Therapy. Girlhood. Joy: How fans felt seeing Taylor Swift close out the ‘Eras Tour’

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — If there’s one thing Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” has taught us, it’s that Swifties know no bounds. This fact couldn’t have been more apparent as diehard fans descended on Vancouver to watch the pop star play her final three shows of her record-breaking tour.

Functioning as a retrospective of the singer’s music catalog, the tour took fans down memory lane. Kicking off in March 2023, the singer serenaded sold-out stadiums worldwide with a 40-song setlist celebrating each of her musical eras, from earlier recordings like Fearless and Speak Now to newer releases like Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department.

But with Ticketmaster blunders and soaring resale prices, securing a ticket was no easy feat — Swifties will be the first to tell you that. They’ll likely also tell you that their fandom will do whatever it takes to see their favorite pop star perform.

“I’m a teacher, and I had a bunch of my students’ parents sign up for the [Ticketmaster] codes last year when [Swift tickets went on sale]. So I was like, ‘If anyone wants to help, I would really appreciate it,’” Samantha Rizzuto of Victoria, British Columbia, told Yahoo Entertainment of the lengths she went to to attend one of the final “Eras Tour” shows in Vancouver. “I didn’t get a code, but it was very kind of the parents who were supportive.”

Rizzuto saw Swift on her “Eras Tour” stop in Lisbon, Portugal, in May. When her best friend’s sister received a Ticketmaster code and was able to weather the website’s queue to secure tickets to Swift’s Dec. 6 show, she knew she’d be back.

“I am just so overjoyed to be surrounded by people who love [Swift] and love what her music does for all of us as much as it does for me,” she said. “So it’s truly a celebration of love and light and positivity.”

While some fans deliberately sought tickets for Swift’s Vancouver shows, others traveled to the Canadian city because it was the only city where they could get “Eras Tour” tickets.

“[These were] the only tickets we could get,” Natalie Brehm told Yahoo. Brehm and her best friend, Jaclyn Lochtefeld, flew 16 hours from Columbus, Ohio, to Vancouver to see Swift perform on Dec. 6.

“We had a friend who got [tickets] through his credit card. … [There were] a couple [of] different cities he [entered the] lottery for, and this was one of them. He couldn’t make it, so we’re here on his behalf.”

Brehm and Lochtefeld view the “Eras Tour” as a celebration of childhood and adolescence.

“Since [her debut album], I was just hooked. It’s very much feeding my inner child and making me feel like a kid again. So it’s everything,” Brehm said.

“It’s been so fun interacting with all the fans here, passing out bracelets to little girls [and] to the older fans. It’s just girlhood,” added Lochtefeld.

For Swifties, their love of the 34-year-old pop star extends beyond her critically acclaimed albums and repertoire of hits. It’s more than pop music. It’s therapy.

Perla Ramos of Orange County, Calif., first saw the “Eras Tour” in Los Angeles in August 2023. After a friend offered her a ticket to Swift’s Dec. 6 show, Ramos hopped on a plane and traveled north. She posted up in an area of the stadium where she held a sign that read “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” — a song from Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, that’s rumored to be about ex-boyfriend Matty Healy — and encouraged fans to sign her white dress with the names of men who’ve wronged them.

“It was therapeutic for me. … I wanted to give people the opportunity to just put their anger [onto this] dress,” Ramos said of her “Eras Tour” outfit, which was inspired by another fan who did the same thing. “This [is] the peak of my life right now. Honestly, this year has been the hardest year I’ve ever had, and this has brought so much light back into my life.”

In a year that’s seen the rise of pop music’s newest female superstars, Swift has maintained a chokehold on the industry, having recently been crowned Spotify’s top artist of 2024, with a staggering 26.6 billion streams worldwide. The end of the “Eras Tour” marks a new beginning for Swift. With no currently publicized plans, the singer’s slate appears to be clean.

So what do fans hope Swift does next?

“I feel like she’s grown so much as an artist and has dealt with so much pressure of what other people expect of her,” Lindsay Slade of Kelowna, British Columbia, told Yahoo. “I think she’s really grown into her own, and I just hope she does what makes her happy.”

“I hope she takes some time for herself,” Rizzuto said. “I hope she maybe does some more writing and enjoys this next phase of life and has time to grow into whatever she wants her next era to be.”

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