10 things I learned at Taylor Swift’s concert at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver on Friday, December 6, 2024:

1. The hype was amazing

As an aside, I have to admit that I’m not exactly a Taylor Swift fan – not really the right demographic for a guy whose very first concert was at Van Halen in 1982. However, I went into Friday’s concert with an open mind and sense of wonder. How and why were they able to make music history by quickly selling out Vancouver’s largest stadium three nights in a row when no other band or artist ever could? It’s amazing what Swift has accomplished in the world of pop music. Millions of mothers and daughters can’t be wrong, can they?

2. Traffic was a breeze

For days, I dreaded driving from the suburbs and finding a parking spot for less than $150, while warnings of blocked roads and general chaos were promised for Swift’s big concert, a Canucks game and a Cirque du Soleil show. We left North Delta at 3:30 p.m., drove over the Dunsmuir Viaduct at 4:20 p.m., and quickly found street parking for $7 for the night. Court! Thank you, parking gods.

3. Earplugs were mandatory

I wasn’t alive in 1964 when I saw the Beatles, but I know that the Fab Four later stopped touring because their concerts featured screaming girls. I wonder if Swift ever gets tired of the hysteria she creates, I really do. We heard the first screams outside the stadium on Friday at 6:49 p.m., when the lights apparently dimmed and concert opener Gracie Abrams took the stage. There was a lot more screaming throughout the night.

4. SCALPERS WERE RARE

At Terry Fox Plaza, shielded by a metal fence, all was quiet on the north front of the stadium. Excited and eager Swifties gathered, cell phones in hand. Familiar shouts before the concert: “Tickets! Buy and sell tickets here!” were not heard. It was strange, almost eerie. Were all of those tickets really sold to fans who were already in the stadium, or were they left outside because they wanted to? Could be.

5. It was a diverse, impressive set of songs

Reading, Pennsylvania’s most beloved daughter, has 10 studio albums and it’s been an electrifying, genre-bending journey over those 17 years. In concert, she moves, er, quickly from country to pop to folky numbers to full-on alternative rock, offering something for each of those ticket-buying fans in several performances that mark different eras of Swift’s impressive career (Lover, 1989). , Red, Fearless, Speak Now etc.). On Friday, from 7:50 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., an incredible 45 songs were played in their entirety, spoken, excerpted or otherwise shortened.

6. The song lyrics inspired all of these friendship bracelets

At Swift’s concerts, the fan-led practice of bracelet swapping is a response to a lyric in her 2022 song “You’re On Your Own, Kid” (not performed Friday), which includes the line “So make the friendship bracelets, Take the moment and try it.” I’m pretty sure no one tried any of the tens of thousands of bracelets at the show on Friday, but stranger things have happened. What I do know is that stadium security has been checking people for banned carabiners (metal or plastic) that can easily connect and hold hundreds of wristbands. Instead, some fans tucked the jewelry into the pockets of their cargo pants or used them to line their forearms.

7. I REALLY LIKE SOME OF SWIFT’S SONGS

Seriously, who can resist the dance party of “Shake It Off,” the moody pop-rock banger “Style,” or the romantic ping-pong of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble”? This is the Swift era of hits that I know and like best, around 2012 to 2014, when my daughter was a teenager and these songs were played on car rides. The final two numbers were performed during Red, a performance capped by a 10-minute version of “All Too Well” and falling “Snow” on a rainy Vancouver night. It was definitely a concert highlight.

8. No cover songs were performed

After studying previous Swift concerts on setlist.fm, I thought that “Cruel Summer” might be a repeat of the ’80s hit Bananarama, two songs later. No. The Eras tour is an all-Swift affair, although there is some debate as to whether her best songs borrow from previously written songs. People have even added this alleged plagiarism to a Spotify playlist, but I digress.

9. THE ERAS TOUR WAS LONG AND VERY PROFITABLE

Swift’s Eras journey made music history as the highest-grossing concert tour of all time (grossing almost $2 billion) and began back in March 2023. As everyone knows by now, it ends, more or less, 150 shows later in Vancouver show. Friday’s concert felt celebratory, like a long farewell to (and from) fans, many of whom live elsewhere, traveled here and probably also bought tickets for shows on Saturday and Sunday.

10. It was an inspiring night

The world’s most famous Kansas City Chiefs fan didn’t fumble all night. She was courteous, spoke kindly and said the right things. Mass production was pretty flawless. It was a special evening, especially for the young fans in the audience. Certainly the concert was a first for many and probably inspired a young girl or two to pick up a guitar, write songs and, like Taylor Swift, aim to rule the world. This legacy would be the best for the reigning Queen of Pop.