Mike Vs Taylor Swift

 

The other day, I found myself looking into flights to Vancouver. It’s not because we were planning on taking a vacation to Vancouver anytime soon. Taylor Swift had announced that she was adding a date in Vancouver in 2024, for her Eras Tour. I immediately registered with Ticketmaster for the opportunity to be selected for the opportunity to buy tickets for that show, and promptly started looking into flights.

Hold up.

Was I really considering flying across the country, to see an artist that I didn’t even really like, for a show that I didn’t even have tickets for? Never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever think this would happen!  Look what you made me do, Miss Swift. Look what you made me do.

How did things even get to this point? I mean,  long story short, the warning signs were there, but I still wasn’t….ready for it?  

Flashing back to 2009, I was totally on Team Kanye West during the Yeezy /Swift VMA controversy. Single Ladies was a  way better video than You Belong With Me! I wouldn’t disrupt any proceedings to proclaim this like, like Kanye did, but the point was valid.

Afterwards, moving forward, there was no bad blood against T-Swizzle on my end. She just wasn’t my thing.  Her hit songs were pleasant enough. The type of music that I would hear when I would go to The Gap to buy a sweater (not a cardigan, though).  They just weren’t my jams. The kids, on the other hand, however….

 

 

Whoa. You need to calm down, baby-aged KJ. Anyway, years before KJ rocked out, we did, for some reason, have a CD containing lullaby versions of Taylor Swift songs. K and I would sometimes play this at bedtime for B and J.

Ahh, J. My tweenaged daughter who’s into all things tweenage.  The years-long groundswell of Swifties support, that’s pushed T.S. to the forefront of popular culture, will be the stuff of folklore, to future generations.  And while this groundswell passed by yours truly, it didn’t pass by J.  She’s a Taylor Swift fan nowadays.

Sidenote: I totally blame that darn lullaby CD, by the way. A baby’s brain is a blank space, that is easily corrupted and influenced. For example, my mom told me, when she was pregnant with one of my sisters, that she went to see Pink Floyd at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton. This resulted in my sister being loud and outgoing. When she was pregnant with me, there were no concerts, and she only listened to easy-going R&B music.  This resulted in me being silky smooth and fly.  Based on this totally  factually correct evidence, J absorbing the dulcet version of Love Story as a baby, and subsequently becoming a Swift fan, is the only explanation here. Yeah.

 

 

Agree to disagree, old timey scientist.

Let’s get back on track.  What does being a Taylor Swift fan in 2023 actually mean,  is what I wondered.  As far as I can tell, one key part is seeing her live, in concert, on her Eras Tour.  I’m sure y’all know this all too well, but this thing is huge. Like all time phenomenon huge. So when tour dates were added for November 2024, in Toronto, J (shocker) asked if we could get tickets to one of the shows.

 

How hard could getting tickets be?

 

The answer, of course, is incredibly hard. You couldn’t just find out when tickets went on sale, and buy them at that time. You had to register, as a verified fan. Then, these fans would be randomly selected and given a link/time, to buy tickets. There still wasn’t a guarantee that you would get tickets. If you were lucky enough to access tickets at this point, because of Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing nonsense, the price of the tickets might be way higher than normal. Nonetheless, knowing all of this, I still registered. The slim chance of puling it off, and being a dad who is The Man, instead of Mr. Perfectly Fine, was too tempting to pass up.

 

 

Alas, it was a cruel summer. As far as I can tell, half of Canada seemingly registered as verified fans to the five Toronto shows. Everyone that I knew either registered and/or had family members that registered.  So, securing tickets pretty much was like winning the lottery. No go for us.  Along those lines, buying tickets on the resale market to these shows basically involves having lottery winnings. Pricing for a pair of tix range from the cost of a vacation to Cuba, to the cost a new car. Talk about your champagne problems.  Are Swifties all wealthy or something?  This also has been a no go for us, unsurprisingly.

J was disappointed about the ticket failure, but she was able to shake it off soon enough. I assumed that I would now be out of the Woods on all things Taylor Swift related. I assumed wrong.

 

 

 

That’s right. For those who can’t afford were not able to go to an Eras Tour concert, you could get the same experience, at a movie theatre! J told me about this news, and asked if  I could get tickets. I did manage to cop a pair for a Saturday night show on opening weekend, before they sold out. J was thrilled. So thrilled that she wanted me to come with her to the movie.

Bruh, for real, the Eras Tour movie experience was pretty surreal.  The lineup beforehand was full of non-stop Taylor Swift chatter among the excited moviegoers (comprised mainly of females of all ages, with a few youngish looking guys and one black 40 something year old dad, ME!).  People handed out bracelets, like they do at the actual concert, apparently. Then, once the movie started, it became a party for three hours. People dancing and singing along to all of the songs.  Swift, unbeknownst to me, has a 10 minute long joint. J mentioned this as it started, to which I loudly exclaimed something like “this song is 10 minutes?!”. A woman nearby then turned to me and said “it is, and it’s epic”.   I quietly listened intently to all 10 minutes, not wanting to be scolded again.

I’ll give the anti-hero her due. Taylor Swift puts on a mighty fine concert. I think that I get the appeal of it all now. If an affordable opportunity came up to take J to see the Eras Tour live, I’d do it. Which is how I found myself at the start of this post, looking into flights to Vancouver.  No go on tix to those shows, either, by the way. Nonetheless, even if the pursuit continues to prove to be futile, it’s created a few bonding moments for J and I. And that’s just good parenting karma.

I’m still not Taylor Swift fan, though.

In spite of everything that I’ve just said.

Even if  I can comfortably discuss  my favorite eras of her music.

Even if I watched some of a Kansas City Chiefs game specifically to see what she was up to there.

And even if I referenced like 22 of her song titles in this post.

Definitely not a Swiftie here.

Until the next one, peace!