Taylor Swift Eras Tour + Tips for Concert

It really hits different in person. The night was sparkling and we were dancing like we’re 22. I was always a casual Taylor listener since she started releasing her music, basically only listening to the singles that were playing on the radio and wherever else they popped up. Then when she did the surprise drop of Folklore, everyone was talking about how different the sound was. I was intrigued with the folk rock feel. That was my vibe for a while, and I listened to the album on repeat.

Then I ended up on SwiftTok on TikTok. People were ranking her bridges by top 5 and I was like, “let me try this out.” This is how I was introduced to “All Too Well”, which I think is hands-down the best song she’s ever written. A few months later, I realized that I had transformed into a full blown Swiftie (for real this time). I knew the next time Taylor went on tour I wanted to go. I started preparing for it in 2021 by listening to all her albums, especially when Fearless (Taylor’s Version) came out.

Fast forward to October 2022: Taylor announces her next tour and it’s going to be an Eras Tour celebrating all her albums! This is the perfect concert for me to attend to be able to hear songs from her entire discography. My two best friends texted me that they also wanted to go and I got the presale code to get us tickets for the concert in Arlington for April 1. After sitting in the virtual queue for 5+ hours, I finally got into the system to purchase our tickets and all that was left were the “nosebleeds” section or the top of AT&T Stadium. I got us tickets that were as far down from the top that I could get. They were still a great view, and we decided that as long as we were in the stadium we didn’t care where we sat!

The next item on the agenda was planning my outfit. I didn’t give much thought into this until maybe end of February, but was browsing around for a while. I went back and forth on which era I wanted to dress up as. I knew two of the eras were out because my friends wanted to go as those and we decided it would be more fun if we went as different eras. After weeks of going back and forth and coming up with ideas, I finally decided to stick to my original idea and go with Speak Now.

I purchased my dress and hair clip from Amazon. My white ankle boots are from Target that I had purchased back in September/October and my earrings are from Avara Boutique. My favorite part of putting my outfit together was adding subtle touches from the Speak Now album to my ensemble. While I was sad that only “Enchanted” was on the set list for Speak Now, I was trying to manifest “Haunted” to be one of our surprise songs.

On the day of the concert, we left at around 1PM to head to the stadium, but stopped at the Chick-Fil-A close to Mary Ellen’s house to eat a full meal on the drive over. There was a little traffic near the stadium when we arrived around 2:30, but it was partially due to a 3 PM Texas Rangers game at Globe Life Field, which is in the same complex as AT&T Stadium. We parked in a parking lot that was designated for the Rangers game since it was much cheaper. It was further away, but wasn’t a terrible walk to and from the stadium.

We purchased tickets to the Tay-gate party thrown by Le Petite Fete. General admission tickets were only $5. It’s a fun way to preparty and relax before the concert to make sure you have plenty of time to get parked and close to the stadium. This party had it all – an incredible DJ playing Taylor songs non-stop, a 360 photo booth, a balloon arch with marquee letters photo op, themed drinks, custom shirts, and more! This was also a spot where people could trade friendship bracelets. There was an incredible Swiftie who gave us friendship bracelets, even though we didn’t have any to trade with her.

After spending two hours at the Tay-gate, we decided to make our way over to the stadium at around 5 PM to see what the merch situation was like inside the stadium. I wanted to get the quarter zip, but knew it was a hot item. I wasn’t going to go crazy trying to get it. The walk over was pretty easy and even getting into the stadium was a quick process. We decided to do a lap around the stadium to see what merch they had available. They mostly had the shirts and other small items inside. We learned later that the very popular blue crew neck and quarter zip were only sold in the merch truck outside of the stadium. After deciding we weren’t going to get merch, we stopped and each purchase jumbo soft pretzels.

We made our way up to where our section was and we decided to explore the area for a final merch overview (and grab a Diet Coke to keep caffeinated and hydrated while waiting for the opening acts). By this time, it was only around 6 PM, so we only had about 30 minutes to relax and get ready for the opening acts. Gracie Abrams had an incredible performance! You could tell this was her first show with the tour because she was very nervous and having to put her hand on her rib cage to control her diaphragm. During the second opening act, I used that time to go to the restroom for the final time before the concert started. I did catch the end of beabadoobee’s set and thought she did an excellent job. It’s just hard for me to get into the opening acts when I don’t know their music that well or at all.

There was some downtime between the second opening act finishing and Taylor’s show starting. There have been multiple confirmations that Lady Gaga’s “Applause” is the final song played over the speakers before the concert starts. I honestly can’t remember if the countdown clock appeared before that song or right when it started. Our concert started at around 7:50-7:55 PM, so a little before the 8 PM time that I was seeing online. We love a scheduled queen who either starts right on time or early.

From our seats, we had a great overview of the entire stage, only having a corner of the center diamond blocked from the light stand. We were also on the side with a view of the large jumbotron video feed for excellent up close pictures of her and her facial expression throughout the show. We ended up standing for the entire concert, and I even didn’t feel the urge to go at any point to use the bathroom. Although, some people have said that the best time to go is during the transition to Red because it’s the longest one. We had so much fun dancing to “You Belong With Me” and “Bejeweled” and screaming the bridge to “All Too Well” and “Cruel Summer”. Taylor also told us that all of our outfits were a 13/10, which I thought was cool.

Our acoustic/secret songs were two of my top 5 on my wishlist of potential surprise songs. We got “Death By A Thousand Cuts” from Lover as our guitar acoustic song. Taylor did mess up when she wanted to do the bridge a second time. She said that it means she has to do a song a second time to make up for it. She does a great buildup to the start of the songs with an explanation of why she picked these songs that keeps you guessing on what the next song is. The way she did the build up to the second surprise song was so casual like we were just having an everyday conversation with her. Then we she finally said the song “Clean” (1989) I lost it. I manifested so hard for this song to be one of our surprise songs and I can’t believe it actually worked. It turns out that we have Gracie Abrams to thank for “Clean” since it was her request!

All in all, we had an amazing time, but I don’t want to give too much away. If you have tickets for a future show, I honestly believe you should try to go in as blind as possible, which is hard to do with the livestreams of every show on TikTok and Instagram. What I do want to leave you with is some tips to help make your concert experience the best it can be!

Tips for the Eras Tour:

Buy a parking pass beforehand if you are planning to drive to the concert – This way it’s one less stress on the day of and you know exactly where you’re going to park.
Eat before heading to the stadium – We went to Chick-Fil-A on the way to the stadium and then grabbed a jumbo pretzel in the stadium before the opening acts and we were good for the rest of the night.
Wear comfortable shoes or add insoles to shoes – There are chances throughout the show to sit down, but Shelbie and I ended up standing the whole time once Taylor started performing. I honestly didn’t feel any pain in my shoes until we were walking back to the car at the end of the night.
Make the friendship bracelets – This is one thing I regretted not doing. I honestly decided that it was something I should’ve done two days before our show, so I didn’t have time to make any. However, there were some fellow Swifties who handed up friendship bracelets because they had so many extras, but it would’ve been so much fun to make that connection with trading.
Go to the Tay-gate pre-party – Not only does it help you get to the area well before all the crowds start to come, but they’re also so much fun. We did the Le Petite Fete pre-party since they were right next to the stadium at Texas Live! Do some research to see what there is to do around your stadium before the concert. We got themed drinks, did a 360 photo booth, and got to do singalongs with tons of other people who were going to the concert. It was basically a pre-game for the concert.
Make sure to have water & snacks in the car – This is the biggest thing. I was so thankful to have a Stanley cup full of water when we got back to the car after the concert. Singing along for three hours straight and then hiking back to the car is dehydrating, so having the bottle of water helped immensely. Props to my Stanley for keeping my water ice cold for a refreshing drink after the concert. Of course you can’t forget the snacks to eat on the way home or the hotel after the concert.
Bring a portable charger – This is a big one, especially if you are wanting to take videos and pictures throughout the show. I only needed mine towards the end of the show, but I also had my phone on low battery mode and made sure all notifications and apps were closed out.
If you don’t want a high demand merch, get it during the show or after – The lines are so long before the show inside the stadium and we didn’t even see the line for the merch truck outside of the stadium! If all you’re wanting is a t-shirt or poster, I would wait until it’s your “bathroom” song or until the end of the show to get it. I’ve also heard that with previous tours, they put the merch on Taylor’s website after the last stop.
Learn the chants for certain songs if you don’t know them – There are so many TikToks and Instagram reels that teach/explain them and they’re so easy to learn. There was something so exhilarating about doing the claps in “You Belong With Me” with Mary Ellen. Taylor Swift also got involved in one of the chants during the show. Other songs that have “chants” include “Delicate,” “Anti-Hero,” and “Bad Blood.”
If you are wanting to film videos on your phone, turn the exposure down while filming – There are a few tutorials of this on TikTok, but the easiest way to do it is to click on the screen and a sun will pop up on the right side of the box. Drag the sun down towards the bottom of your phone and it will lower the exposure. This changed the quality of the video so much and you can see everything a lot better.
Have Fun! – This is such a fun concert and no matter how long you’ve been a Swiftie, you’re going to have the time of your life!

Finally, I’m going to leave you with each of our favorite songs from the show and our top 3 favorite moments:

Melissa

Favorite songs:

“Clean” as the surprise song
“All Too Well”
“Look What You Made Me Do” – I loved the different Taylor’s in the background.

Favorite moments:

Concert with my best friends
Screaming “You Belong With Me” with Mary Ellen
Seeing all the different outfits that everyone came up with.

Shelbie

Favorite Songs:

“All Too Well”
“The Archer”
“Don’t Blame Me”

Favorite Moments:

Experiencing the concert with my bestie
Getting friendship bracelets
Screaming at the top of my lungs to ATW 10 min version TV

Mary Ellen

Favorite Songs:

“Cruel Summer”
“Enchanted”
“Style”

Favorite Moments:

Having TSwift be my first concert ever
Hearing “You Belong with Me” & “Love Story” live (songs I’ve been listening to since 7th grade!)
Seeing all of Taylor’s amazing outfits

Lastly, I wanted to share the pictures I took from the concert. I did take this pics off of the large jumbotron screen and I didn’t change the exposure for a few of the pictures between videos so some of the quality isn’t the best, but I just love some of the pictures I got. I’m going to separate them by era. If you don’t want to see every picture, you can scroll down to the era you want to see.

Lover Era: