Occasionally, someone will say to me, “Who could’ve ever predicted that Taylor Swift’s tour would become this big?”


Sometimes it’s with a bit of a sneer, sometimes it’s with you-go-girl admiration, and sometimes it’s pure bewilderment.


It drives me nuts.


Who knew?


I knew. And I have the receipts.


I wrote about it back at the end of 2021 when she debuted the 10 minute version of “All Too Well” on Saturday Night Live.


When the tour was announced, I predicted that it would be The Big One—a once-in-a-lifetime perfect storm of events.


She’d already toured many times, and knew what it took to put on a big show. And more importantly, she had four album’s worth of music she’d created during the pandemic to debut.
It would be four tours in one night.


Singing to a crowd that’s been locked away for years was ready to celebrate.


I detailed my meticulous preparations that turned from insanity to genius once Ticketmaster crashed—borrowing multiple computers to log in with, and opening up dozens of accounts to enter repeatedly into the random drawing for pre-sale codes.


Maybe Ticketmaster didn’t know how this thing was going to do down, but I sure did.

So to say that expectations were sky high would be an understatement, so it begs the questions—did Taylor Swift deliver?


Could anyone?


The morning of the concert we dressed in our best Taylor Swift Eras outfits, decked ourselves out in homemade friendship bracelets, and hit the road for Heinz Field.


We arrived at 11am, 5 hours before the doors opened, and 8 hours before showtime.


We bought merchandise, we tailgated, we people watched.


The time flew.


And when metaphorical midnight struck and Taylor took the stage, she blew me away.
Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard the highlights—the costume changes, the energy, the sets, the enthusiastic yet friendly crowds.


For three and half hours, she sang and danced and entertained us with absolutely zero filler. She threw down one hit after another with barely a moment to recover.


No one has ever worked harder to entertain me.


It was an athletic achievement every bit as much as a musical one.


Taylor Swift’s music may or may not be your thing (and it’s okay if it isn’t) but her job is to be a pop star, and right now, no one is doing it better.


After the final show of her U.S. leg of the tour, Taylor Swift came back onstage after the show and saluted the audience with a glass of wine, and a well-deserved self-satisfied smile that seemed to say, “I did it.”


You did do it, Taylor.


And it was a privilege to experience.