First, it's my obligation to tell you that I'm not a music expert. I have not studied music, I don't play any instruments, and I only wrote a song in 4th grade called 'The Last One' because I was very bitter about getting hand-me-downs every year. Nothing rhymed. However, I have seen One Republic, Kanye West, Dave Matthews, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, OAR, Smash Mouth, and several other bands because I was #blessed enough to grow up in Milwaukee Wisconsin.
And, on Tuesday night I was also #blessed enough to get tickets to the Taylor Swift concert in St. Louis on her 1989 tour with a group of girl friends. Here's a summation of my (awful, non-cohesive) thoughts.
I think one of the tell-tale signs of how you really feel about something is the feeling you have after you leave it; if I had one word to describe my emotions after the concert, I would say YES. Yes it was great, yes I danced a lot, yes I loved the songs.
We strapped on the white bracelets taped onto the backs of our chairs and listened to the opening acts of Vance Joy and HAIM.
Once the lights dimmed and we knew Taylor was coming on, I got so excited that I dropped a shoe. A middle school girl with a puffy paint 'T SWIFT' t-shirt returned it to me. Blackness, then dim lighting, then park benches, then street lights, then she walks out to 'Welcome to New York'. Our bracelets lit up and SO DID I. I've heard from various people who live in New York that the song is an over- idealization of the actual life there, but ask me if I cared in that moment. Red lipstick, beautiful hair, and a sequin black wrap top with a bright purple skirt- it's Taylor Swift, SHE'S HERE PEOPLE.
Of course, I came in hoping that she would play some of my personal favorites. By personal I don't only mean that I love them, but that they meant something personal to me. I honestly thought I'd burst a blood vessel if she played 'All Too Well,' but thank God she gave me 'We Are Never Getting Back Together'.
With an interplay of videos from her various *~squad~* friends, Taylor mixed old anthems with her new songs, and even a few remixes. At one point an extremely attractive male dancer placed a small pole in the middle of the stage, and she hit it with some kind of baton for a remix of 'Blank Space' in which her shout of "St. Louis!" rang over and over. Things got a bit sexual when she and the same dancer leaned against the pole and started a slow version of 'I Knew You Were Trouble'. They then were joined by more attractive and shirtless male dancers who gyrated against the various poles. I haven't seen Magic Mike, but I assume this was very similar, and now I would really like to see Magic Mike.
At one point, Taylor came out to the end of the catwalk stage with just a black acoustic guitar. She said that she didn't have the next song planned, but since we were singing along so much to everything else, she thought we would appreciate an old song. 'Fifteen' was a hit, which she followed with a monologue of self-acceptance and confidence before playing 'Clean'.
It was times like these during the concert that I thought, "Wow, does she connect this much with every audience? There's no way, we definitely are her favorite." To me, that was the lasting impression: when she smiled, or when she thanked us, or when she told a story, it felt like she was only sharing this with us because we were special. Yes, it's that corny.
Eventually she said that we had fulfilled our promise of staying loud and energetic, so she brought out Nelly for 'Sexual Healing' and 'Hot in Herre'. Because he's from St. Louis, the crowd went wild, but the little girls in front of us were slightly appalled at the lyrics we were yelling. To be honest, I had really hoped for Michael Jackson, but you can't win 'em all. If anyone can resurrect a person, it's Taylor Swift.
After a mash-up of 'Enchanted' and 'Wildest Dreams' she ended with 'Out of the Woods' and 'Shake it off' atop her rotating stage.
Overall, the concert was entertaining, fun, and involved. I've been listening to her music nonstop since then and show no signs of slowing down. Since her concert, I truly know that "everything has changed."
