing song titles, lyrics and phrases and then coordinating the bead colors. Little did I know that the friendship bracelet game had LEVELED UP over the past year and a half and my sad little pony bead bracelets were put to shame by some of the amazing bracelets that I saw and received!
Some people used really special beads and charms (my friend Erin even 3D printed some bespoke designs! They were incredible!) and others used some awesome techniques to create cool effects (like these, these, and THESE)… I was so impressed with everyone’s excitement and dedication!
Choosing my outfit for the concert was tricky because Vancouver is in the 30°-40°F range in December and while I desperately wanted to be sparkly, that just wasn’t in the cards for me for this experience. You can read about my choices and everything I packed in my stadium bag in this post.
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DAY OF THE CONCERT
Woke up early to get myself together and stuff last minute items in my bag. Drove through Starbucks with under eye patches on and probably gave the barista a jump scare. 🤣 Left the suburbs to hit up Seattle and picked up my friend Erin who was also attending the concert — she kindly let me split her hotel room with her because those prices were INSANITY.
We tried to get to the border ASAP to hopefully have a shorter wait time and we were successful! We left Seattle around 7:30am and by the time we got to the border at 9:15am we waited for less than 5 minutes to meet with a border agent and get in to Canada (which I think may be a record for all of my crossings into Canada, tbh!).
We checked into our hotel (the Sheraton Wall Centre), but our room wasn’t ready yet so we enjoyed the adorable photo opportunity they had set up in the lobby (SO cute!). Obviously, my travel outfit was not ideal for photo taking, but it was the perfect comfy situation for a long, chilly PNW drive — no regrets.
Vancouver had set up a variety of cute marquee signs with Taylor Swift song titles around the city and we were lucky enough to have the LOVER sign right in front of our hotel! Obviously, we needed photos! There was a short line to have a turn with the sign and everyone was sharing intel, swapping theories and trading bracelets. It was so fun and a really cute experience!
Erin had heard of this cute promo that McDonald’s was offering — their Bestie Bundle was only available in Canada and with a certain meal (intended to be shared) they included two friendship bracelets! The options you could get in your meal were “Live, Laugh, Big Mac” or “Share Fries L8R?”. I would have LOVED the fries one, but we received two of the Big Mac options. We were so hungry and while it wasn’t the most healthy or gourmet option, it definitely felt fun to do something “on theme” for our lunch.
Also, I don’t know if you know this, but McDonald’s offers poutine as a side?!! For a fast food version, it was delicious! 10/10 would get again (I recommend accepting the utensils for this because it was hella messy).
Our room setup was great at the Sheraton Wall Centre — it was perfect for the two of us for a quick overnight. We had a 2 king bed room (which I don’t think I’ve ever seen as a room type in a hotel before??), but there wasn’t any closet / clothing storage space aside from the coat closet when you first walk in. Thankfully, I typically just live out of my bag when I travel anyway so this wasn’t a discomfort for me and it was likely just our room type, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
The hotel location was only a 20 min walk to the stadium which was important to us with all of the road closures and how crazy the traffic would be both before / after the concert. I’d definitely stay here again when in the city, especially for an event at the stadium.
Getting ready!!! Not the most aesthetic photo, but it is what it is. 😂
After we got ready we walked to our early dinner at Hawksworth. It was on the way to the stadium from our hotel and we found out a few days before heading up to Vancouver that the hotel that houses the restaurant was actually the hotel where Taylor was staying!! There was a decent sized crowd in the alley waiting to possibly take photos of her vehicle departing the hotel… I can’t imagine how Tay must feel with that kind of attention. The official [and unofficial 😉] paparazzi are crazy!
Our meal and drinks were delicious (how cute are our “friendship bracelet” cocktails?! they were so well balanced)! Highly recommend stopping at Hawksworth on your next visit to Vancouver, BC.
After “lupper” (lunch / supper) we made our way to BC Place Stadium, which was all decked out! The stadium in Toronto sent over their oversized stadium friendship bracelets after they hosted Taylor shows a few weeks prior and if that’s not Swiftie friendship bracelets at their finest, I don’t know what is.
We received our light-up wristbands upon entry. Things were starting to feel real!!
I got to my seat and I immediately started freaking out. OMG — is this happening?! I was sooo happy with my seat location / view and my random seat mates were [of course] so friendly and kind.
It was pretty exciting to be at one of the final shows for many reasons, but I found it to be especially thrilling because there were extra cameras filming the entire experience! I’m excited to find out what the footage will be used for. Personally, I’m hoping for some behind-the-scenes documentary type of content all about the Eras Tour because I think it would be fascinating! How were Taylor’s outfits chosen for each show / how were they laundered? Tell us more about the rituals of the singers, musicians, dancers, etc. before and after each show. Explain how the light up bracelet technology works… and so on! I want allllll the details of this incredible feat! Fingers crossed for some more footage to enjoy in the future.
My entire night was basically spent trying to soak it all in while also being engaged in the performance — moments were slipping away (like a bottle of wine 😉) while I was trying to capture them in order to relive the experience over and over and over because I’ll never be able to recover from this tour.
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Gracie Abrams was adorable and while I had never really heard her music before this concert, I’d like to check out more of her work.
The little speech she gave regarding her time being a part of the Eras Tour was so sweet and heartwarming which made me tear up (for the first time of the night).
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LOVER ERA
This is my favorite album / era — I loved that she opened with it! It feels like such a perfect intro to the Eras Tour.
I got tears in my eyes (again!) when the guys all came down the catwalk in their jumpsuits and mega fabric “fans” on their shoulders… it hit me that this was the last time we would be seeing the beginning of the Eras Tour live! I was pinching myself because I still couldn’t believe I got to be there in person.
Sang my heart out during all of the songs, but especially during the bridge in “Cruel Summer”, of course. 😉
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FEARLESS ERA
This album is such a fun walk down memory lane… admittedly, I wasn’t a Taylor fan until “1989” came out, but when I was younger I had definitely heard some of her more popular songs from this album on the radio so I am more than familiar with the songs she chose to play from “Fearless”. I can always feel the nostalgia wash over me when I hear the songs from that Era.
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RED ERA
I was tickled that Taylor wore her “This is NOT Taylor’s Version” tee for her “22” performance. The little girl who received the “22 Hat” on N3 was so precious and INTO IT.
In “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” I absolutely LOVED Kam’s little adlib: “… for the last time — NO!” (for reference: here is a compilation of some of his other hilarious responses!)
It was soooo cathartic to scream “FUCK THE PATRIARCHY!” along with a stadium full of people.
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SPEAK NOW ERA
“Enchanted” is such a great song and I personally think that “Speak Now” is a fairly underrated album. It’s one that I rarely hear people mention when asked what their favorite Taylor album is. Yes, the sound is very similar to “Fearless”… (I kind of think of them as sister albums), but the stories told are definitely from a different perspective. I wish more songs had made the cut for the tour, but I’m fine with “Enchanted” and “Long Live” if we could only have two (or one, ever since Taylor added TTPD to the tour!).
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REPUTATION ERA
Reputation is incredible as far as hype goes. Omg, the bass booms in “Are You Ready For It?” would be enough for me to follow Tay into battle. 😂 SO many banger tracks on that album!
One of my favorite light wristband effects happens during this part of the set — a “snake” shape slithers through the crowd and I thought that effect was the COOLEST. Honestly, the light show and pyrotechnics weren’t as highlighted as they should have been in the Eras Tour movie because they are PHENOMENAL and really add to the in-person experience. I hope that they were at least in the background of some of the clips that were filmed during the Vancouver shows!!
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FOLKLORE / EVERMORE ERA
I’m glad that I was able to attend the Seattle show prior to the Vancouver one because the folklore and evermore sets were reduced and combined to make space for The Tortured Poets Department set. Totally understand that cuts had to be made throughout the Eras to make room for songs from the newest album, but I’m grateful to have seen the “sister albums” sets in their entirety in a live capacity (also grateful to see them in the Eras Tour movie since it was filmed before TTPD was included in the performance).
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1989 ERA
This album will always have a special place in my heart because it was when I fell in love with Taylor’s music and became a Swiftie. I didn’t get to go to any of the shows when Taylor toured with this album so it was really fun to hear them played live.
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ACOUSTIC SET
Surprise songs // mashups:
Guitar
“A Place In This World” (from “Taylor Swift”) and “New Romantics” (from “1989”) mashup.
Piano
The way I cried through this mashup of “Long Live” (from “Speak Now”), “New Year’s Day” (from “Reputation”) and “The Manuscript” (from “The Tortured Poets Department”).
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THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT ERA
I intentionally didn’t watch any footage of this part of the concert ahead of time because I wanted to be surprised. Well, I guess that’s not true… I watched a snippet of when Travis joined Taylor onstage for “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” during one of the London shows, but that was it. I loved experiencing TTPD in person for the first time! This album was such a fun addition to the concert.
MIDNIGHTS ERA
I think Midnights is my third favorite album, so this Era was super enjoyable one for me to sing along with. There are so many excellent songs! The arrival of this set also made me sad because I knew it was the last portion of the concert and the Eras Tour would officially be over. 😭
Tay ended the Eras Tour by singing “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs comin’ straight home to me!” in her final song which was an incredibly sweet / fun nod to her boyfriend Travis Kelce (especially since the Chiefs secured a win that night, which made it that much better)!
I will never be over this night! 😭
Here’s a video recap of Vancouver Night 3’s final Eras Tour show put together by @aswiftiestory.
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AFTER
I know that the responsible thing is to recycle these wristbands, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give mine up after the show… it’s practically a “free” souvenir! (lol @ “free” because that was easily the most I’ve ever paid for a concert).
I had been wracking my brain trying to think of some way to commemorate my Eras Tour memories when I came across this adorable idea of making a DIY keepsake ornament, which was the perfect idea! We have a Christmas tradition of getting a family ornament each year from an experience like a trip that we took together or a major milestone (like buying a house or having a baby!) and we definitely got an ornament from our trip to Hawaii earlier this year, as well as an ornament to mark Chloe’s birth, but I will have to add one with all of my Eras Tour treasures!
I’m so thrilled with how it turned out! If you’d like to make your own, I linked what I could here.
Sending all of my fellow Swifties big hugs! I’ll see you again for Taylor’s next Era! 😊
xx, Natalie
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